Are these sound cards worth it?

[SaxophoneMatt]

Hello,

I have been looking at sounds cards lately. I'm not an audio guru yet so i'm trying to learn. I was looking at the Sound Blaster Audigy Cards. Is there any difference between the Audigy 2 Platinum and the 'plain' platinum. I couldn't find any differences. (other than I can find Audigy 2 much much cheaper) And are these cards worth all the money? I'm trying to keep costs down but I also want to be able to record music well. If these aren't what i'm really looking for could someone help me find what I want??

Thanks a lot!!!

Matt

[TeeCee]

I advise you to skip the Sound Blaster platform all together. Most (maybe all) have at least one big issue with the sample rate being locked at 48kHz, converted on the fly when you want to record at 44.1kHz or any other sampling rate. Bad idea for CPU usage and audio quality (or lack there of). I'd look at an M-Audio Audiophile. If there's better for the money with MIDI I/O, I'd like to know about it. Anything less than that is unacceptable to me.

[SaxophoneMatt]

Hey thanks for your help i'll take a look into those!

Matt

[jeharris]

TeeCee:

There is ACTUALLY a better choice and it's from M-Audio. The M-Audio Delta Dio2496 is a better card than the audiophile. It has the same qualities but it also is configurable for consumer or professional levels, which the audiophile does not allow that kind of flexibility. And they are the same when it comes to their street price, which is approximately $199.99.

:D

[TeeCee]

Street price of the Audiophile is $150, it has more input channels, it has MIDI I/O, and you can configure the outputs for "consumer" or -10dBv. If you need an analog card and MIDI, it's still the better choice.

[jeharris]

TeeCee:

I had not realized the price drop for the autophile. And, if you need onboard MIDI it IS a better choice, though I would recommend a MIDISPORT interface for MIDI.

Anyway, this is all about a choice that allows more options without added hardware and mom taught me that if you're wrong, YOU'RE WRONG. And, on this one, YOU'RE RIGHT and I'M WRONG.

:D

[smileywiley]

If your're going to use your PC for other things than recording I'd go with the Audigy 2 but if it's strtictly recording... look elseware. The differance between audigy and audigy 2 is that audigy 2 allows for 24-bit/196khz DVD-Audio playback where the audigy is 96khz. Also the Audigy 2 allows for 6.1 speakers (who cares, creative is the only one that makes them and they certainly aren't "studio quality").

[Lee Tyler]

Go there.

sound card tests (http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/index.htm )

http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/musik/musik023.gif

[TeeCee]

Originally posted by Lee Tyler
Go there.

sound card tests (http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/index.htm )

http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/musik/musik023.gif
Just about 3 years old, now.

[Lee Tyler]

Thoses tests are invalid then???



Originally posted by TeeCee

Just about 3 years old, now.

[TeeCee]

Originally posted by Lee Tyler
Thoses tests are invalid then???

They don't cover anything newer or any revisions that may have been done to clean things up.