Last month Creative launched a new sound card product called the Audigy Fx Pro. This is a half heigh PCI Express 1x internal dedicated sound card that many are saying will effectively replace the lack luster motherboard audio we have on modern motherboards. Thing is, most of the feedback from the community is that gamers don’t need a sound card like this and given the price they question on if the analog option is actually needed.
In the late 90’s and early 2000’s motherboards started adding onboard audio as a way to help streamline the installation process and provide buyers with a reason to buy motherboard A over motherboard Q. The first solutions were “AC’97” sound cards and not very good prompting gamers and hardware enthusiasts to invest heavily into dedicated sound solutions from Creative and others. Around the launch of the Intel Core 2 processors, we started to see more advanced sound solutions with some motherboard makers going so far as to license Creative solutions and adding true surround sound audio to their high-end products.
This went so far as to see motherboards with tube transistors, high quality Japanese audio capacitors and separated sections on motherboards to build their dedicated sound card as a complete solution. Then, everything went away.
The reason?
Gaming headphones that were actually good and could accurately simulate positional audio from a single USB sound card. No longer did you need to physically install a sound card, instead just plug your gaming headphones in and away you go. This brought the cost of surround sound gaming down to a budget level and no longer required a small room with places to mount your surround speakers.
In this episode the duo discuss the current state of PC audio solutions and try to decide if we really need dedicated sounds cards anymore and if 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setups make sense for the modern desktop PC.
Related Links
Sound Blaster Audigy Fx Pro
Sound Blaster X5 Hi-Res Dual DAC USB Sound Card review
Steelseries Arena 9 Speakers
Creative Sound BlasterX G5 7.1 External Gaming Audio DAC Review
Z906 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System
Episode 179 featured music:
Little People - Start Shootin' (http://www.littlepeoplemusic.com/)
