What's the best PC Sound card?

[Deja Q]

I just fried my SB Audigy sound card when the joystick-port/slot-cover got loose and touched the sound card. x(

What card do you use and would recommend? (PC only please!)

[w4rma]

1. The "Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS Platinum Pro" appears to be the "best".

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/Audigy2ZS_platinum_pro/

But that may be more than what you are looking for. :)

[Kellanved]

5. nah. The E-MU 1820 M

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?maincategory=754&category=754&product=2211

Probably not what he's looking for either. ;-)

As to a normal SondCard: IMHO either an Audigy 2 ZS or a Terratec Aureon 7.1 / DMX 6FIRE 24/96.

Just stay clear of the Audigy LS

[BlueJazz]

2. Well, of course, depending on how much you want.....

..to spend, I think that Sound blaster offers the most bang for the buck.
Even the $19.95 card (at CompUSA) sounds pretty damn good and Sound
Blaster offers cards up into the 200 dollar range. A more important
factor is the quality of your Amp and Speakers.

[SHRED]

3. I have

a Turtle Beach "Santa Cruz ". It is a fine card for everyday computing, music, and games.

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/soundcards/santacruz/producthome.asp

[Nomad559]

4. I have a

Sound Blaster and a Turtle Beach "Santa Cruz " In my other PC's, both are good cards, I've never had a problem with either of them.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. You are running Linux, right? Suse?

Well, best is immaterial if it does not receive support from the ALSA drivers. I would suggest you google up "alsa" and find what cards are supported before you go wild.

I have an Audigy here. Does everything I want, including giving me Firewire.

[Deja Q]

7. ALSA, thanks!! (Yup, SuSE 9.1)

Looks like the Audigy 2 isn't supported, so I'll get that original Audigy white-box on clearance then...

SuSE's driver list didn't include the Audigy 2 but I couldn't tell who did the sound driver work (ALSA)... Hopefully the A2 will get supported someday...

[Kellanved]

8. The Audigy2 ZS can be made to work with SuSe

It should work using the ALSA EMU 10k1 driver (never mind that it is actually based on the EMU 10k2 chip). :hi:

[T Roosevelt]

10. I second the Turtle Beach recommendation

I have the Santa Cruz, which installed fine with SuSE (8.0).

On edit:
It was not at all expensive either - around $60
http://www.bizrate.com/marketplace/search/search__cat_id--463,prod_id--5190075.html

[LoZoccolo]

9. You can kinda go as high as you want.

You could spend well over $1000 if you wanted a professional one. Do you write music with softsynths and stuff?

[Deja Q]

12. I do audio restoration and playin' games, but that's about all.

But with audio restoration, a decent card is preferable... :-)

[SHRED]

11. A good place to buy from

Newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/app/manufact.asp?catalog=57&DEPA=1

[Deja Q]

13. Thanks! Will check 'em out...

:yourock: