Literally 10 years ago, choosing a sound card for your computer was, frankly, not an easy task. And there is no need to talk about how much time it took to “train” your system to reproduce music with high quality. Today the situation has changed dramatically and for the better. Choosing the same video card is now much more difficult than the sound one for your PC. In this article, we will take a closer look at what types of cards exist, and at the end we will tell you how to connect a sound card.
Today, even the cheapest versions of sound cards come with built-in audio codecs that can reproduce sound, even if not always of excellent quality, but at least sufficient for the average consumer. Such devices do their job well enough and if you are not a music lover, then such a sound card is quite enough for sounding computer games or watching a movie. Sound cards of the lower price range are usually integrated into the motherboard and are extremely simple to use. All the user needs is simply to insert the headphone or speaker plug into the desired socket. In such cases, the processing of audio signals is carried out by the computer's central processing unit, and the cost of having audio on your PC will be minimized.
When choosing a sound card and comparing prices for similar components, you need to understand one simple thing: good does not necessarily mean expensive. A sound card purchased at the highest price will not always sound better than its cheaper sibling. When choosing a sound card for your computer, you need to take into account a number of factors and characteristics in the complex.
For example, if you want to play MP4 media files with a frequency higher than 96 kb / s using the built-in sound card, then you will practically not feel the difference. Can you remember a situation where you are unable to recognize your own recorded voice? A similar situation is typical for sound cards of the lower price range. Your voice, recorded using such a board, you most likely will not be able to distinguish from the rest. And even more so you will not succeed if you also saved on the speakers. That is why real music lovers and specialists working with audio signal processing choose an external sound card. And how and what to choose - we will talk about this further.
So you've decided to get a good sound card, but don't know where to start yet. First of all, you need to decide on the purposes for which you are buying an audio card. To a large extent, such a choice will depend on the quality of the acoustics that you will connect to the sound card. If cheap and not very high-quality acoustics are used, then even with the purchase of the most "fancy" audio card, the sound quality will not improve. When purchasing a good sound card, you must remember that the rest of the system components that are responsible for sound reproduction must also be up to date.
Below is the classification of sound cards for a personal computer. Most often, all sound cards can be divided into three types:
- - multimedia (used mostly for games)
- - semi-professional and professional (similar sound cards are used when processing sound files and listening to high-quality music)
- - universal
Multimedia sound cards
Multimedia sound cards represent the oldest type of audio device. The appearance of such devices happened earlier than others, and it was they who began to be used on the PC for listening and recording audio files.
In order for a sound card to process high-quality surround sound, it needs a signal processor ((English Digital signal processor, DSP) with high performance. Such processors are capable of fully processing the reproduced and recorded signals. Powerful DSP processes the audio stream, calculates surround sound effects , mixes sound signals, etc. Thus, it significantly relieves the central processor of the computer, which at this time can be engaged in other tasks.
Naturally, multimedia cards have much better qualities than built-in sound cards. But, nevertheless, it is rather difficult to achieve perfect sound from them. These sound cards are at the level of home karaoke, you can hardly expect anything more from them.
A few years ago, many different card models were introduced on the multimedia sound card market. Such sound cards were offered by a variety of manufacturers, and the competition among them was quite high. Some of the most active were Creative and Aureal. Sound cards produced by these companies boasted different algorithms for processing 3D sound, and each company had its own admirers. With the introduction of the first motherboards with an integrated sound card, cheap multimedia cards began to disappear. Currently, the leading manufacturer of cards for sound processing is Creative. The Audigy and X-Fi product lines have become the most popular home appliances. And Sound Blaster Audigy and Audigy2 have the highest quality playback of multimedia files. And only 20 percent of this market belongs to manufacturers such as -Audio, ESI / Audiotrack and Terratec. And a very tiny share in the production of sound cards is occupied by lesser-known manufacturers, who mainly produce clones of sound cards from Creative.
Semi-professional and professional sound cards
Often, semi-professional equipment manufacturers are the same manufacturers that make professional sound cards. The target audience for professional cards is usually musicians. Semi-professional cards are mainly intended for connoisseurs of high-quality sound. The main difference between such cards and multimedia cards is microcircuits with more elaborate algorithms and, as a result, high-quality sounding of music and audio.
Sound cards of this type practically do not use built-in powerful processors designed for processing 3D sounds. These cards usually do not have support for multi-channel audio, which is used in multimedia cards and is so necessary for gamers. But on the other hand, these sound cards are perfect for listening to music. If you have good acoustics or expensive headphones, they can reproduce sound similar in sound quality to inexpensive Hi-Fi audio systems. These boards are also suitable for home theater applications. The sound will be clear and reproduced exactly as it was recorded.
Semi-pro sound cards from a professional audio system manufacturer almost always come with a set of drivers designed for professional sound processing software. This solution is perfect for beginner musicians. However, most of these boards are not suitable for professional recording.
If you have a need, besides just listening to music, to record it, then you, of course, need to consider the segment of professional sound cards. These are the cards used by professional sound engineers, arrangers, musicians and producers.
