need a good sound card for Win7

ob audio crapped out on me and I need a sound card. All the reviews on the "top cards" on newegg say they have problems on Win 7. Looking for someone with firsthand experience on a particular card around $150-200.

Core i7 [email protected]
Corsair 6GB xms3 ddr3 @1600 MHz
XFX Radeon hd 5850 black edition
EVGA X58 classified 3

I'm sure there are newer ones than mine, but I'm using an Auzentech Prelude (rebranded XFi) in Windows 7 and Linux without issue.

What are you going to use the soundcard for (games, movies, music, etc) and what audio equipment do you have, specifically?

The only place I found that card was on Amazon without reviews, and newegg has apparently been out of stock since 2009. Though one of the reviews on newegg said that it being an x-fi, there is no linux support. (Not that that is really relevant to my issue nor have I looked into why that might be, I use Linux for very little so it likely wouldn't be a problem.) And I will be using it for, in order of greatest use to littlest, gaming, music, movies. Atm I mostly use my Bose AE2 audio headphones, Cyber Acoustic 2.1 speaker system, and will shortly be investing in a gaming headset (yet to be determined). It just seems to be hit or miss with Win7 for soundcards, well, most people seem to have issues and few don't. I may just take my computer apart and see if the OB audio is visibly reparable or if I'm just SOL.

I've been using Linux with this card for years. You just treat it like a X-Fi.

X-Fi xtrememusic (the out of production one that was a fatality without the extra ram). You can sometimes find these for cheap on ebay.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102188

There's a download from creative's site that enables surround support for games (forgot what it's called, I don't game). I do know this works as I have played UT3 with this sound card and full surround...

Great card for the money (maybe $40 used). I even use it with asio4all to produce music on my computer. It's just barely fast enough for music production but does work.

Pinky said:

X-Fi xtrememusic (the out of production one that was a fatality without the extra ram). You can sometimes find these for cheap on ebay.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102188

There's a download from creative's site that enables surround support for games (forgot what it's called, I don't game). I do know this works as I have played UT3 with this sound card and full surround...

Great card for the money (maybe $40 used). I even use it with asio4all to produce music on my computer. It's just barely fast enough for music production but does work.

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That was the card I had before the Prelude, it was a great card for me! I sold it to a friend, and it is in use today, good card. People may knock the xfi, but I think its good. I have old equipment tho

Xfi Xtreme music if you want a deal for sure. Don't know how well they run on Win 7 but there's got to be a stable driver by now for such a venerable card with a big user base. AFAIK any cmi8788 card ought to work as ASUS Xonar's implementation of that chip is basically a skinned GUI of the straight chip driver from the mfg. So an Omega or Asus high tier card ought to work no problem. My Xonar STX is from 2008 and it worked perfectly right after 'must restart to install....'

They sound very 'clean' also. Maybe get a D2X or a D2PM if you want PCI if they're around. Or an Auzen Meridian 2 (from their website) ought to work. Same chip. Whatever you pick make sure you have either a free PCI slot (many modern boards don't), or if PCIE a 1x card can go in a 1/4/8/16 slot that won't matter it still works.

There are often work arounds btw. An Audigy 2 didn't want to run on Vista for my uncle so I found some driver a guy made in Russia and it worked perfectly. Didn't add any russian writing to anything either just made it work properly on Vista for me. I'd never have used a 3rd party driver like that on my own PC but this wasn't mine and I was told to 'make it work' so I did... So I'm not telling you to go that route better to buy a known compatible solution but if you do run into issues there are often hidden solutions like that.

If you're willing to pay for it.. I use a Asus Xonar ST (though I'd recommend the STX model for compatibility sakes in terms of motherboard layouts). Fantastic card. Maybe not the best software; but worked perfectly for me in Windows 7 no issues (Download the latest drivers off the site***).

I'm bias though.. I'd pick Asus Xonar > Creative SB ANYDAY of the week..

I'm also not a fan of Bose.. So.. Honestly with any decent soundcard.. You'll want decent headphones to go with it. Especially if there's a powered amp on the card..

Theocnoob said:

Xfi Xtreme music if you want a deal for sure. Don't know how well they run on Win 7 but there's got to be a stable driver by now for such a venerable card with a big user base.

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Creative card + Win7 x64 ultimate for a couple years now. No driver issues. Prior to that Vista for a few years. If it ran fine on Vista it will run fine on anything.

been using an audigy 2zs for years till it crapped out, have a auzen forte first gen coming my way that i got for under $40

If you want headphones get a Xense. It's a Xonar basically with PC350 Sennheisers tuned to match it. Sound cant be beat at 299. Great cans, and great boosted quality mic. Great for gaming movies and music. Also great for Analog 2.0 speakers. Beyond that ST/STX isn't for you they're stereo cards. If your speakers are digital you SPDIF from your mobo if you have say 5.1 or 7.1 analog you get a quality card that has said outputs, ie, a Xonar D2X or Auzen Meridian 2.

Also remember modern ATI/Nvidia cards output sound via HDMI. Lots of people pipe to their TV or monitor via a receiver which goes to speakers. Clean signal. Good sound. Less cables coming from the PC as well.