Best inexpensive PC soundcard for recording and listening

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by captainsolo, Aug 27, 2014.

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  1. captainsolo

    captainsolo Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Murfreesboro, TN
    I'm jumping into something I have no idea about. I'm still with the standard onboard card that came with my PC and has the simple Realtek drivers-and long have I wanted to upgrade to something better.
    My goal is to have a card that can do at least 24/96 (24/192 preferred) for my own needledrops, improve my standard PC audio, handle 5.1 multichannel audio and most importantly one that has a digital input so that I can finally capture my old Laserdisc audio tracks.
    My budget is somewhere below $100 or so.

    I've never done anything inside a PC besides replace a power supply. Is this very complicated to perform? Current PC is a Compaq Presario CQ5826.
     
  2. Robert C

    Robert C Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
  3. StimpyWan

    StimpyWan Forum Resident

    You might be able to find a M-Audio card for that price. Their Audiophile 2496 card always got very good reviews based on features and sound quality.

    http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=PCIinterfaces

    Also, if you can set up a Windows XP system, old Aardvark cards can be found very cheap. Awesome cards; especially the Direct Pro Q10. But, only XP drivers; which is why they sell on ebay for so little money.

    Oh yea, this was always a decent cheap card. It would do what you need, on your budget.

    http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1012795-REG/diamond_xs71hd_xtreme_sound_24bit_pcie.html


    Good luck!
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2014
  4. Fireplug

    Fireplug Forum Resident

    Location:
    Spain
    I just recently compared my old M-Audio 2496 to a new £200 Cambridge Audio DACMAGIC 100 and while the Cambridge was better there wasn't a huge difference. You should be able to get a 2496 for about £20.
     
  5. captainsolo

    captainsolo Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Murfreesboro, TN
    Got a good deal on a M-audio 24-96 and got all set to installing only to discover that my PC only has two PCIe x1 slots and no regular PCI slots.

    Back to the drawing board. Anyone else have a recommendation on a PCIe x1 sound card? I might be tempted to go with a usb powered one but have always heard it was better to go internal.
     
  6. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I hate it when it turns out one has wrong slots or wrong OS or drivers that don't work well together etc. And one can't save some cash with yesterday's hardware/software.
     
  7. ElvisCaprice

    ElvisCaprice Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jaco, Costa Rica
    Nope :-plnktn-:
     
    c-eling likes this.
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