Usually, professional sound cards do not come with drivers for playing multimedia files, and they also lack DirectX support. Therefore, most of these cards are not suitable for games. Professional sound cards do not need this, their purpose lies in a completely different plane. Their composition does not contain anything superfluous and only what is needed to perform specific tasks is left. Moreover, many professional sound cards even lack support for common instruments, with which we are used to adjusting the volume level on a computer. All channels of the audio stream in such cards are regulated using a specially designed control panel that shows levels in decibels. The main thing for professional cards is the quality of stereo sound. Therefore, they use not only expensive and high-quality digital-to-analog converters, but also higher quality filters of the supply voltage, to maximize the elimination of interference.
Professional sound cards provide input and output of audio signals according to the so-called balanced circuit. As a result of this, interference is reduced when using long cables, or in places with a large accumulation of equipment. Sound card outputs for professional use are different from the usual minijack. Inputs and outputs are made under RCA ("tulip") or "big jack". XLR connectors can also be used, which are brought out using special interface cables. Most professional sound cards include external blocks to which all connectors are connected. This arrangement facilitates easy access to the connectors. You can easily connect professional acoustic monitors, mixing consoles, preamplifiers and many other professional equipment to professional cards.
Another important difference between professional sound cards and multimedia is the different supported standards. Professionals are capable of supporting rare audio standards such as GSIF and ASIO2. This allows them to reduce signal processing delays to a minimum. This feature is very important when processing audio files.
Even if you do not need constant sound recording and you only use a sound card for listening to music, you should not immediately abandon the option of purchasing a professional card. Pay attention to not very expensive cards in this segment. Such cards are convenient to use when connecting Hi-Fi equipment, and also as a good source of sound signal for a serious audio system.
The cost of professional and semi-professional boards for working with audio signals ranges from several hundred to several thousand dollars. The most expensive models are equipped exclusively, so they are practically not needed for use in home studios. The most optimal options are sound cards that range in price from $ 150 to $ 500. The main manufacturers of such sound cards today are E-Mu (a division of Creative) and ESI (formerly producing sound cards under the name EgoSys). Among the E-Mu sound cards, the 1616M and 1212M series are hugely popular.
E-Mu 1616M PCI is a card for a PCI slot and an external switching unit, which includes a microphone preamplifier and a headphone amplifier. The sound quality of the given system is excellent and even comparable to Hi-Fi sources, the cost of which often exceeds $ 1000.
Universal sound cards
Universal cards combine the characteristics of two types of cards - multimedia and professional. However, due to the fact that the requirements for these two types are completely different, it is very difficult to find the necessary balance between them. True, today there are quite a few universal sound cards that combine the necessary qualities of a gamer card and a full-fledged sound system well. First of all, this is a line of X-Fi audio cards from Creative. These sound cards are the most advanced and functional PC sound equipment on the market. This is not to say that sound cards from the X-Fi line have ideal versatility, but there is nothing better on the market in this segment at the moment. The cost of such a system is in the region of $ 150, and models that can be placed in 5.25 ”bays cost about $ 200. The most expensive model in this line is the X-Fi Elite Pro. It has a high-tech digital-to-analog converter. The X-Fi Elite Pro will set you back $ 300.
External sound cards
Another type of sound cards are external sound cards. This type of sound cards has appeared quite recently (6-7 years ago). It is often used on professional boards. There are several types of connection of such cards. It can be either an external usb sound card or a FireWire sound card. The question arises, why do we need such sound cards at all, when there have long been well-proven cards built into a PC? However, this is not the case. Removing the sound card from the computer solves a number of problems: the card's noise immunity increases significantly and the sound quality improves. Manufacturers of internal cards have to make additional insulation of the elements to protect them from interference inside the PC case, and this naturally leads to an increase in the cost of the sound card itself. In addition, an external sound card solves another problem, namely, it does not occupy the PCI slot on the motherboard, the number of which is limited and sometimes not enough even to connect more important devices.
But external sound cards have one unpleasant feature, namely the limited bandwidth of the port to which they are connected. However, in the modern market of external audio cards there are quite a lot of good copies that can reproduce sound quality.
The most popular today are professional sound cards connected via FireWire. Such cards are practically free from problems with the number of channels and at the same time have excellent signal quality due to good bandwidth.
Today, the most popular are professional audio cards that can be connected via FireWire: they practically have no problems with the number of channels, as well as the signal quality (this is achieved due to the high bandwidth).
Now, briefly about how to connect a sound card. The sound card is installed in a PCI slot on the motherboard. First of all, remove the side cover of the system unit and decide on the choice of the slot into which you will insert the card. There are four of them in our picture, you can have more or less.
Once decided, you need to remove the dummy plug on the back of your PC. After removing the cap, insert your sound card into a free PCI slot and fix it with a screw to the case. This completes the installation. Now you need to insert the plug from the speakers into the desired socket and install the drivers that you will find on the CD-ROM supplied with the sound card.
Windows secret key
Usually, the desire to change the sound card arises if the user is dissatisfied with the quality of audio playback or recording. Sometimes the fault is the breakdown of the board. In any case, the new equipment must be connected correctly, and then the system must be configured accordingly.
The sound card is installed in a PCI or PCI Express slot, so before purchasing a device, check that the motherboard has an appropriate free slot. Another option is to connect via a USB interface. This method is relevant if you need to connect an external sound card to your laptop.
