17.11 Our Picks
Here
are the sound adapters we recommend:
- General-purpose sound
-
Buy a motherboard with embedded
audio. Nearly all recent motherboards have standard
embedded audio. Even the basic embedded audio provided with
inexpensive motherboards is sufficient for most needs. Premium
motherboards include better audio chipsets that provide top-notch
sound and support such features as advanced 3D positional audio and
Dolby Digital 5.1. The tight integration of embedded audio makes
compatibility problems and resource conflicts much less likely. If
you are building or upgrading a system, there is seldom reason to use
anything other than the embedded audio supplied with the motherboard.
- PCI sound card (budget)
-
Philips Sonic Edge 5.1. Although
Creative Labs, SIIG, and others make good basic PCI sound cards, we
think the Philips Sonic Edge 5.1 is the standout choice among PCI
sound cards that sell for $30 or less. Sound quality is inferior to
that of the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz or the Creative Labs Audigy 2,
but the Sonic Edge is fine for playing DVDs, CD audio, or MP3/OGG
files and for casual gaming (http://www.pcsound.philips.com/_sonic605.html).
- PCI sound card (premium)
-
Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. At
$70 or so, this is the best consumer-grade sound card available. It
supports six-speaker surround sound, including virtual 5.1 processing
that emulates full surround sound from two-channel stereo sources. It
supports all major PC audio standards, including A3D, EAX, DS3D,
IA3D, and Sensaura, and provides DOS game compatibility under Windows
9X. Good drivers are available for all major operating systems,
including Linux. We have experienced no compatibility problems with
Intel, VIA, ALi, or SiS chipsets, which is more than we can say for
some sound cards. Unless you work with PC audio for a living, the
Santa Cruz is probably all the sound card you'll
ever need. This is the sound card we install when features and sound
quality matter (http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/santacruz/).
- ISA sound card
-
None. ISA sound cards have always
been trouble-prone, and are now obsolete. If a system has only ISA
slots available, it's time to replace the
motherboard. The embedded PCI audio on even inexpensive motherboards
is a far superior solution.
For updated recommendations, visit: http://www.hardwareguys.com/picks/soundcard.html.
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