Budget Question

O

obyj34

Gawd
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Nov 18, 2003
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I'm building soon and right now I'm on the topic of sound. I listen to some music, watch movies, and do some heavy gaming but most of the time with headphones so I only want to spend a small amount of money on sound. And also I have 0 knowledge of sound so correct me if my ideas are wrong.

Right now I'm thinking I am going to either get a low-end sound card, possibly one of these.. Second idea was to get a semi high end sound card, and being that I'm a gamer this card struck my fancy.

Now on to speakers, I've been doing some research and this seems to be my 3 options, either the Logitech Z640 5.1 Speakers, the Creative SBS560 5.1 Speakers , or the Altec Lansing 251 5.1 Amplified Speaker System.

I'm open to all comments and my knowledge in this field is limited, so don't hesitate to tell me my choices are stupid.
 
Thats a diffrent card, there are 2 versions of the ZS, the gamer pack, and this one which goes for $88, so it's $43 for Halo, Jedi Knight 2, and Splinter Cell. Thats about $14 a game, and two of them are quality games.

Plus its 7.1 but I'll never use that (unless I get those speakers for free/cheap).
 
Kinda partial to the Altec's myself
Had a set of Altec ACS340 2.1's that were very excellent speakers
 
The Logitech Z640 speakers are great for a budget sound system. They are awesome in games and movies. Ok in music though. For the amount of money, I think they are a very hard speaker system to beat. I have them for more than a year now and they are doing great without any problems at all.



As for the soundcard, you may also want to consider the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz one. Another great soundcard for a very low price.
 
Get the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card. Great all around IMO. I think i had the first card you were talking about, then returned it for the turtle beach. The Turtle Beach is much better IMO. So at least look into it.
 
hell, i was happy with my midiland 2.1 set with a muse 5.1 dvd :p
that is on a budget of $40 (give or take)

i have an audigy 2 zs now and a love/hate relationship with it but mostly love (READ: positive experiance)
i do enjoy the small enhancement to the gaming experinace and EAX is kinda cool when done well but simple fact of the matter is that EAX is 'canned' sound processing effects. There will be times in Rainbow Six 3 when i'll get full reverb of a gun shot as if both my head and gun were in an oil drum... but i'm at the garage door of a warehouse? take a step back... i get the nice ourside gun shot sound. anyway, its a new card and i'm still fiddleing with it.

the A2ZS gamer has a sweet software bundle, its up to you if you want these games.

altec lansing have always been good to me but that was back when i would tweek the famliy gateway computer... the only computer that i could remotely call my own at the time. altec lansings have great clarity for music. they just don't have the shaking bass logitech has (which is better for movies and games) Also music is mostly stereo, so a simple 2.1 would do if you use headphones for your gaming and movie watchin'

my brother does own an older logitech setup which really kicks the bass. (the sub died on him so he sent it back, just the sub, and they sent him a whole new set. hes got 4 of the sats just kinda sitting around. very common story from what i've read on the threads. i haven't heard the newer logitech personally but i read good things) The 5.1 setup would be kickin' for games provided you have room to set them up properly (like a large bed room, NOT a cramped dorm) Not to mention a good movie experiance too.

Because you rock the headphones, skimp more on the speakers and less on the soundcard.

since your a game player, your probally got a larger budget to get the extra power games require. If you can fit it into your budget get the A2ZS and the Logitechs and just shoot the balls of the thing and be done with it.

the TBSC is a wonderful card, but its got mic probs. I'm not sure if this is a driver problem or hardware problem or what, i don't have my own to monkey with. i've been using teamspeak hardcore with EVERY game i play (diablo 2, rainbow six 3, quake 3, gunbound...), its just so... natural. And its easy to forsee any game that wants to be something will have some kind of voice connectivity over the next year or two. theres aways the game theater xp to consider, TBSCs main compeditor. people who have a GTXP swear by them so that must mean they are good for something

bottom line is its all about how much your willing to spend. and also what you'll be able to notice. if it sounds good to you, great
 
Hmmm, thanks for the info, now I'm contemplating the price vrs. what I really need.

And my gamers budget is suprisingly small. :rolleyes:
 
Buy a cheaper sound card with good headphones output quality, like the TBSC.

Spend the extra money on better speakers.

Speakers are where the analog sounds you hear are actually put into a form you can hear, and where the limitation to sound quality is most acute.

Spending more on your sound card than your speakers is downright stupid unless you're concerned more about the prestige of a particular sound card or on frame rates than the actual quality of sound.

Buying an Audigy2 ZS with Z-640's is spending at least 30% too much on a sound card and 1/2 as much as should be spent on speakers.
 
I say more for the soundcard because I was under the impresion that mr obyj34 uses headpones more often then speakers for sound enjoyment. Although, I dunno how great these headphones are... Otherwise I am in agreement, the speakers/headphones need to be as good if not better then the soundcard. Any of the audigys aren't really budget friendly but they normally make up for this with the bundle. If an Audigy2 is beyond your budget, then i'd say look into a Game Theater XP. I don't have one myself because my upgrade path whent from a Muse to Audigy 2 ZS, and thats quite a bit of a jump. I justified the A2ZS because its a lot more mature version of the creative Audigy line and it shows. Its a soild card for gaming and I forsee it lasting me a long time. Perhaps longer then my Muse.
 
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