Installation
The connection process is the same, regardless of whether you install a professional or budget model. The first step is to remove the cap on the case of the system unit in order to bring the board connectors out through the hole formed. The equipment is attached to the body using the supplied screw. 
Disable integrated card
Some motherboard models require disabling the integrated sound card in the BIOS. Without following this procedure, the installed board refuses to work correctly.
Item names and locations may vary depending on the BIOS version. If you do not see the names listed below, then look for similar phrases. 
- Go to BIOS.
- On the Advanced tab, find Integrated Peripherals.
- Find the line "Onboard Audio Controller".
- Go to its settings by pressing Enter and select "Disabled".
If you need to enable the sound card integrated into the motherboard, select the "Enabled" item in the settings.
This is the basic information on how to connect a sound card and then set up your computer to work with it. Finally, here are some important recommendations.
Make sure the system supports the drivers for the selected hardware. Carefully study how to install the sound driver so that the installed board will work correctly.
If the video card interferes with the installation, it must be carefully pulled out of the slot. After connecting the sound card, be sure to put the video card back in place.
The sound card, especially if it is large, can block the fan of the video card. There is nothing wrong here: practice shows that this does not affect the temperature of the equipment and its performance.
After completing the connection process, find out how to connect the speakers to your computer in order to use the functionality of the sound card at full capacity. Want to speak and record your voice, not just listen? Then find out how to connect a microphone to your computer.
To install additional cards (audio and video) watch the following video.
From rubric HARDWARE, but at the same time it does not depend on it in any way and can be considered as an absolutely independent work.
It all started with the fact that I somehow sat at the computer and did nothing doing something useful there. At the same time, my favorite music was playing in my headphones. And then a simple and clear thought came to me that, generally speaking ... need more sound! And then it started ...
Yes, all this time I somehow lived without speakers and even more so without a subwoofer, limiting myself only to ear pads. And then suddenly the thought came that everything, that's enough, it can't be done anymore and it is necessary, finally, to get hold of a more or less normal speaker system. And the question immediately arose - how can I connect it to my computer?
It would seem that everything here is pretty obvious and everything was invented before us. Typically, in such cases, users simply plug the speaker connector into the sound card connector on the back of the computer, and if they need to listen with headphones, they plug them into the connector on the front of the computer or into the connector on the speakers themselves. Subject to its availability, of course. This option did not suit me for a number of reasons. Firstly, the connector on the front panel is quite poor-quality, loose, and the headphones constantly fell off. But this is not the worst thing, the connector can always be replaced. In addition, the motherboard was clearly greedy for the signal strength for this connector: the sound on it is noticeably weaker compared to the sound source on the back. Secondly, the location of my computer in the workspace is such that if you stick headphones into its connector on the front panel, the wire from them will always get tangled under your feet, touch everything and just terribly annoy. If the wire is connected to the back of the computer, then it calmly passes over the table, without catching anything, and falls on the back panel simultaneously with the wires of the keyboard, mouse and monitors. In general, having a headphone jack on the back is much more convenient. And thirdly - the most important thing - I categorically did not want to constantly poke something, if I suddenly need to change the sound source operatively. Ideally, this is done with a single hotkey press. In short, the more I thought, the more I came to the conclusion that a second sound card should be installed in the computer. Yes, it's fat, redundant, you can do without it - but who cares! The pluses are so good that you have to bet and that's it!
In short, I made this decision and started monitoring the sound card market. To my surprise, there were not so few of them on the market, but ... very few! In many computer stores, they told me that, in principle, they never sold anything like that. Well, the Internet is a good thing, there is everything. There was also a sound card for me. Meet - Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx(picture 1)!
Figure 1 - Sound card Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx
We open this box. Inside there are all boring little things like a disk with drivers, instructions and everything else. Since nobody is interested in this at all, I will not even take a picture of it. Instead, let's jump straight to our patient - he is depicted in Figure 2.
Figure 2 - Sound card Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx (without packaging)
As we can see, this sound card has a connector PCI-E х1... This connector exists on my ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z motherboard. This is important, gentlemen! Your motherboard must have the same connector that your sound card has. If you buy, for example, a sound card with a PCI connector, and your motherboard only has PCI-E, nothing will come of it - you will not be able to install this sound card. Be careful when choosing to make sure the connectors match exactly. In our case, everything is fine, everything will match, so let's plug our sound card into the motherboard (Figure 3)
Figure 3 - Installed sound card
From the back of the computer, it will look like Figure 4.
Figure 4 - Installed sound card
After that, we plug our headphones into the sound connector of the motherboard, and the speakers into the connector of the new sound card. This completes the "iron part", we begin to tinker with the software. I did everything on a Windows 7 system.
We turn on the computer and climb into device Manager(for those who do not know, the procedure is as follows: open "My computer", right-click on a free field, select "Properties"... In the window that opens, on the left, click on "Device Manager"). In the device manager, open the tab "Sound, video and game devices"... Our new sound card should appear there in addition to the existing sound card built into the motherboard (Figure 5).
Figure 5 - Sound card in device manager
As you can see from Figure 5, she really appeared there (circled in red). And I didn't even have to install any additional drivers, all the drivers were picked up automatically.
