So, after having bought a new desk, and moving my laptop in there, I kinda want a setup with some decent sound, since even though the laptop is very good, the sound isn’t.
And that got me thinking - is there any use for soundcards these days? And what should one get for a…or two speakers for a decent setup?
Thanks in advance!
The vast majority of people don’t use sound cards, anymore. Onboard sound is perfectly fine for most motherboards. Sound cards still fill a niche for audiophiles, however.
As for your speaker situation, I would actually consider a good headset.
Thanks Dan - I guess you are right about soundcards - I was just kinda curious. Especially since at work I have some VERY nice Sennheisser (400 dollars) headphones, but a crappy computer, and the sound isn’t really very good in them.
As for a headset - I thought about that, but since my GF will be in the couch next to me, I’d like to be able to speak with her at the same time :-)
I use a StarTech 7.1 USB sound card hooked in to my Logitech 5.1 surround system on my laptop. It sounds very good and was real easy to set up.
I also don’t us headphones as I like to speak with my wife and kids as I game as well. To be fair the wife complains a bout teh surround sound system as well, says it is too loud and the sub woofer too noisy :)
There’s a ton of USB sound cards out there, but most of them are junk. The Sound Blaster ones are pretty good, but they’re expensive and can have quality issues.
Output to a powered amp that drives a decent pair of shelf speakers. Powered “computer speakers” are garbage.
I have some Shenzen garbage amp (replaced a decent one that unfortunately had hardware issues) and a pair of Micca speakers and the setup sounds much better than even a high-end Creative setup I had before. No surround, but my use case is about 99% music and 1% immersive gaming so that doesn’t bother me in the slightest.