Sub-$100 PCIe Audio Card

M

MrCaffeineX

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 22, 2011
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Are there any sub-$100 PCIe audio cards available out there that are not crap? The reason that I am asking is because my onboard audio has started producing a lot of artifacts (little pops and squeals and such). The sound levels have also become problematic, as at random intervals, the left channel or right channel will fade out. I've tried the usual troubleshooting, updating drivers, tweaking settings, I've tested the speaker set, a Logitech 5.1 setup, on my other PC to verify that they were not bad, and I've even experienced the same issue on my primary PC using my backup Logitech 2.1 setup.

I do not feel like being without my PC for an extended period of time to RMA it with MSI, plus my most recent RMA experience with them has left me disappointed with their quality of service. I figured the next best option is to just bite the bullet and get an addon sound card, but being that I'm still saving up to pay my school tax bill, I don't have a lot of money to throw at it right now. I can probably swing up to about $100, including tax and/or shipping, if applicable.

I primarily listen to music, though I am not an extreme audiophile, I would like something that doesn't sound terrible. I do a bit of gaming, but I generally turn the game's sound off and listen to music while I'm playing, so if the performance isn't that great for gaming, I'm not terribly concerned. What did bother me were the common 1 Egg reviews when I started searching the sub-$100 audio card category at my favorite e-tailer, especially ones complaining about lack of driver support for Windows 7 or terrible audio quality in general.

I figure someone on here can make some recommendation, or confirm my suspicion that I may simply have to go without tunes for a while, and save up the extra money for something in the $150 - $180 range that appear to be well-reviewed.
 
Yes, DX7.1 is an upgrade, but it still not that good.
It has an issue with mixing a large number of sound channels and it is very noticeable in games.

Should be fine for music and movies though.
 
Yes, DX7.1 is an upgrade, but it still not that good.
It has an issue with mixing a large number of sound channels and it is very noticeable in games.

Should be fine for music and movies though.
Click to expand...

Is this another one of those cases where mainstream-budget users are simply expected to utilize the onboard sound, so there is no effort made to produce something of good overall quality in this price range? I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic card from ages ago that was cheap and sounds amazing. I would still be using it if this motherboard had a PCI slot...
 
I've heard nothing but good things about the Xonar DX, and the one I had was excellent. I've never heard of any complaints with sound mixing with the card.
 
I'm going to pull the trigger on the Xonar and let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks for the recommendations.
 
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