Now a reasonable question arises - how, in fact, switch between speakers and headphones? How do I redirect sound from one sound card to another?
There are at least two ways. The first is uncomfortable, completely manual. Come on "Start"-"Control Panel"-"Equipment and Sound"-"Sound"... A window should open as in Figure 6.
Figure 6 - Sound settings
Here we see a huge list of all kinds of audio equipment. But we are only interested in two of them: and. The first is our new sound card, and the second is our old sound card built into the motherboard. Remember that we connected speakers to the new sound card, and headphones to the old one built into the motherboard. We see that next to Sound Blaster Audigy Fx Speakers there is a green jackdaw. This means that this device is currently active and music is playing through the speakers. Let's say I want to transfer sound to headphones... What is needed for that? Just right click on "Realtek High Definition Audio Speakers" and select from the menu that opens Use as default(Figure 7).
Figure 7 - Switching the sound source
After this action, the green jackdaw will move to "Realtek High Definition Audio Speakers" and the sound will come through the headphones.
This is all, of course, great, but does it not seem to you that it is too inconvenient to perform so many actions every time you want to change the sound source? I immediately dismissed this option for myself and started looking for some software that could make the hard life of a music lover easier. And, oddly enough, I found it. So, welcome, the program DefSound! It can be downloaded from the official website or I will attach a direct link at the end of the article. Everything as you love: free of charge, without registration, SMS and selling yourself for eternal slavery.
In fact, the result of the work of this program is exactly the same as if we followed the path described above with the pens. It changes the checkbox of the device in the same way as we changed it. Only she does it with just one click of the mouse or in general with hot keys.
How to work with this program? Very simple. Now I will tell you the points.
1) It is necessary to place the downloaded.exe file of this program in some folder. For this I created a daddy at the address "C: \ Program Files \ DefSound"
2) After that you need to create on the desktop two shortcuts to this program. We name them appropriately. I named them "Columns" and "Headphones"(Figure 8).
Figure 8 - Create two shortcuts for the DefSound program
4) Now attention, gentlemen! The most important step. We need to register commands for the program in the properties of the shortcut. Take a look at Figure 9.
Figure 9 - Property of the "Columns" label
We need to add after the name of the object "C: \ Program Files \ DefSound \ DefSound-x64.exe" 0 ALL.0 - here it is something like the number of the sound card on which we put the speakers. This number will be different for each sound card. As far as I understand, you can see it if you open the properties of the sound card in the device manager (Figure 10). But it is not exactly. In any case, it can be selected by a simple search from 0 and higher.
Figure 10 - Properties of High Definition Audio
ALL- this is directly a command for the DefSound program. This command will be the same for all sound cards. What it means, as well as other possible commands, you can see on the DefSound website.
5) If desired, add hotkeys to call the "Columns" shortcut. I put him on a combination "Ctrl + Alt + W"(Figure 9). You can assign any other combination that is convenient for you. However, the important point is if you want the hotkeys to work, the shortcut must be on the desktop. If you remove it from there, the hotkeys will not work.
6) We write properties for the shortcut in an absolutely analogous way "Headphones"... There are only two differences: there will be a number here 1 instead of 0 before the command ALL and the key combination would be "Ctrl + ALT + Q"(Figure 11).
Figure 11 - Properties of Realtek High Definition Audio
That's all, gentlemen. We installed an additional sound card in the computer and made all the necessary settings so that even the last lazy people who count every mouse click would be wildly happy.
What do we have at the end? We have both speakers and headphones connected to the computer all the time and we can redirect sound between them with just one movement of the hand. Conveniently? In my opinion very much! However, there is one fly in the ointment in this beauty ...
The fact is that after collecting and configuring everything, I ran into one interesting problem. Imagine this situation - you are sitting, listening to music, switching between speakers and headphones, and everything you have is just wonderful in this life. And then you needed to restart your computer. And after this very reboot, the ability to switch between two sound cards is completely eliminated. Both using DefSound and using the manual method via the Windows Control Panel. Only one sound card is playing, which was active before the reboot, and the second cannot be started by any forces. For everything to come to life and work again, it is necessary shutdown the computer with power off. That is, you need to turn off the computer and completely de-energize it, only in this case it will be possible to return to the royal regime of managing everything and everyone. Honestly, what is the matter, I do not know. Most likely this is some kind of hardware, not software problem. That is, it is quite possible that this will not be observed on another gland. This is certainly not very pleasant, but since I rarely reboot, it does not bother much. Nevertheless, if you know what the matter is and how to solve a similar problem - write in the comments. Well, that's all, good luck to everyone and see you soon!
Oh yes, as promised - catch the download link.
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PC owners often need to upgrade or repair the sound subsystem, and they wonder how to connect a sound card. The reasons may be different: the failure of the old one, the goal is to get better sound by replacing the integrated motherboard card with a modern sound device.
Let's figure out what hardware we have before buying a sound card. If you own a PC, there are several connection options. For laptop owners, due to the peculiarities of the platform, it is possible to connect a sound card only via the USB connector. Before purchasing the card, it is necessary to examine the PC motherboard. On older models, you can use the PCI slot for connection. Manufacturers of modern motherboards and sound cards assume the use of a PCI Express x1 slot for connection. Newer models may not have a PCI slot. Therefore, you need to carefully read the description of the technical characteristics of your motherboard, finding out which of the presented connectors are in your model.
