Looks like the built-into-mobo sound on my wife's PC has taken a
dive... inadequate volume.

Any recommendations for cheapy add-in sound cards?

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave

On a sunny day (Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:46:24 -0700) it happened Jim Thompson
wrote in
:

Looks like the built-into-mobo sound on my wife's PC has taken a
dive... inadequate volume.

Any recommendations for cheapy add-in sound cards?

Thanks!

If you can still get these, the old Creative labs
Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq 5880 AudioPCI.
Ensoniq was bought by Creative, their cards were very good.
Was marketed as soundblaster xxx bit PCI IIRC.
Forget about SB live and stuff, more expensive and much worse quality.
Many of the other cheap cards use cheap chips, are noisy, and do not allow
faders to go to zero, a nuisance if you still have a source connected.

In article , To-Email-Use-
says...
Looks like the built-into-mobo sound on my wife's PC has taken a
dive... inadequate volume.

Any recommendations for cheapy add-in sound cards?

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson

I have used one of the Dynex (Best Buy's house brand) PCI sound cards
for the very same reason, and it worked just fine. I just disabled the
on board AC97 support and popped in the card. Worked like a charm.

Jim

Did you check the settings in the control panel? (I know it's like saying,
"Did you check the fuse?")

The June 2008 issue of Elektor had a comparison of 9 Soundcards -- Terratec
Producer Phase 22 was tops, Creative E-MU 0202 was second and ASUS Xonar
third. The RME Multiface II would have been top-rated had it not been for a
"linearity" error.

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:04:57 GMT, Jan Panteltje
wrote:

On a sunny day (Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:46:24 -0700) it happened Jim Thompson
wrote in
:

Looks like the built-into-mobo sound on my wife's PC has taken a
dive... inadequate volume.

Any recommendations for cheapy add-in sound cards?

Thanks!

If you can still get these, the old Creative labs
Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq 5880 AudioPCI.
Ensoniq was bought by Creative, their cards were very good.
Was marketed as soundblaster xxx bit PCI IIRC.
Forget about SB live and stuff, more expensive and much worse quality.
Many of the other cheap cards use cheap chips, are noisy, and do not allow
faders to go to zero, a nuisance if you still have a source connected.


Thanks to all who offered ideas!

I went with Jan's... "old" Creative Labs... cheap but rated well.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave

Jim Thompson wrote:

Looks like the built-into-mobo sound on my wife's PC has taken a
dive... inadequate volume.

Any recommendations for cheapy add-in sound cards?

Hahhahahahaha !

You won't see the best advice because you're a stupid clot who filters
me, so I can happilly tell you that you need a 2nd hand (cheap)
Soundblaster Audigy ( doesn't matter much which model).

Damn good card for next to tuppence and your bigotry means you'll
doubtless buy something inferior for more money ! What Joy !

Graham

In article ,
Jan Panteltje wrote:

Looks like the built-into-mobo sound on my wife's PC has taken a
dive... inadequate volume.

Any recommendations for cheapy add-in sound cards?

Thanks!

If you can still get these, the old Creative labs
Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq 5880 AudioPCI.
Ensoniq was bought by Creative, their cards were very good.
Was marketed as soundblaster xxx bit PCI IIRC.

Agreed. These cards are often eBay-able very cheaply, since are not
the "latest and greatest". Your local computer-surplus store may very
well have one or more sitting around on the shelves.

Cards with the original ES1370 chip seem (in my limited experience) to
have the best reputation. Cards with the newer ES1371 (and ES1373 I
think) cards may not have quite as good a codec onboard, but are still
very good.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Dave Platt wrote:

In article ,
Jan Panteltje wrote:

Looks like the built-into-mobo sound on my wife's PC has taken a
dive... inadequate volume.

Any recommendations for cheapy add-in sound cards?

Thanks!

If you can still get these, the old Creative labs
Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq 5880 AudioPCI.
Ensoniq was bought by Creative, their cards were very good.
Was marketed as soundblaster xxx bit PCI IIRC.

Agreed. These cards are often eBay-able very cheaply, since are not
the "latest and greatest". Your local computer-surplus store may very
well have one or more sitting around on the shelves.

Cards with the original ES1370 chip seem (in my limited experience) to
have the best reputation. Cards with the newer ES1371 (and ES1373 I
think) cards may not have quite as good a codec onboard, but are still
very good.

Adequate for sure but seriously 'old-hat'.

Graham

"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message ...
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:04:57 GMT, Jan Panteltje
wrote:


Thanks to all who offered ideas!

I went with Jan's... "old" Creative Labs... cheap but rated well.



I was wondering if you tried rolling back the device driver. One
of my customers had automatic updates activated and MS installed
a non-functional device driver. Rolling it back solved the problem.

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:58:27 -0500, "Lord Garth"
wrote:


"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message ...
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:04:57 GMT, Jan Panteltje
wrote:


Thanks to all who offered ideas!

I went with Jan's... "old" Creative Labs... cheap but rated well.



I was wondering if you tried rolling back the device driver. One
of my customers had automatic updates activated and MS installed
a non-functional device driver. Rolling it back solved the problem.


Aaaaargh! Didn't think of that. Oh, well! My wife will be happy
with the nice upgrade ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave

"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message news
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:58:27 -0500, "Lord Garth"
wrote:


"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message ...
On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:04:57 GMT, Jan Panteltje
wrote:


Thanks to all who offered ideas!

I went with Jan's... "old" Creative Labs... cheap but rated well.



I was wondering if you tried rolling back the device driver. One
of my customers had automatic updates activated and MS installed
a non-functional device driver. Rolling it back solved the problem.


Aaaaargh! Didn't think of that. Oh, well! My wife will be happy
with the nice upgrade ;-)

If I wasn't so busy, I'd have caught your post in time Jim

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message
...
| Looks like the built-into-mobo sound on my wife's PC has taken a
| dive... inadequate volume.
|
| Any recommendations for cheapy add-in sound cards?
|
| Thanks!
|
| ...Jim Thompson

For future reference:

http://www.hothardware.com/Articles/...xi_Sound_Muse/

I have a Guillemot PCI sound card with a Yamaha chipset, and its a great little card. Excellent sound.
Only $30, hard to find in the US.

Cheers

Martin Riddle wrote:

I have a Guillemot PCI sound card with a Yamaha chipset, and its a great little card.

Oh LUCKY YOU !

Just get an SB Audigy. No nonsense, no fuss, good sound.

Graham