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Sound Cards for Your PC or Laptop
No matter what you like to do with your computer, whether it is a
speakers will not do it justice.
How would you qualify your audio profile?
* '''Music professional''' or audio connoisseur interested in making recordings
**
192
**
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer
* '''Basic user''': Music, gaming, watching DVDs
** If you just want to listen to music, then a basic sound card will work. However, if you are interested in watching DVDs, you will probably need to get something that provides surround sound. The
USB or
FireWire port.
** For recording music check this out the
Speaker and
microphone connections most often come included
* Midi/game ports
**
Joysticks and controller hook up
** Ability to plug in
synthesizers and other electronic equipment, such as
instruments, etc.
* Full-duplex
Browsing for Sound Cards by Most Frequent Specifications
If you want your sound card to run flawlessly, opt for one that has an integrated DPS (like a GPU), so as not to waste useful computer CPU.
* '''Bit Depth''' measures CODEC (ADC & DAC are analog/digital converters) capacity: 24, 32, 64, 168
* '''Output Channels and Mode''': Stereo, Mono, 4.13 Dolby Digital
* '''Max.Sample Rate''': 48, 96, 192
* '''Form Factor''': Plug-in Card or module, External
* '''Interface''' aka how the sound card connects to the motherboard: PCI, ISA, USB, CNR, and FireWire
Search by Brand Name
For all types of users, and for users with all types of things to accomplish, there is the new
Sound Blaster
*
Intel
*
Voyetra
*
IBM
*
Terratec Electronic