Sound card reccomendation for **music**

I have searched pretty thoroughly and I just can not find any help. It seems like everyone is really concerned about setting up their car for 5.1 or 7.1 so they can listen to DVDs, but all I really care about is the music. I drive an MR2, so its not like I'll have passengers in the back that want to watch DVDs while I am driving :)

My current set-up (off of a headunit) is a 4-channel amp powering my Kicker Resolution components, and a 1-channel amp powering my Image Dynamic woofers. I am looking at developing a CarPC around a sound card that meets my needs. I don't care about 5.1. I don't care about 7.1. I don't care about how perfect DVDs could sound with surround sound. I don't care about cards that come bundled with pretty software that lets me mix my own music, or record my own music. I DO care about sound quality.

Right now, I am looking at some cards made by AudioTrak and Terratec, but I was hoping that some of you more experienced folk could shed some light on this for me. What is a good sound card for pure sound quality, that will let me adjust the levels of each speaker and will let me control the level of my subs? I have read here that some of the Audigy cards will only put a signal to the LFE channel if there is no bass coming from the other speakers. That is the sort of thing I am trying to avoid. Thanks for any help.

Thomas Barrett

I bought a terratec off ebay. it sounds really nice & clear but it is a little bit lower than the one on the motherboard. I bought some cheap line drivers and will try those out. Terratec six pack 5.1. 45.00 delivered.

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Originally Posted by chut

I bought a terratec off ebay. it sounds really nice & clear but it is a little bit lower than the one on the motherboard. I bought some cheap line drivers and will try those out. Terratec six pack 5.1. 45.00 delivered.

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Lower?

yea, the output voltage on the m10000 is either 3.3 volt or 5.0 while the voltage from the terratec is 1.1 volt. I think thats why the volume doesn't get as loud now as it used to. I bought some cheap line drivers from ebay. If these punch up the volume then I will buy a good 6 channel line driver for the system and be done with it. I bought the terratec card because it has an optical input and I needed that to upgrade the sound from the XMPCR.

i use an extigy, atm my system isnt operational so theres a diskman plugged into my amps and in comparison it sounds awful

I use a SB Audigy 2 NX. 102dB s/n ratio is significantly better than most aftermarket head units.

I then connect the SB to an Audiocontrol three.1 line driver / equaliser. If you are serious about car audio, get one of these. You can control your subwoofer from this in-dash unit via knobs vs. messing around with software settings on your carputer to change your sub volume. The line driver portion of the unit is ideal for a carputer setup also.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...121-101&DEPA=1

comes in 5.1 as well but i don't know what else may have been changed. trust me. this is as good as it gets..

Agree, I recently got an M audio card and am very pleased with quality. Although not a game card at all but for audio I would say better then an Audigy.

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Originally Posted by Jackboot

I use a SB Audigy 2 NX. 102dB s/n ratio is significantly better than most aftermarket head units.

I then connect the SB to an Audiocontrol three.1 line driver / equaliser. If you are serious about car audio, get one of these. You can control your subwoofer from this in-dash unit via knobs vs. messing around with software settings on your carputer to change your sub volume. The line driver portion of the unit is ideal for a carputer setup also.

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I also use the Audigy NX...its sick.....right from my lappy to the Audigy..and I get great stereo sound...

I aree too, being able to adjsut individual speaker or subwoofer levels via the stereo system is a much better idea than via the computer. less distracting, easier adjustment.

with that in mind, and as the goal, then it really doesnt matter what card you get. your signal will be in stereo, so your requirements will be a single output of left and right signals. even the headphone out on a laptop could work wonderfully well. for music.