Disable the built-in or remove the old discrete card. To avoid conflicts and possible malfunctions, you need to go into the BIOS of a PC or laptop, alternately pressing the DEL and F2 keys during boot. Next, you need to go to the tab or item called "Advanced". Here in the parameter of the integrated devices "Integrated Peripherals" disable the built-in card: set Onboard Audio or High Definition Audio Driver from Enabled to Disabled.
How to install a sound card. So, having selected the desired card, and depending on the type of connector, insert it into the appropriate slot on the motherboard - PCI Express x1 or PCI. Insert carefully until it clicks. Before doing this, make sure that the PC power is completely turned off, even before disconnecting the plug from the outlet. From the rear panel of the PC case, the cap opposite the slot into which the card is planned to be installed must be removed. Instead of a plug on the rear panel, all card outputs will be brought out for subsequent connection of various acoustic devices to it. Plugs are usually secured with bolts or latches. Installing a sound card that works over USB takes minutes. Simply plug the device into any USB port.
How to set up a sound card. After inserting the card into the motherboard or connecting it via USB, the PC must be powered up again. After turning on, you need to install the driver for the new device. Windows may try to perform automatic configuration. But in order to fully unleash the potential of the new device, you need to install the drivers from the disc that comes with the sound card. In addition, the developer offers the installation of proprietary software that helps to fine-tune the sound card while saving the settings and using them for specific purposes (games, listening to music, watching movies). With USB sound cards, the software and drivers may already be in the device's memory, making installation and configuration even easier. It is likely that after all the manipulations, a computer restart will be required.
Thus, after that you can fully enjoy all the benefits that your new sound card model offers. Replacement is a fairly simple matter if you approach the process responsibly and prepare yourself with theoretical knowledge.
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Connecting a sound card to a computer and laptop
Usually, the desire to change the sound card arises if the user is dissatisfied with the quality of audio playback or recording. Sometimes the fault is the breakdown of the board. In any case, the new equipment must be connected correctly, and then the system must be configured accordingly.
The sound card is installed in a PCI or PCI Express slot, so before purchasing a device, check that the motherboard has an appropriate free slot. Another option is to connect via a USB interface. This method is relevant if you need to connect an external sound card to your laptop.
Installation
The connection process is the same, regardless of whether you install a professional or budget model. The first step is to remove the cap on the case of the system unit in order to bring the board connectors out through the hole formed. The equipment is attached to the body using the supplied screw. 
Disable integrated card
Some motherboard models require disabling the integrated sound card in the BIOS. Without following this procedure, the installed board refuses to work correctly.
Item names and locations may vary depending on the BIOS version. If you do not see the names listed below, then look for similar phrases. 
- Go to BIOS.
- On the Advanced tab, find Integrated Peripherals.
- Find the line "Onboard Audio Controller".
- Go to its settings by pressing Enter and select "Disabled".
If you need to enable the sound card integrated into the motherboard, select the "Enabled" item in the settings.
This is the basic information on how to connect a sound card and then set up your computer to work with it. Finally, here are some important recommendations.
Make sure the system supports the drivers for the selected hardware. Carefully study how to install the sound driver so that the installed board will work correctly.
If the video card interferes with the installation, it must be carefully pulled out of the slot. After connecting the sound card, be sure to put the video card back in place.
The sound card, especially if it is large, can block the fan of the video card. There is nothing wrong here: practice shows that this does not affect the temperature of the equipment and its performance.
After completing the connection process, find out how to connect the speakers to your computer in order to use the functionality of the sound card at full capacity. Want to speak and record your voice, not just listen? Then find out how to connect a microphone to your computer.
To install additional cards (audio and video) watch the following video.
mysettings.ru
Choosing a sound card, how to connect
Literally 10 years ago, choosing a sound card for your computer was, frankly, not an easy task. And there is no need to talk about how much time it took to “train” your system to reproduce music with high quality. Today the situation has changed dramatically and for the better. Choosing the same video card is now much more difficult than the sound one for your PC. In this article, we will take a closer look at what types of cards exist, and at the end we will tell you how to connect a sound card.
Today, even the cheapest versions of sound cards come with built-in audio codecs that can reproduce sound, even if not always of excellent quality, but at least sufficient for the average consumer. Such devices do their job well enough and if you are not a music lover, then such a sound card is quite enough for sounding computer games or watching a movie. Sound cards of the lower price range are usually integrated into the motherboard and are extremely simple to use. All the user needs is simply to insert the headphone or speaker plug into the desired socket. In such cases, the processing of audio signals is carried out by the computer's central processing unit, and the cost of having audio on your PC will be minimized.
When choosing a sound card and comparing prices for similar components, you need to understand one simple thing: good does not necessarily mean expensive. A sound card purchased at the highest price will not always sound better than its cheaper sibling. When choosing a sound card for your computer, you need to take into account a number of factors and characteristics in the complex.
