Differences in sound cards and speakers?

[Firebaal]

Right now I have a $30 pair of low-end 10 watts cyber accoustics speakers.

This onboard sound on this motherboard sounds much worse than the other onboard sound I had so I need a new sound card..

what is the difference between SB Live!, SB Audigy, and SantaCruz? is it worth paying double for a Audigy or SantaCruz?

I know I need better speakers but I don't like really loud music...

Would they still sound higher quality and clearer and stuff?

And what is 5.1 sound?

thanks

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Duron 850
ECS K7S5A
Enlight 7237
128mb pc100 ram
Two Maxtor 15gb 7200rpm hds
52x CD-ROM
2x2x4 Acer CD ReWriter
Gigabyte TNT2 M64 32mb
TV Tuner Card

[Gluegun]

Ask at the forums at www.3dss.com

Figure out if you will be playing CD's, MP3's, DVD's, or games, or any combination thereof (will you need rear speakers for dvd's or games? how big of a room is this in? Is it just for you, or will you be entertaining others?), and if any of that stuff is 'quality' (read: not boom boom bassy), and figure out a budget and stuff, and then ask on those forums.

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"Feh."

[fdeaton]

tried replying here but it got lost!
I would recmmend the Turtle Beach card. I am currently using a Philips, and it is ok, but nothing special. I sold high end audio eqipment a long time ago and most people do not understand that power does not equal loudness. Power means being able to reproduce the music. Look seriously at the Turtle Beach. I think I will probably go with this card. I have been looking at the Klipsch speakers and think I will probably
run with this choice. When you get ready to choose speakers take your favorite cd with you and ask the salesperson to load it up. Listen to it on different systems and make your choice from your listening experience.

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abit vh6II
Celeron 600 oc'd to 898
IBM 30 gig 60 gxp deskstar
Matrox G450
1 gig crucial ram
Win 2000
Philips cheap sound card
Mitsumi CD
HP CD-RW (from Wal-Mart)
A-Open tower case w/300psu

A learning experience and everyone here is just a ton of help!

[minus200]

get a used stereo for about $15 and plug into that and use the amp for the speakers. It is cheap and works better than all but the best speakers. If you have a stereo that is near you PC just pug into that

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386-40 with a Hercules 1mb video - 28.8 IBM M-wave modem with the SB Vibra sound chipset. 212Mb Quantum HD 30ms 4X sony CD with Win95 1st edition

I told you a million times - dont exagerate

from the technical center of the universe - Mobile, Alabama USA

if it aint broke dont flash the BIOS

[Corporate_Goon]

If you aren't really an audiophile, I would go with a Soundblaster Live Value. They are cheap and sound great. The Audigy adds some features and speed, but if you are running in stereo it doesn't really make a difference.

5.1 Sound is the Dolby standard for digital surround sound. It is used by most DVDs and some newer games. The five dictates how many independant speakers are in the setup (3 in the front, two in the rear), and the .1 refers to a subwoofer. Also, newer DVDs support DolbyDTS 6.1, which adds another rear speaker.

All the Soundblaster Live! Cards can output a digital 5.1 sound to a Dolby Digital decoder. The 5.1 in the sound card's name indicates the ability to output 'analog' 5.1; the soundcard processes the digital signal on-board, like an amp, and then outputs the analog signal to your speakers. This allows you to hook up a much cheaper (albeit not quite as high quality) 5.1 setup.

Originally posted by Firebaal:
Right now I have a $30 pair of low-end 10 watts cyber accoustics speakers.

This onboard sound on this motherboard sounds much worse than the other onboard sound I had so I need a new sound card..

what is the difference between SB Live!, SB Audigy, and SantaCruz? is it worth paying double for a Audigy or SantaCruz?

I know I need better speakers but I don't like really loud music...

Would they still sound higher quality and clearer and stuff?

And what is 5.1 sound?

thanks