Arch Linux

pecan

Member

Registered: 2007-04-06

Posts: 93

Worth buying a sound card?

I'm currently considering whether I should buy a sound card (Creative X-Fi extreme audio) to replace my motherboards integrated sound. It'll only be going into two mid-range studio monitors, so I'm not necessarily looking for all the extra surround sound stuff, just better audio quality. My questions are, does the Creative X-Fi extreme audio work well under a modern linux install and will I notice better audio quality if my speakers are good enough.

Roberth

Member

From: The Pale Blue Dot

Registered: 2007-01-12

Posts: 894

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

At the moment there is no x-fi support on linux at all, only some crappy beta drivers which is only avaible for 64 bit, alsa will receive x-fi support in a few months when next alsa version is released.

If you are looking for better sound quality, I think you should buy asus' soundcard, they have good support in arch when the developers has upgraded the alsa i arch's repositories.

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Use the Source, Luke!

bionnaki

Member

Registered: 2006-09-05

Posts: 289

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

yes, you should use a soundcard. avoid creative, though.

m-audio is recommended. I use m-audio revolution.

schivmeister

Developer/TU

From: Singapore

Registered: 2007-05-17

Posts: 971

Website

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

www.echoaudio.com

if not

www.m-audio.com

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Rumor

Member

From: Albany, NY

Registered: 2006-07-07

Posts: 638

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

+1 for the m-audio revolution card
I'm using one and really like it. I'm using the drivers from 4Front as well: http://www.opensound.com/

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lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

m-audio++;

vogt

Member

From: Toronto, Canada

Registered: 2006-11-25

Posts: 389

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

Integrated audio can be decent, and has improved since the old ac97 standard. Yours might be good enough, depending on your standards.

pauldonnelly

Member

Registered: 2006-06-19

Posts: 776

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

Integrated audio can be decent, and has improved since the old ac97 standard. Yours might be good enough, depending on your standards.

I doubt the Creative card would be much better than onboard sound anyway.

(incf M-audio)

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

I can't say about HDA, but M-Audio Revolution 5.1 does sound much better than ALC850 (AC97).

NoOneImportant

Member

From: Deep Southern California

Registered: 2007-02-13

Posts: 178

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

+1 for the m-audio revolution card
I'm using one and really like it. I'm using the drivers from 4Front as well: http://www.opensound.com/

what types of drivers specifically?

Rumor

Member

From: Albany, NY

Registered: 2006-07-07

Posts: 638

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

+1 for the m-audio revolution card
I'm using one and really like it. I'm using the drivers from 4Front as well: http://www.opensound.com/

what types of drivers specifically?

I followed a link from a review on newegg.com that led me to 4Front's page. I followed the links to here http://www.opensound.com/download.cgi which mentions the OSS 4.0 package as containing the drivers for the cards and then followed the instructions on this page: http://www.opensound.com/release/oss-install.pdf for the installation.

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Zibi1981

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2008-01-31

Posts: 704

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

Integrated audio can be decent, and has improved since the old ac97 standard. Yours might be good enough, depending on your standards.

I read somewhere, that most integrated sound cards even these days don't support hardware mixing. Is it true?

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"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed."

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NoOneImportant

Member

From: Deep Southern California

Registered: 2007-02-13

Posts: 178

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

+1 for the m-audio revolution card
I'm using one and really like it. I'm using the drivers from 4Front as well: http://www.opensound.com/

what types of drivers specifically?

I followed a link from a review on newegg.com that led me to 4Front's page. I followed the links to here http://www.opensound.com/download.cgi which mentions the OSS 4.0 package as containing the drivers for the cards and then followed the instructions on this page: http://www.opensound.com/release/oss-install.pdf for the installation.

thanks

I just checked out the isntructions on the wiki

the sound is much better than alsa!

now if only there was an equalizer

con

Member

Registered: 2006-05-11

Posts: 89

Website

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

Anyone of you m-audio owners wanna comment on how it is with games? Better than creative?

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Noneus

Member

From: Munich

Registered: 2006-09-26

Posts: 118

Website

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

I have a really old SBLive! 5.1 that works with the emu10k1 driver. Has hardwaremixing and sounds good. You can find these on ebay for super cheap. Just a couple of Euros...

Zibi1981

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2008-01-31

Posts: 704

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

I have a really old SBLive! 5.1 that works with the emu10k1 driver. Has hardwaremixing and sounds good. You can find these on ebay for super cheap. Just a couple of Euros...

I have one of these too. It's a very solid, old equipment, worth trying for everyone who not necessarily wants to have support for modern EAX, but rather a good and cheap sound card for everyday use.

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"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed."

MSI Raider GE78HX 13VI-032PL

Rumor

Member

From: Albany, NY

Registered: 2006-07-07

Posts: 638

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

Anyone of you m-audio owners wanna comment on how it is with games? Better than creative?

I play Enemy Territory: Quake Wars quite a bit. Directional sound (with good headphones) is excellent. You can hear the other players moving (footsteps, breathing) and gain a slight advantage in that I think you can probably hear them before they hear you. I think the directional sound from my m-audio card is better than what I used to have from my audigy.

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vogt

Member

From: Toronto, Canada

Registered: 2006-11-25

Posts: 389

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

Integrated audio can be decent, and has improved since the old ac97 standard. Yours might be good enough, depending on your standards.

I read somewhere, that most integrated sound cards even these days don't support hardware mixing. Is it true?

Some do, some still don't, but in any case, software mixing isn't that bad? (I havn't personally needed to set up software mixing on a couple of laptops with integrated sound)

vogt

Member

From: Toronto, Canada

Registered: 2006-11-25

Posts: 389

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

I have a really old SBLive! 5.1 that works with the emu10k1 driver. Has hardwaremixing and sounds good. You can find these on ebay for super cheap. Just a couple of Euros...

I have one of these too. It's a very solid, old equipment, worth trying for everyone who not necessarily wants to have support for modern EAX, but rather a good and cheap sound card for everyday use.

That would be the goal of integrated audio; the venerable sb live is good, but maybe not that much better to justify the cost/effort. That would be almost like replacing the integrated graphics in a 915g chipset with a radeon pci (ie they both suck almost equally). Then again, the sb live does have a game port (for midi keyboards).

KimTjik

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2007-08-22

Posts: 715

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

Depending on what purpose you have I've come to acknowledge that a better alternative for decent sound is a good external sound-card. It doesn't have to be expensive. To find the best alternative for Linux is trickier though.

An internal sound-card will work in a mayhem of disturbing electricity noise, no matter what you do.

SiC

Member

From: Liverpool, England

Registered: 2008-01-10

Posts: 430

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

I used an orininal SBLive for a while, then an SBLive 1024 with the breakout box. Very solid hardware, hasn't failed in the ten years I've had it, however it is very noised compared to modern HD audio chipsets.  If you have a recent motherboard with an HD audio chipset then you don't need an add-in card.

Other than that, a recommendation for the M-Audio, I have a terratec DMX 6-Fire in my spare machine, very solid hardware, and based on the same chipset as the M-Audio.

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

how it is with games?

See my review. It's different to 99% of what you'll read, because I actually have both cards

NoOneImportant

Member

From: Deep Southern California

Registered: 2007-02-13

Posts: 178

Re: Worth buying a sound card?

Wow, I didn't know you could use ladspa in asoundrc.

Guess I'll be playing around with ALSA.