For example, if you want to play MP4 media files with a frequency higher than 96 kb / s using the built-in sound card, then you will practically not feel the difference. Can you remember a situation where you are unable to recognize your own recorded voice? A similar situation is typical for sound cards of the lower price range. Your voice, recorded using such a board, you most likely will not be able to distinguish from the rest. And even more so you will not succeed if you also saved on the speakers. That is why real music lovers and specialists working with audio signal processing choose an external sound card. And how and what to choose - we will talk about this further.
So you've decided to get a good sound card, but don't know where to start yet. First of all, you need to decide on the purposes for which you are buying an audio card. To a large extent, such a choice will depend on the quality of the acoustics that you will connect to the sound card. If cheap and not very high-quality acoustics are used, then even with the purchase of the most "fancy" audio card, the sound quality will not improve. When purchasing a good sound card, you must remember that the rest of the system components that are responsible for sound reproduction must also be up to date.
Below is the classification of sound cards for a personal computer. Most often, all sound cards can be divided into three types:
- - multimedia (used mostly for games)
- - semi-professional and professional (similar sound cards are used when processing sound files and listening to high-quality music)
- - universal
Multimedia sound cards
Multimedia sound cards represent the oldest type of audio device. The appearance of such devices happened earlier than others, and it was they who began to be used on the PC for listening and recording audio files.
In order for a sound card to process high-quality surround sound, it needs a signal processor ((English Digital signal processor, DSP) with high performance. Such processors are capable of fully processing the reproduced and recorded signals. Powerful DSP processes the audio stream, calculates surround sound effects , mixes sound signals, etc. Thus, it significantly relieves the central processor of the computer, which at this time can be engaged in other tasks.
Naturally, multimedia cards have much better qualities than built-in sound cards. But, nevertheless, it is rather difficult to achieve perfect sound from them. These sound cards are at the level of home karaoke, you can hardly expect anything more from them.
A few years ago, many different card models were introduced on the multimedia sound card market. Such sound cards were offered by a variety of manufacturers, and the competition among them was quite high. Some of the most active were Creative and Aureal. Sound cards produced by these companies boasted different algorithms for processing 3D sound, and each company had its own admirers. With the introduction of the first motherboards with an integrated sound card, cheap multimedia cards began to disappear. Currently, the leading manufacturer of cards for sound processing is Creative. The Audigy and X-Fi product lines have become the most popular home appliances. And Sound Blaster Audigy and Audigy2 have the highest quality playback of multimedia files. And only 20 percent of this market belongs to manufacturers such as -Audio, ESI / Audiotrack and Terratec. And a very tiny share in the production of sound cards is occupied by lesser-known manufacturers, who mainly produce clones of sound cards from Creative.
Semi-professional and professional sound cards
Often, semi-professional equipment manufacturers are the same manufacturers that make professional sound cards. The target audience for professional cards is usually musicians. Semi-professional cards are mainly intended for connoisseurs of high-quality sound. The main difference between such cards and multimedia cards is microcircuits with more elaborate algorithms and, as a result, high-quality sounding of music and audio.
Sound cards of this type practically do not use built-in powerful processors designed for processing 3D sounds. These cards usually do not have support for multi-channel audio, which is used in multimedia cards and is so necessary for gamers. But on the other hand, these sound cards are perfect for listening to music. If you have good acoustics or expensive headphones, they can reproduce sound similar in sound quality to inexpensive Hi-Fi audio systems. These boards are also suitable for home theater applications. The sound will be clear and reproduced exactly as it was recorded.
Semi-pro sound cards from a professional audio system manufacturer almost always come with a set of drivers designed for professional sound processing software. This solution is perfect for beginner musicians. However, most of these boards are not suitable for professional recording.
If you have a need, besides just listening to music, to record it, then you, of course, need to consider the segment of professional sound cards. These are the cards used by professional sound engineers, arrangers, musicians and producers.
Usually, professional sound cards do not come with drivers for playing multimedia files, and they also lack DirectX support. Therefore, most of these cards are not suitable for games. Professional sound cards do not need this, their purpose lies in a completely different plane. Their composition does not contain anything superfluous and only what is needed to perform specific tasks is left. Moreover, many professional sound cards even lack support for common instruments, with which we are used to adjusting the volume level on a computer. All channels of the audio stream in such cards are regulated using a specially designed control panel that shows levels in decibels. The main thing for professional cards is the quality of stereo sound. Therefore, they use not only expensive and high-quality digital-to-analog converters, but also higher quality filters of the supply voltage, to maximize the elimination of interference.
Professional sound cards provide input and output of audio signals according to the so-called balanced circuit. As a result of this, interference is reduced when using long cables, or in places with a large accumulation of equipment. Sound card outputs for professional use are different from the usual minijack. Inputs and outputs are made under RCA ("tulip") or "big jack". XLR connectors can also be used, which are brought out using special interface cables. Most professional sound cards include external blocks to which all connectors are connected. This arrangement facilitates easy access to the connectors. You can easily connect professional acoustic monitors, mixing consoles, preamplifiers and many other professional equipment to professional cards.
Another important difference between professional sound cards and multimedia is the different supported standards. Professionals are capable of supporting rare audio standards such as GSIF and ASIO2. This allows them to reduce signal processing delays to a minimum. This feature is very important when processing audio files.
