Kicking it up a Notch

Author's Rating:

Pros: Superb upgrade to on-board audio. Clear, crisp sound at a budget price.

Cons: Could cause you to spend more on speakers and music!

The Bottom Line: 
I am SO glad I made this little purchase. It has dramatically changed my computing experience.

Author's Review
For years, I've claimed "I don't do much with my computer, why do I need a sound card?" What I didn't stop to consider was that I might do more if it sounded better!

I recently upgraded to Windows Vista and the lowest denominator in my Vista experience was my motherboard. I don't have a terribly high end system, but I've maxed the motherboard to the point that it's not bad. I have a great add-on video card, lots of memory, a good processor, etc. The only component I never bothered with was sound. My computer is in the family room and generally competes with the TV for noise.

Anyway, Vista has been throwing errors stating that my audio is incompatible. Fine. I went on eBay and sought a cheap sound card. What I found in my price range was the Creative Sound Blaster 7.1 Audigy SE. I did a little research on the card and decided it would do nicely.

Wow! For a low end card, this made a huge difference in my sound experience. I had no idea! Although I don't typically use my computer for music, I *do* have 1400+ songs in iTunes for my iPod. I've discovered the joy of listening to them at home as well as on the road. Additionally, I've begun to look at my computer in a new light. I have a widescreen monitor...why not watch movies? The sound is great!

Specs and Tech Stuff
This card is an entry level sound card and was the cheapest name brand card I could find. I didn't expect much, but what I got surprised me. This card has EAX Advanced HD. I wasn't sure what that meant when I saw it on the description, but what it comes down to is depth and clarity to music, and amazing ambient sounds in my games. Even with crappy headphones, playing games takes on a more realistic feel. Suddenly, left and right are not only clearly separated, but left front and left back sound distinct.

Listening to my MP3 and iTunes music sounds fantastic. My speakers are somewhat mid-range...nothing an audiophile would covet. But even with that, the music takes on a "big room" feel in my little living room. The sounds are clear and distinct and I can go to the extent of the speakers with no sound quality loss.

Note: I have no clue what most of the rest of this stuff means but folks always want to know...

Playback:
24-bit Digital-to Analog conversion in 16 or 24-bit with sampling rates of up to 96Khz to analog 5.1 speakers.

Recording:
24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion in 16 or 24-bit with sampling rates of up to 96kHz.

On-Board Connectors:
Line level Out (Front / Rear / Side / Center / Subwoofer) or Headphone Out
Line In / Microphone In / *Digital I/O Aux Audio In

Supports SPDIF Out for Stereo Digital Speakers or SPDIF In/Out with Creative Digital I/O Module (sold separately).
SPDIF output with up to 24-bit resolution at selectable sampling rates of 44.1, 48 and 96kHz.

Other Stuff
The part that I was never able to definitely determine until I bought the card was "is it Vista compatible?" The answer is Yes. When I got the card, I put the driver disk in and was told that it was incompatible with the Operating System. However, Vista found the card just fine and loaded base drivers so that there was sound. Then, a quick trip to the Creative website netted an updated Windows Vista driver with all the bells and whistles.

Included software on the driver disk:
Creative MediaSource Go!
Creative MediaSource Go! Launcher
Creative MediaSource Player
Creative MediaSource Organizer
Creative Device Control
Creative Surround Mixer
Creative EAX Console
Creative WaveStudio
Creative Speaker Settings
Creative Graphic Equalizer
Creative SoundFont Bank Manager
Creative Smart Recorder

Sadly, most of this software is NOT Vista compatible and would not load. It looks like a nice bit of software and will probably be fun for those who don't have Vista

Summary
Overall, I am quite pleased with this purchase. It changed my opinion forever about on-board audio. While this is a low-end card, it has some very nice features and will definitely take your listening to the next level over built-in audio.

Installation was simple, just plug it into a PCI slot and go. The included CD has XP drivers but Vista drivers will need to be downloaded. The download was quick and smooth and everything went fine. I had my new card installed, drivers downloaded and installed and was listening to music within 20 minutes of opening the package.

Warning
If you've been using the on-board audio forever, like I have, then this card will not set you back much at all (under $30 with shipping on eBay). However, now that I have this card, I want better speakers and better headphones. I'll probably end up buying more music and movies on iTunes, etc. So there is a potential risk for creating additional expenses. This card could end up being quite pricey for me (ha!).