Seriously, I tried the one on WMP and the one with the Realtec HD audio manager, and it just made it sound muddy/tinny, which is annoying and rubbish.

I remember when I used the one that came with my Audigy 2ZS, it really added a lot to the music, gave it a lot more fealing without ruining it. I would put it back in, but I don't have a spare PCI slot (currently claimed by a Wi-fi card). I'm now considering getting a PCI-E X-Fi just to have the old equaliser back (and cos they're apparently really good for music. £32 for the cheapest one or £64 for the good one, hmm...

Forget Creative, Adlib are the best.

Wow, that's OLD.

Did you get a X-Fi for your comp in the end, Aaron?

The Rampage Extreme was the first Asus mobo to come with a proper X-Fi card

Ohh, it has one built in?

What do you think of it?

It's a PCI-Express x1 card that comes bundled with the board. It's really good and has some very good bundled software (required activating via Creative website). The X-Fi Crystalliser makes things sound artificially good, but in a good way. Sound coming from either the Harman Kardon's or the Sennheiser's is top notch and I can't fault it.

Would you say it would be worth it for me at £65?

No. I still don't see why these cards cost so much money. The only difference compared to the integrated audio is the software, and even the software is not that good... it just offers crystallisation, which only really works on MP3's to be honesy... although that's quite good, I mostly play games.

Fair enough, I'd heard lots of good things about the X-Fi. I really need to hear the difference for myself, I think.

The EQs in these aren't the things that make or break the sound, though if you've really got the ear for it then a good EQ will do wonders. Not sure why regular fully mixed and mastered music would need it, unless you're compensating for something your speakers lack.

Speakers are the most obvious thing that make your rig sound better, but if you're talking specifically about these cards then it's all about the DA conversion (digital to analog) that makes for the sound 'quality' - when people talk about the 'detail', 'air' and other silly but most relevant buzzwords, it's really in the conversion that you get this. Basically, your audio running at probably 44.1khz is converting a 'bit' of audio 44,100 times a second, and good converters do this very accurately with a special built in clock. When a unit gets these samples off 1/44,100th of a second, it's called jitter and sound quality is compromised. The one you're thinking of getting at £65 is very likely to have major jitter, but you won't notice it - just don't compare it anywhere for ignorant bliss.

If you want full pro quality and almost zero jitter, the cheapest is probably a uni called an Apogee Duet but you don't need to go that far for good gaming audio (though you would hear sound a world away from what you're used to).

I'm not sure what the best mid range PCIe cards are, but if you're considering anything then give it a search on a site like gearslutz.com, but ultimatly this guy hit it on the head:



You're the one you're trying to please, after all.

Sounds like you're into your audio, Savenake, That's some pretty insightful stuff.

The reason I like equalisers is when set correctly they add a little bit more power in the right places to give musics that little extra something. As all tastes are different, the original won't be the best version for everyone.

Bear in mind little cuts in the right places are often a better bet, as most modern music has had each frequency pushed to it's limit so anything else and it will clip. Main thing is trust your ears and A/B compare (click bypass and compare to the original) while you EQ so you know you're actually improving the sound with what you do...

I will audio geek out at every opportunity. I like to think the term psycho-acoustician has two meanings.

Heh, I'm afraid I have no idea what you're on about there. I get the impression you're on about hardware equalisers, though, but I was on about software equalisers (ones in software, like WMP). For some reason they make the music seem all "muddy", probably due to the extra processing going on.

Cut... the opposite of boost. The perfect solution to the 'muddy' sound, in fact try cutting around 200-500 Hz on your EQ (or just the bass knob if that all it has) to get rid of mud. Or having your speakers ideally more than a foot away from walls and corners, because that makes the low end sound crap.

That's enough because I'm off topic and it doesn't matter too much with gaming.

Ah, thanks, I started lowering the bars on WMP and raised the overall volume, worked a treat!

Clever Man Saves Skillers Monies!!

I wish you made a lolcat for that.

Bah, Im Only Little, Cant Do Anything Cool. I Just Bully People Because Im Little And Its What Little Annoying No Freinded Boys Seem To Do.