Recommended Sound Card - 4 Channel/5.1

**efficinet** · 02-22-2007, 04:50 PM

I am looking for the most trouble free, best sound, easiest to control sound card. I have removed my head unit so I want a 4 channel sound card (or 5.1). I made the mistake of using an inexpensive Compusa 4 channel card that for some reason will not play any sound coming in on the Line In out the rear speakers unless you have an echo feature turned on. Wave plays out front and rear with no problem. I suspect a quality card will not have that issue. Also, since I need to control front and rear it would be nice to have a card with a decent mixer that you could use with a touch screen.

What have you found to be the best and most reliable sound card with Road Runner?

**efficinet** · 02-22-2007, 04:52 PM

Also, are external cards better than internal PCI cards?

**Vodkapete** · 02-22-2007, 05:00 PM

Not many soundcards can upmix a stereo line-in signal to 4.0 or 5.1 (ie to get sound from all 4 speakers). I use the Creative Extigy - no longer available new, but can be picked up on ebay.

For:
Good quality sound
Automatically upmixes a stereo line-in signal to 5.1 sound, even when the car PC is turned off.
Has mixer software to control front/back bias

Against:
External device, and pretty bulky for a soundcard
If the power supply is cut when the SC is in hibernate, it forgets the mute and auto-upmix settings you have applied.
The mixer software is not very touchscreen friendly
The bass/treble controls must be set via the mixer control panel - RR control does not work.

In general I am happy with it, but it's not perfect, and if something better came along I would happily swap.

An alternative is to use the winamp line-in plug-in. This with upmix automatically, but can slow down a low power PC, and also mean you only get line-in sound when the PC is on (may or may not be a problem depending on how you use your car).

Ian

**efficinet** · 02-22-2007, 05:23 PM

Then should the Audigy SE effectively upmix the line-in? I am looking for an internal card. http://www.creative.com/products/pro...&product=14257

**Vodkapete** · 02-22-2007, 05:44 PM

Not sure - earlier 5.1 Audigy cards didn't, but I don't know about this 7.1 card

**efficinet** · 02-22-2007, 10:00 PM

It says:
CMSS up-mixes stereo content to 7.1 surround.

Does that mean it will up mix the line in?

**Vodkapete** · 02-23-2007, 02:18 PM

Not necessarily - in the earlier Audigy cards, CMSS upmixes stereo MP3s but not the line-in source.

This may be different with the 7.1 version, but without having one to try I don't know.

**RedGTiVR6** · 02-23-2007, 02:49 PM

which should i go with?

FAQ: Should I use onboard sound or an upgraded PCI or external soundcard?

list of external sound cards

Ultimate USB, Firewire, External Soundcard List

should help you some.

the front end doesn't really have that much impact on how the sound card will work.