Sound Blaster Live vs DFI Lan Party built-in sound

  • Thread starter Thread starter doobeeyah
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doobeeyah

Hi,

I've recently put together a system with an AMD64 3200+ and a DFI
LanParty board with Nforce 350 chipset. The board has built in 7
channel sounds. I also have an older Sound Blaster Live card. Question
is, in term of sound quality, which one is better? If the Live is
better, I can use it for game. If not, I will use the built in sound
option.

Thanks.
 
from said:
Hi,

I've recently put together a system with an AMD64 3200+ and a DFI
LanParty board with Nforce 350 chipset. The board has built in 7
channel sounds. I also have an older Sound Blaster Live card. Question
is, in term of sound quality, which one is better? If the Live is
better, I can use it for game. If not, I will use the built in sound
option.
Click to expand...

Sound quality is very subjective, but I'd personally take any of the
nForce implementations over an SBLive any day of the week, if only
because the drivers are less likely to SNAFU the system .. but (IMO) the
nForce sounds better too (at least the nForce2 did, I assume the 350
hasn't gone backwards from there).

Also depends what you have hooked to it .. I mean neither my speakers,
nor the computer room they reside in, are exactly $1,000 HiFi quality.
8>.
 
Sound quality is very subjective, but I'd personally take any of the
nForce implementations over an SBLive any day of the week, if only
because the drivers are less likely to SNAFU the system .. but (IMO) the
nForce sounds better too (at least the nForce2 did, I assume the 350
hasn't gone backwards from there).
Click to expand...

I'd take a rusty washboard over *anything* Creative has ever sold. I just
bought a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz for my WinMachine (my wife was getting
pissed at no sound). It works *very* well. ...certainly better than
anything I've used from CL!
Also depends what you have hooked to it .. I mean neither my speakers,
nor the computer room they reside in, are exactly $1,000 HiFi quality.
8>.
Click to expand...

Computers and $1000 HiFi's? Well you really gotta keep up that 107dB
seperation between channels and the 100dB noise floor that sound cards
promise!
 
Sound quality is very subjective, but I'd personally take any of the
nForce implementations over an SBLive any day of the week, if only
because the drivers are less likely to SNAFU the system .. but (IMO) the
nForce sounds better too (at least the nForce2 did, I assume the 350
hasn't gone backwards from there).
Click to expand...

I'm afraid there's no built-in audio on a nForce3 - looks like it had to be
dropped for a single-chip "solution". My MSI K8N Neo2 Plat. has a RealTek
ALC850.:-(

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??
 
I'd take a rusty washboard over *anything* Creative has ever sold. I just
bought a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz for my WinMachine (my wife was getting
pissed at no sound). It works *very* well. ...certainly better than
anything I've used from CL!
Click to expand...

Alas Ensoniq - I'm still ouraged that Creative LLC was allowed to buy a
competitor with better technology, just so they could snuff it out.
Remember those were also the buggers who tried to impose a proprietary
CD-ROM interface "standard" and even when that was shot down they refused
to sell a sound card without an IDE/ATAPI interface for years after the
ATAPI interface was well established. They'll never see a red cent of
mine.

My Ensoniq Vivo just got retired with my P3B-F.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??
 
I've recently put together a system with an AMD64 3200+ and a DFI
LanParty board with Nforce 350 chipset. The board has built in 7
channel sounds. I also have an older Sound Blaster Live card. Question
is, in term of sound quality, which one is better? If the Live is
better, I can use it for game. If not, I will use the built in sound
option.
Click to expand...

Sound quality is rather tough to compare and also can vary greatly
from one solution to another with identical chips. I have two
motherboards that both use the same C-Media chip but where one sounds
quite good, the other kind of stinks.

This particular board seems to use a Realtek ALC850 codec, which can
be used to produce very good quality sound. Given that this is a
higher-end board from DFI, I would guess that it'll sound every bit as
good as an SBLive card.

Of course, I'm with Keith and his rusty washboard when it comes to
anything Creative-related. Creative is, IMO, one of the worst
companies in the computer business. Their drivers have almost always
been awful, often taking years to fix well-known bugs, and the company
has used more than it's share of shady business practices.


If I were you, I would either stick with the integrated audio or get a
new sound card. For the above-mentioned system with the rather crummy
integrated audio I purchased a Chaintech AV-710 using the VIA Envy
24PT chipset. Sound quality on this card is excellent, it has all the
standard features and all necessary connectors (including optical
out). Considering the system in question is my media center PC (if I
ever get the damn software working right! :> ), good sound is somewhat
important. Best of all though, this card was VERY economical. Newegg
lists it for $25 (though they're out of stock).
 
If I were you, I would either stick with the integrated audio or get a
new sound card. For the above-mentioned system with the rather crummy
integrated audio I purchased a Chaintech AV-710 using the VIA Envy
24PT chipset. Sound quality on this card is excellent, it has all the
standard features and all necessary connectors (including optical
out). Considering the system in question is my media center PC (if I
ever get the damn software working right! :> ), good sound is somewhat
important. Best of all though, this card was VERY economical. Newegg
lists it for $25 (though they're out of stock).
Click to expand...

I bought the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz from newegg for $36. ...and
they're in stock. ;-)

I'll let you know when I get around to trying to record from vinyl.
Perhaps in a couple of weeks.
 
since we're talking sound cards, just wondering if any of you can tell
me what sort of speaker set-up is required to take good advantage of,
say, a low to mid-range sound card. i have an altec lansing 2.1 set
with 30 watts of power and a fairly thumping sub-woofer. it's plenty
loud for my apartment and has good overall sound quality using my comps
integrated sound. but what i want is more brillance and clarity of
sound. better seperation and envelopment of sound. higher highs and
lower lows. if i add a sound card do you think my modest 2.1 system
will do the trick. even in a modest way? which would be fine. also, i
have seen a turtle beach usb external plug-in keychain card. at $30.00
this would seem low end. might this sort of card be the sort of sound
enhancer my 2.1 system is best suited for? thanks for any replys : )
 
Trying to steal the thunder from Arnold said:
if i add a sound card do you think my modest 2.1 system
will do the trick.
Click to expand...

No. Even a low-end sound card can sound MUCH better with
a good amp (receiver) and speakers.

I've seen good systems (receiver and 5.1 speakers) selling
for under $200, and that'll give you WAY better sound than
any $200 'computer' speakers available (with ANY sound card),
AND be far more versatile, and expandable.
 
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