I am considering purchasing the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers, and I am pretty sure I will buy them. However, as of now, I am using my onboard sound card. If I am going so spend so much money, I want a decent sound card, plus, mine does not support 5.1 surround. Can anyone suggest a good one for the money, and is it noticably worth it for a more expensive card. I am also wondering which method of output i should use: the speakers will accept both optical and coax, as well as the lineout/linein/rear outputs. Which is best, and what exactly are they. lol

Thanks

Look At this one, I am happy with it
C-Media

" IF IT AINT BROKE - LEAVE IT ALONE "

I know their support and driver development aren't what they should be, but if you game, it's hard to pass on the Audigy 2's.

The best sounding of all those would be optical, followed by coaxial, and finally the line inputs.

Optical passes the signal through light within the cable. Coaxial is a normal cable, internally like your tv cable. Line inputs are headphone like jacks.

"...but in my defense, it was dark, I was drunk, and it was delicious!"

To add to heropsycho, if you opt for the best (optical) do not skimp on a cheap cable.

We can fix this, but you're gonna need a butter knife, a roll of duct tape, and a car battery

In your case, no matter if you choose optical or coaxial. They are both DIGITAL, meaning that the receiving end will convert and amplify the sent digital information only. Nothing else, as it would do with ANALOG information of the music. 1100101000100011110101010111000 :)

The quality of your active speakers (?) will make 90% of the good sound.
You can find a little this and that from f.ex. companies like M-audio.

You can pick up a basic 5.1 soundcard with good sound quality for about $15. If you want one with digital output, you can get a good one for about $25. Or you can spend $100 or more for a card like the Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS gamer edition.

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8 x 210MHz
512MB PC3200
Asus Ti4800SE 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro

Jam, that's a bit misleading.

Those less costly sound cards also don't support the latest EAX effects, they often lack higher quality interconnects such as optical or digital (or the ones they put on there don't work well), they sometimes don't do sound effects computations on their own while dragging down your CPU, and they more than likely have lesser quality DAC's, higher signal to noise ratios, etc. which leads to a less clear sound.

This isn't to endorse Creative products in particular, as there are other higher quality products from M-Audio, Turtle Beach, etc. Just making the point you get what you pay for. Which card you buy depends on your expectations of what good sound is.

Case in point, I recently bought very highly rated Logitech X-530 5.1 speakers and sub. Seems EVERYONE says they are awesome. When I hooked them up, I was disgusted to hear the subwoofer consuming midrange and treble because it was WAAAAAAAY too overpowering. To get them to sound anywhere near right, I had to turn the volume on the sub down to the lowest setting, and then proceed to drop the bass in my sound card mixer from 50% to 25%. That's not good sound to me at all. Not to say good bass response is a bad thing, but the speakers basically overrepresent bass, thereby distorting what you're supposed to hear, that's crap to me. Obviously, many many people disagree and think this is perfectly acceptable. I should have bought $150 speakers, not $60 ones, because it would have been worth it to me, but many people would be happy with the $60 ones.

"...but in my defense, it was dark, I was drunk, and it was delicious!"

Maybe it was a bit misleading, but I was trying to illustrate that there is a huge price range for soundcards. There are literally dozens upon dozens of cards to choose from...anywhere from about $5 to well beyond $100, & it's difficult to make a recommendation.

Misse made the point that the speakers "will make 90% of the good sound" & for the most part, that's true. You can pair up a $100+ speaker setup with a $20 card & it'll still get great sound, or you can pair up $20 speakers with a $100+ card & it'll sound like crap.

Personally, I have better things to invest my money in than $100 soundcards or $150 speakers, but that's just me...I realize there are plenty of audiophiles out there that just can't live without having "the best of the best".

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @ 8 x 210MHz
512MB PC3200
Asus Ti4800SE 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro

"There are literally dozens upon dozens of cards to choose from...anywhere from about $5 to well beyond $100, & it's difficult to make a recommendation."

True, also because people don't know good sound when they hear it. It's a lot easier for people to know good graphics when they see it. Consequently, not only do consumers have horrible judgement in this, but so do reviewers. Case in point, those X-530 speakers.

"Misse made the point that the speakers "will make 90% of the good sound" & for the most part, that's true."

I'd say take care of your speakers/headphones first, too. Also, speakers typically don't go obsolete, either, so don't feel bad spending quite a bit of money on them.

"Personally, I have better things to invest my money in than $100 soundcards or $150 speakers, but that's just me...I realize there are plenty of audiophiles out there that just can't live without having "the best of the best"."

LOL! I don't see them being any worse than people who spend hundreds on their graphics card. In fact, looking at it this way, they're a little wiser. I bought my Audigy 1 for $70 back in 2000 I believe. Today it's still a very good card, and I have little reason to upgrade it. Can you say that about even a $400 graphics card, or motherboard, CPU, fan from 2000?

"...but in my defense, it was dark, I was drunk, and it was delicious!"

Thanks to everyone.
Ok so im deffinately getting a soundcard with optical. I was looking at Turtle Beach 7.1-Channel PCI Sound Card, Model "CATALINA" -RETAIL,

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=29-118-106&DEPA=1

Its 7.1 which I dont need, but its max sampling rate is 96khz, and the digital audio is 24bit, which the z5500s support. Hows turtle beach for a brand? Will that be a good matchup? And also how much will an ok optical cable cost, and where can i get one, because i havent seen any at like circuitcity? I dont think..?

I've heard a lot of good about turtle Beach cards but have never had one so I can't say.
The cable you're looking for is a fibre optic cable and circuit city, bestbuy, and even radio shack carry them. The cheaper the cable the more likely it will cause problems during sound transmission. I don't necessarily recommend getting the very best (unless you got the $$$) But I do recommend spending a few extra to gewt quality.

We can fix this, but you're gonna need a butter knife, a roll of duct tape, and a car battery

Tributaries makes an awesome cable, but I don't think you want to pay for that. LOL.

www.videogon.com search there for discounted top grade cables. I don't go middle of the road on audio cables because I always buy them for home theater high end stuff.

Turtle Beach is up there with the best of them. Creative is probably a better choice for gaming. For just better sound quality overall Turtle Beach has a slight edge.

"...but in my defense, it was dark, I was drunk, and it was delicious!"