Hey fellow AfterDawners, I'm planning on buying Sennheiser HD 202s and want to get the most out of these headphones. I'm on a low budget, hence the reason I'm getting HD 202, so the sound cards I have considered are the Creative Audigy Value 7.1 ($50AU) and the Sound Blaster OEM ($29AU). I want to listen to MP3s mainly, though I've read that getting higher bit-rate MP3s or using OGG files will increase quality without the need for a sound card. I run a rather old computer, maybe 7 years old, Athlon XP with an old Gigabyte motherboard. So I'm not sure if my motherboard can support some of the latest PCI-E cards. Thanks for any help or suggestions, Kantong
PCI-e doesn't really help improve audio quality, but you will certainly want a sound card as back in 2002 onboard sound was pathetic compared to what it is today. I would recommend something like a SoundBlaster Audigy SE. That plays MP3s fine, is PCI so it fits in all computers made in the last 15 years, and costs next to nothing. I've used one and thought it was pretty good, I only changed it to get an external USB version
For mp3's any PCI soundcard will work. I bought a lowend soundblaster soundcard and it improved the sound quality tremendously over the onboard audio. No need to spend too much money. If you will be listening to regular audio CD's, then a higher-end soundcard might be useful.
I don't think you'll really notice the difference between a basic SoundBlaster and a proper high-end Sound card without tremendously accurate speakers or headphones.
I see. The headphones I'm planning to buy are the Sennheiser HD 202. I'm not sure if they are 'tremendously clear' but they are the lower end priced products of Sennheiser. Maybe I'll just get the basic Sound Blaster instead of the Audigy SE. What do you guys reckon?
The Audigy SE is the most basic SoundBlaster you can buy, hence why I recommend it. Sennheiser Headphones are usually excellent. I own the HD212 which were relatively cheap and they sound superb.
There is a cheaper SoundBlaster, its $20AU cheaper, but only has 5.1 capabilities; which is more than sufficient. I mentioned it in my initial post. It has the CMSS feature, but lacks the Bass Boost and Graphics Equalizer. I think this is the "lowend" card jony218 is talking about.
Hmm, never seen that one before... Be advised that the Graphic Equalizer is missing on all OEM Creative products - no CD, no software, it is not provided on the website.
Yeah, for Creative sound cards I heavily recommend the extra for the retail version. The graphic equalizer is important for good sound quality. And it only comes on the creative CD with the retail cards. And yes, a Sound Blaster Audigy SE is about the best bang for buck. I've seen several used and they work well. I used a pair of Sennheiser HD212s as well for 2 years before they broke. I am now currently using the Creative Fatal1ty headset and they sound excellent with any decent sound card, but somewhat muddy with integrated audio.
If you are looking for audio quality you'll definitely want to stay away from MP3's. Treat yourself to some lossless .ogg or .flac files with a nice set of headphones. Once you get used to the CD-quality sound you will agree as well. Some of the more popular media players won't play these file types because they don't want you to have superior options. I use winamp with my FLAC's, I know the good media players such as media player classic and I believe VLC won't have any problem with the lossless audio types. If you have an MP3 player you frequently use there is a custom firmware called rockbox that you can load on a lot of popular MP3 players. This will let you play lossless file types.
I've compared FLAC with MP3, and yes I do notice the incredible difference. I just recently bought a Sony Walkman MP3 player, I'm not too keen on messing about with the firmware as loading on all my songs is a real pain. I'll check it out anyway, Cheers!
The Graphic Equaliser was nice when I had it, but alas, I didn't think to rip the CD to an iso before it got lost. I'm still using the HD212s after 2 1/2 years, no problems yet.
Lol. I've actually had a fair few incidents with mine too, I'm impressed they've stood up to this much.
