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Need a new sound card (non Creative)

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Innuendo:
I actually went ahead with external usb solution for now. -kartal (April 01, 2010, 10:05 AM)
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Glad you found a solution that worked for you. In case someone else finds this thread looking for an answer to the same question I thought I'd go ahead and post my experience thus far with on-board sound as I have just built myself a new computer. To give you a little background I bought my first IBM-compatible PC in 1992 and a Creative SoundBlaster of some flavor has always been present in every PC I have ever owned. My current Creative soundcard is an an Audigy 2 ZS.

Having actively shunning on-board sound all these years I thought it'd be an interesting experiment with this new PC to leave the Audigy 2 ZS card out and play around with the on-board sound powered by the Realtek ALC889A chipset. The connection from the PC is through analog connectors to a set of Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultra speakers (These speakers are friggin' awesome beyond words, BTW).

Preliminary testing today with some widely varied FLAC music files played through Foobar2000 v1.01 using WASAPI. Thus far I am of the opinion that a Creative soundcard will not be seeing the inside of my new computer at all. Sound with the Realtek chipset is every bit as clear & crisp as the Creative card even when playing acoustically complex tracks.

I'm going to have to see how well the Realtek chipset handles games, but if the performance levels keep up my Creative card will be heading for a box in the closet.

f0dder:
I've been running onboard audio for some years now, and the only problem I've noticed has been component noise. It's almost non-existent these days, though... unless I attach a USB-powered harddrive to my front USB ports, then the front headphone jack receives massive noise :)

Innuendo:
unless I attach a USB-powered harddrive to my front USB ports, then the front headphone jack receives massive noise :)-f0dder (April 03, 2010, 09:51 AM)
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That sounds like a problem that might be the fault of the case you are using (maybe the connectors aren't grounded very well).

Ampa:
To my mind one of the biggest advantages of a "pro" soundcard is actually the breakout box which allows easy connection of mics, line-in, midi, through full size easy to access plugs. That is the reason I continue to use my Audigy - for now at least.

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