SB Live 5.0 vs santa cruz

[Bobby Manus]

I hear that the santa cruz has a stero port which could be very benificial to me becuase I dont use speakers, I use a stero. Also I am on a epox 8kha which uses the via kt266 chipsets, and so there is always that thoght that the soundblaster might have incompatabilites. I am using a soundblaster pc128 right now and am not experiencing any IRQ problems though. I would like to get good quality threw a 5 speaker + 2 subwoofer stero setup. I am very disapointed with the pci128 but what can you expect with such a cheap card. Its like its 1 channelaudio its really poor. If I am listening to mp3's, I cant have any other sound playing. If I have some sound playing, I get an error when trying to play a mp3. It also doesnt get as loud as it should. Let me know what you guys recomend, the sblive is 20$ cheaper but if the santa cruz is going to work beter wih my stero then I think its worth it.

[Da Whip]

Here is a sound card guide that seems very good. From the looks of it these peeps are into music and sound recording, but they give good advice on different cards.

http://music.multimedian.com/reviews/soundcards.html[/URL]

[bdf24]

I've been running my Sound blaster live for a few years now. I've thought about getting a Santa cruz but I'm still fairly satisfied with the Sound blaster live. I've hooked mine up to my sterio many times. Sound AWESOME! no probs at all.

[CSaddict]

I also have my SB LIVE! 5.0 plat. hooked to my stereo and it sounds sweet. I guess it also depends on your stereo.

[Bobby Manus]

Phillips magnavox stero, 5 speakers (1 center piece, 2 towers and 2 corners) with 2 subs. it came with 1 sub but I got an extra, great for the partys. I want to be able to play my mp3's loud for partys and what not, and i defintly dont want distortion. I am really going to need a card that can be turned up to the max and still have good quality.

[Bobby Manus]

WTF! Sound blaster Live 5.1's for 35$?! They are just the OEM, not the x-gamer or mp3, but that is just software and I dont really car about that. Is this the same card? They all say they are the EMU10k1 or something and that they are bulk packaged which is fine with me, as long as its the same card! If this is try then the card is half the price of the santa cruz which definitly wins me over to the sound blaster.

[Kingslayer]

Listen, get the Santa Cruz. There is a stereo port on it for a reason. Stereo speakers run on a different impedence and the Santa cruz has the correct impedence in it's stereo output.

That's why the Live sounds great on computer speakers but sounds like dookie on a home system.

[Bobby Manus]

Thats exactly what I wanted to hear! I was woried the same thing would happen that is hapening on my sb live pc128! The ideal is for me to not have to burn to a cd to get good cd quality, just have a huge playlist and let this comp run all day long! Once again thanks for the tip! santa cruz all the way now!

[bmxers21]

what are you going to do with that PCI128 :0) I was going to buy one.. cuz I play descent and it is a dos game and the new sound cards dont work good with that I hear. wanna help a poor guy out? :0)

[Bobby Manus]

Sorry its already been planed to go to a local friend of mine :) hes building a new system and wants to save some cash. Sorry i cant help you out.

[bmxers21]

aww thanks anyway :0)

[proze]

why don't you wait a while and see what the new audigy is like? creative are going to start shipping them in september, afaik.