Soundcard ! Choice ?

My son has Win7 Home Premium 64bit, and has just phoned me and said what is best to upgrade his internal or buy an extra external one, i said i would ask the question and i have !
Answers are greatly appreciated !
TIA !!!!!

 

Hi

Your son most likely has onboard audio, which means the audio chipset is integrated into the motherboard. In that case, upgrading it is impossible, as its part of the main computer board.

Without knowing your son's computer make and exact model, it's hard to make specific recommendations.

If it is a desktop, he can easily add a dedicated sound card. I recommend C-Media over Creative, as Creative is notorious for bad drivers and bloatware. A non-perfect search of C-Media chipset sound cards from Newegg is here.

I personally have an HT Omega Claro, and it provides great sound on my 5.1 system that I use for home theatre (widescreen LCD TV used as a second monitor). I use my computer for all of my media needs (music, movies, etc.). I have had Creative sound cards in the past, and can definitely say to steer away from them if at all possible.

If your son is using a laptop, then a USB external sound card is a possibility. A few can be found here (again on Newegg).

 

My sons is a HP Desktop, how can he find out what he has onboard now, told him to go into device mgr but all it says there is Realtek ?

 

Almost all commercial desktops use onboard audio.

The only question I have is, what type of speakers is he using? If they are simply computer speakers (even an inexpensive 5.1 system), or a cheap (non-studio quality) set of headphones, then sound quality from an added sound card won't be affected much, if at all. If that is the case, a better set of speakers/headphones will be a better investment of money than a sound card.

If he has high quality speakers/headphones, then the HT Omega Claro that I have would be mid-grade (in the audiophile world). The list I linked to in my last post in the desktop paragraph shows the other cards I would tend to go with. Be sure to read the reviews... but if your son is a real audiophile, a $200+ sound card could be what he's wanting.

 

Just to add, a very high quality sound card that I would recommend (but isn't cheap!) would be this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9271005&cm_re=ht_omega-_-29-271-005-_-Product

The one I have is this one (and I'm very happy with it, but I'm not what you'd consider an audiophile):

http://www.htomega.com/claro.html

 

the type of soundcard my son is wanting, is so that he can record music onto his desktop as he does a lot of DJ'ing and records a lot of his tunes onto his PC !
Please recommend as you have so thankfully being doing so, as my son is a little sh*t at 29yrs old and thinks he knows everything ! :mad
TIA !!!!!!

 

Okay, now we're getting somewhere! How will he be recording this music? Will he have a music keyboard hooked up to the computer, or will he simply be editing music on the computer?

If he needs a music/sound editing program, Audacity is a free, powerful music editor. If he's looking for a more professional program, none can beat Ableton, but at around $800+ for a software license, it will definitely lighten his wallet.

EDIT: I have a studio quality Yamaha keyboard, but can't use it with this PC because the processor is too ancient! Cakewalk is another good program, and not nearly as expensive as Ableton, for professional DJ/mixing, as well as recording music from music equipment to the computer.

 

Thanks for the replies mcsmc, i won't get to speak to him again till he finishes work tonight, but as soon as i do i'll be back in touch thanks !
TIA mcsmc you've been more than patient mate !
P.S sorry i went off early last night as i was sick of argueing with him ! mad :-D