Even if you do not need constant sound recording and you only use a sound card for listening to music, you should not immediately abandon the option of purchasing a professional card. Pay attention to not very expensive cards in this segment. Such cards are convenient to use when connecting Hi-Fi equipment, and also as a good source of sound signal for a serious audio system.
The cost of professional and semi-professional boards for working with audio signals ranges from several hundred to several thousand dollars. The most expensive models are equipped exclusively, so they are practically not needed for use in home studios. The most optimal options are sound cards that range in price from $ 150 to $ 500. The main manufacturers of such sound cards today are E-Mu (a division of Creative) and ESI (formerly producing sound cards under the name EgoSys). Among the E-Mu sound cards, the 1616M and 1212M series are hugely popular.
E-Mu 1616M PCI is a card for a PCI slot and an external switching unit, which includes a microphone preamplifier and a headphone amplifier. The sound quality of the given system is excellent and even comparable to Hi-Fi sources, the cost of which often exceeds $ 1000.
Universal sound cards
Universal cards combine the characteristics of two types of cards - multimedia and professional. However, due to the fact that the requirements for these two types are completely different, it is very difficult to find the necessary balance between them. True, today there are quite a few universal sound cards that combine the necessary qualities of a gamer card and a full-fledged sound system well. First of all, this is a line of X-Fi audio cards from Creative. These sound cards are the most advanced and functional PC sound equipment on the market. This is not to say that sound cards from the X-Fi line have ideal versatility, but there is nothing better on the market in this segment at the moment. The cost of such a system is in the region of $ 150, and models that can be placed in 5.25 ”bays cost about $ 200. The most expensive model in this line is the X-Fi Elite Pro. It has a high-tech digital-to-analog converter. The X-Fi Elite Pro will set you back $ 300.
External sound cards
Another type of sound cards are external sound cards. This type of sound cards has appeared quite recently (6-7 years ago). It is often used on professional boards. There are several types of connection of such cards. It can be either an external usb sound card or a FireWire sound card. The question arises, why do we need such sound cards at all, when there have long been well-proven cards built into a PC? However, this is not the case. Removing the sound card from the computer solves a number of problems: the card's noise immunity increases significantly and the sound quality improves. Manufacturers of internal cards have to make additional insulation of the elements to protect them from interference inside the PC case, and this naturally leads to an increase in the cost of the sound card itself. In addition, an external sound card solves another problem, namely, it does not occupy the PCI slot on the motherboard, the number of which is limited and sometimes not enough even to connect more important devices.
But external sound cards have one unpleasant feature, namely the limited bandwidth of the port to which they are connected. However, in the modern market of external audio cards there are quite a lot of good copies that can reproduce sound quality.
The most popular today are professional sound cards connected via FireWire. Such cards are practically free from problems with the number of channels and at the same time have excellent signal quality due to good bandwidth.
Today, the most popular are professional audio cards that can be connected via FireWire: they practically have no problems with the number of channels, as well as the signal quality (this is achieved due to the high bandwidth).
Now, briefly about how to connect a sound card. The sound card is installed in a PCI slot on the motherboard. First of all, remove the side cover of the system unit and decide on the choice of the slot into which you will insert the card. There are four of them in our picture, you can have more or less.
Once decided, you need to remove the dummy plug on the back of your PC. After removing the cap, insert your sound card into a free PCI slot and fix it with a screw to the case. This completes the installation. Now you need to insert the plug from the speakers into the desired socket and install the drivers that you will find on the CD-ROM supplied with the sound card.
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How to connect a sound card
Today's computers have many features that make them the center of a home project or recording studio. One computer can be surrounded by a dozen other devices by connecting all the necessary equipment to it and installing the appropriate software. If we are talking specifically about musical equipment, then in the bundle "computer" - "instruments" - "acoustic system" there must be one more component, which is called a "sound card". It is about how to connect a sound card that will be discussed in this short article.
If you are reading this, then you have an external sound card in your hands. First you need to find out what type of cards the existing model belongs to. Card models that connect via USB are now widespread - it is convenient, it is mobile, and it is suitable for the vast majority of devices, including tablet computers. So if your sound card is equipped with a USB cable and does not look like a green microcircuit with contacts, then the question of how to connect the sound card disappears by itself and the answer is obvious - via a USB connector, just like it is done with many other devices.
In the same case, if you are holding a removable sound card intended for connection to a stationary computer, the list of necessary manipulations will expand somewhat. First you need to turn off the PC and remove the side cover from it - in this sequence. Then analyze the available inputs on the motherboard - usually there are no problems with this, because the manufacturers took care of standardizing all the connectors. Therefore, plug the card into a free entrance under the video card (usually there are PCI slots there), into it - cables from the speaker system, and you can assemble the computer back.
After the question of how to connect a sound card to a computer is closed, you can proceed to setting it up. Usually it is limited to installing the required set of drivers from the supplied disc and choosing the card as the default playback device. Please note that if the card supports ASIO technology (and it most likely does), then these drivers will need to be selected in the settings of the sequencer used.
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Installing a sound card
Gentlemen, all the kindest evening!
To some extent, today's article can be considered as a continuation of the previous one from the HARDWARE heading, but at the same time it does not depend on it in any way and can be considered as an absolutely independent work.
