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Ode To Sound Blaster: Are Discrete Audio Cards Still Worth the Investment?
MojoKid (1002251) writes "Back in the day (which is a scientific measurement for anyone who used to walk to school during snowstorms, uphill, both ways), integrated audio solutions had trouble earning respect. Many enthusiasts considered a sound card an essential piece to the PC building puzzle. It's been 25 years since the first Sound Blaster card was introduced, a pretty remarkable feat considering the diminished reliance on discrete audio in PCs, in general. These days, the Sound Blaster ZxR is Creative's flagship audio solution for PC power users. It boasts a signal-to-noise (SNR) of 124dB that Creative claims is 89.1 times better than your motherboard's integrated audio solution. It also features a built-in headphone amplifier, beamforming microphone, a multi-core Sound Core3D audio processor, and various proprietary audio technologies. While gaming there is no significant performance impact or benefit when going from onboard audio to the Sound Blaster ZxR. However, the Sound Blaster ZxR produced higher-quality in-game sound effects and it also produces noticeably superior audio in music and movies, provided your speakers can keep up."
And past this post, no further information from Slashdot ever reached my location.
People who know and value quality audio are willing to buy discrete audio cards even though it costs them more money.
However, they don't realize that the improvement they see is because they are also willing to pay more money for quality cables. It's the solid gold Monster Cables that they buy because the salesperson at Fry's recommends them that is really the source of the improved audio quality.
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
Which is ironic, because no audiophile would ever use gear from Creative Labs, ever, EVER.
Well, you do have to use Monster Cables, and Klipsch speakers in a soundproof isobaric chamber
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I can't wait to buy a shiny new Sound Blaster ZxR so I can get that noticeably superior audio. It'll be great for my collection of 128 Kbps MP3s!
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
Only if you use the gold plated cables.
Of course you can't tell the difference. You need the Monster cables to go with them!
Don't forget the RF shielded optical fiber interconnects, for true fidelity at high frequencies, and a mellow bass.
Old and busted. I don't know how you can tolerate listening to the harshness and small sound stage caused by RF shielded optical fiber interconnects that aren't impedance matched as well.