Sound Card
A vital component in your complete multimedia experience
While sound is analog (made up of waves that travel through the air and produce sound when they vibrate against eardrums), computers work with data that is digital (made up of electrical impulses). These two forms of information are extremely different from each other, and thus, sound cards are needed to convert digital information to analog sound, and vice versa. When analog sound is entered into the computer, the computer digitizes it by measuring the sound waves. When digital information is played back as analog sound, the same process occurs in reverse, producing a sound virtually identical to the original analog sound entered.
While a computer's motherboard has a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) - a microprocessor specialized for translating digital and analog sound - for the best quality, an additional sound card is best. There are various ways of adding sound cards to your computer. A PCI sound card connects to the motherboard through Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI); that is, a sound card can simply be plugged into the PCI bus. PCI sound cards are used in notebook computers. An external sound card, which connects to the computer through USB or FireWire cables, is yet another option.
When installing a new sound card, you must also install the sound card drivers from the disc that came with the sound card in order for your audio to function properly. Re-installing audio drivers must also be done after re-installing your operating system or motherboard.
Must-Have Features
- Look for full-duplex capabilities so you can record, input and play back audio all at the same time.
- Musicians should look for a driver with an ASIO rating of 5 milliseconds or less to prevent delay between audio input and output when creating music on the computer.
- A minimum of 5.1-channel surround-sound audio support is necessary.
- For playing MP3s and occasionally playing games, a sampling rate of 48 KHz is sufficient; 96 KHz is needed for playing DVDs, and 192 KHz is necessary for producing music.
Major Considerations
- Do I want an internal or an external sound card?
- How high a sampling rate do I require for my computer usage?
- What features do I need in a sound card based on my computer usage?
Top Manufacturers
- ASUS
- Turtle Beach
- Creative
- Realtek
Common Accessories or Add-Ons
- Microphone
- Speakers
- External sound controller
- USB or FireWire cables for external sound cards
Price Range
Internal sound cards start around $40 and go up to $500, while external sound cards start a little higher – around $55 – but generally only go as high as $300.
Summary
While most motherboards come already equipped with some sound capabilities, with the modern user's increased dependence on computers for entertainment purposes, a sound card can greatly improve the audio experience.
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