Suggestions For Good Quality Vista-compat Soundcard

[jfchandler]

I recently updated to a new desktop computer (HP Pavilion with PCI Express motherboard but RealTek onboard sound) that came with MS Vista Business Edition, replacing an old Dell PCI desktop with a separate soundcard I had with XP Pro...

As a consequence, as best as I can tell, the old (but very good) Montego A3d 64 voice PCI soundcard I had in the old Dell machine likely won't work in the new HP machine. I haven't tried physically installing it yet, but I searched far and wide and can't find any reference to Vista 32-bit drivers for that card.

So... I'm looking for some advice about this....

1. Suggestions for a good quality, reasonably priced Vista 32-bit compatible sound card for recording music to be had in BKK.... And if so, where to find and about what price.

(During a recent holiday back to the U.S., I spent a lot of time shopping for new soundcards. But everything I read about Creative's models was pretty bad for operating in Vista. And I didn't find much good to say about other companies' Vista models either).

2. The likelihood of getting the old Montego A3d card to work properly (and record music well) in the new Vista machine....

Thanks very much...in advance....

[jfchandler]

OK... so.... no one has a recommendation for a good Vista compatible sound card???????? Hard to believe that!!!!

[A_Traveller]

What do you want the card to do that the SB system on the Mother Board doesn't?

Regards

PS As a guide might be worth looking at Creative's range of cards.

Edited July 23, 2008 by A_Traveller

[jeffer]

OK... so.... no one has a recommendation for a good Vista compatible sound card???????? Hard to believe that!!!!

Not so hard to believe. Unless you're in the music business or an audiophile then most people with a new computer don't bother with soundcards anymore with onboard sound generally pretty good now. My hearing isn't what it used to be so I'd spend money on a good set of speakers, not on a sound card as I'm less likely to notice much difference between a sound card and onboard sound but can still hear a big difference between tinny inbuilt monitor speakers as opposed to a decent set of computer speakers or hooking up to some full size speakers.

[jfchandler]

Thanks for the responses.... I have a very good set of PC speakers.... But my question here is not about playing music from the PC....but instead.... RECORDING music from a turntable onto my PC...

I've got a couple boxes full of pretty classic rock LPs that I want to digitize before they (and I) get much older... So, if I'm going to spend the time to do that and keep the digital versions in perpetuity, I want to get as clean and good quality a digital recording as possible.

My HP Pavilion has RealTek High Definition Audio onboard. I dont know all the particulars of that RealTek hardware, but I'm assuming it's not up to the same standard as a good standalone soundcard... But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...

[Guest Reimar]

Creative Sound Blaster Card. You can get them by Hard Ware House Intl.

Cheers.

[A_Traveller]

Most SB installations support stereo line in, and using a suitable software package you might find the set up not as lacking as you think, so I'm told by those of a musical persuasion.

However if you're requirements are more prosumer then the top of the range Creative cards and mixers in the X-Fi range may be more suitable, as I noted originally. By the by the Creative Thai site is, not unreasonably in Thai, so you may prefer to look at the Singapore site to get some specs and cross reference the two.

Regards

[Florin]

The ASUS Xonar series seem to be very nice...and Hardware House has them on their website, with much better pricing than comparative Creative solutions.

HOWEVER...I have yet to see one in an actual store, if anyone sees it in Pantip, I'd love to know also.

[jfchandler]

The Creative soundcard models, particularly when running Vista, seem to have gotten VERY mixed reviews in looking at Amazon, CompUSA and other places with many user reviews posted. Lots of talk about software problems and unwanted noise pops and clicks. But other users say their experience has been fine.

So I was in a bit of a dilemma... I hopefully was looking for a better soundcard solution for Vista where there wasn't quite so much discord about quality and useability.

[A_Traveller]

To be fair a great deal of the discord was created by the driver issue {note: let's not revisit where the issue was really}. The latest cards plus the latest drivers seem to be getting better responses. Problem for all card makers is the increasing sophistication of the on-board systems, which provide, especially for outputs, an effective solution, thereby driving the card providers into focusing on niches, such as recording, providing additional hardware etc.. By the by, Vista itself can be an issue when one wanders in to the DRM arena, but that is another tale.

Regards

/edit clarity typo//

Edited July 24, 2008 by A_Traveller

[jfchandler]

Thanks A.... Appreciate the feedback....

As I mentioned above, I want to digitize a large boxful of rock/pop LPs...

My computer hardware and software are perfectly fine/suited to accomplish that. The only question is whether, for that purpose, it would be worth my while to spend another $50 to $100 on a separate soundcard, or just go with the RealTek HD Audio onboard system that's on my MOBO....

Obviously, the original analog LPs don't provide an absolutely clear input source... So, I was hoping to use a soundcard for capture that doesn't further deteriorate or muck up the analog input. I just don't have any good guage for whether the RealTek HD Audio is suited to that.

[A_Traveller]

My view would be to try it and see what the results are. If you have a line-in connexion then RD should manage it fine, though if you only have a mic connexion {unlikely in this scenario }than you'll probably need an attenuator.

Regards