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Do you need a dedicated sound card in 2019? Creative thinks so and is out to prove it with the brand new Sound Blaster AE-7 Hi-Res DAC/Amp PCI-e sound card. It features premium components, custom audio enhancements, a set of specs to make any audiophile proud, and a desktop audio control module to keep the control at your fingertips. We went hands-on to find out the answer for ourselves.
Comments
Aloha Mr Hand !
This kind of has me excited to try exploring sound cards. Iv been a casual PC enthusiast ( if such a thing exists) for years i never even considered exploring sound cards. Im going to shop around, any suggestions ?
Aloha Mr Hand !
Currently playing: WildStar, Guild Wars 2, EVE Online, Vain Glory.
I can certainly recommend the soundblaster Z, its not 'cheap' but its 'cheaper' than some of the higher end sounblasters, my speakers are in the under £100 bracket, which is good, but not the type of high end speakers you would likely need to get the full benefit of the higher end soundblasters. Having got used to the one i have though, i can't imagine going back to not having a soundcard!
Another option would be to think about the on-board sound chip on the motherboard. Motherboards with better on-board sound might cost $20, maybe even $50 more - which will also add other features - but should be cheaper than this card.
Which also highlights a problem for Creative Labs: on-board sound is improving. Making it harder and harder to justify a dedicated card.
On-board sound quality would probably improve faster if this feature of motherboards got more attention as well.
And not a $50.00 pair of speakers:)
Is it worth spending $3-$400.00 dollars? For most, no. If you use your system to listen to music a lot...maybe...but anything you can do on your computer, i think you can do better and cheaper on a decent stereo system.
And for anyone that really wants to go wild and spend more...naw, waste of money going the computer route IMO.
I would say go to a good store and try out some nice headphones first. The vast majority of people today that use a computer would barely be able to notice the difference between built on sound and a sound card.
Sound cards have there place...but it is one of those things that if you do not know if you would need one? Then the answer is no most likely.
One of the things that pushed me to getting the Fiio E10k DAC was that it's just a generic USB device, so long as the OS is vaguely competent and supports USB audio at all, it'll work without any bullshit. The only annoying thing with it is that they put a bright blue LED in a position that's hard to cover with tape.