It all started with the fact that I somehow sat at the computer and did nothing doing something useful there. At the same time, my favorite music was playing in my headphones. And then a simple and clear thought came to me that, generally speaking ... more sound is needed! And then it started ...
Yes, all this time I somehow lived without speakers and even more so without a subwoofer, limiting myself only to ear pads. And then suddenly the thought came that everything, that's enough, it can't be done anymore and it is necessary, finally, to get hold of a more or less normal speaker system. And the question immediately arose - how can I connect it to my computer?
It would seem that everything here is pretty obvious and everything was invented before us. Typically, in such cases, users simply plug the speaker connector into the sound card connector on the back of the computer, and if they need to listen with headphones, they plug them into the connector on the front of the computer or into the connector on the speakers themselves. Subject to its availability, of course. This option did not suit me for a number of reasons. Firstly, the connector on the front panel is quite poor-quality, loose, and the headphones constantly fell off. But this is not the worst thing, the connector can always be replaced. In addition, the motherboard was clearly greedy for the signal strength for this connector: the sound on it is noticeably weaker compared to the sound source on the back. Secondly, the location of my computer in the workspace is such that if you stick headphones into its connector on the front panel, the wire from them will always get tangled under your feet, touch everything and just terribly annoy. If the wire is connected to the back of the computer, then it calmly passes over the table, without catching anything, and falls on the back panel simultaneously with the wires of the keyboard, mouse and monitors. In general, having a headphone jack on the back is much more convenient. And thirdly - the most important thing - I categorically did not want to constantly poke something, if I suddenly need to change the sound source operatively. Ideally, this is done with a single hotkey press. In short, the more I thought, the more I came to the conclusion that a second sound card should be installed in the computer. Yes, it's fat, redundant, you can do without it - but who cares! The pluses are so good that you have to bet and that's it!
In short, I made this decision and started monitoring the sound card market. To my surprise, there were not so few of them on the market, but ... very few! In many computer stores, they told me that, in principle, they never sold anything like that. Well, the Internet is a good thing, there is everything. There was also a sound card for me. Meet - Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx (Figure 1)!
Figure 1 - Sound card Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx
We open this box. Inside there are all boring little things like a disk with drivers, instructions and everything else. Since nobody is interested in this at all, I will not even take a picture of it. Instead, let's jump straight to our patient - he is depicted in Figure 2.
Figure 2 - Sound card Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx (without packaging)
As we can see, this sound card has a PCI-E x1 slot. This connector exists on my ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z motherboard. This is important, gentlemen! Your motherboard must have the same connector that your sound card has. If you buy, for example, a sound card with a PCI connector, and your motherboard only has PCI-E, nothing will come of it - you will not be able to install this sound card. Be careful when choosing to make sure the connectors match exactly. In our case, everything is fine, everything will match, so let's plug our sound card into the motherboard (Figure 3)
Figure 3 - Installed sound card
From the back of the computer, it will look like Figure 4.
Figure 4 - Installed sound card
After that, we plug our headphones into the sound connector of the motherboard, and the speakers into the connector of the new sound card. This completes the "iron part", we begin to tinker with the software. I did everything on a Windows 7 system.
We turn on the computer and climb into the device manager (for those who do not know, the procedure is as follows: open “My computer”, right-click on the free field, select “Properties.” In the window that opens, on the left, click on “Device Manager”). In Device Manager, open the Sound, Video and Game Controllers tab. Our new sound card should appear there in addition to the existing sound card built into the motherboard (Figure 5).
Figure 5 - Sound card in device manager
As you can see from Figure 5, she really appeared there (circled in red). And I didn't even have to install any additional drivers, all the drivers were picked up automatically.
Now a reasonable question arises - how, in fact, switch between speakers and headphones? How do I redirect sound from one sound card to another?
There are at least two ways. The first is uncomfortable, completely manual. We go "Start" - "Control Panel" - "Hardware and Sound" - "Sound". A window should open as in Figure 6.
Figure 6 - Sound settings
Here we see a huge list of all kinds of audio equipment. But we are only interested in two of them: "Sound Blaster Audigy Fx Speakers" and "Realtek High Definition Audio Speakers". The first is our new sound card, and the second is our old sound card built into the motherboard. Remember that we connected speakers to the new sound card, and headphones to the old one built into the motherboard. We can see that there is a green checkbox next to "Sound Blaster Audigy Fx Speakers". This means that this device is currently active and music is playing through the speakers. Let's say I now want to transfer audio to headphones. What is needed for that? Just right-click on "Realtek High Definition Audio Speakers" and select "Set as Default" from the pop-up menu (Figure 7).
Figure 7 - Switching the sound source
After this action, the green checkbox will move to "Realtek High Definition Audio Speakers" and the sound will be fed through the headphones.
This is all, of course, great, but does it not seem to you that it is too inconvenient to perform so many actions every time you want to change the sound source? I immediately dismissed this option for myself and started looking for some software that could make the hard life of a music lover easier. And, oddly enough, I found it. So, welcome, the DefSound program! It can be downloaded from the official website or I will attach a direct link at the end of the article. Everything as you love: free of charge, without registration, SMS and selling yourself for eternal slavery.
In fact, the result of the work of this program is exactly the same as if we followed the path described above with the pens. It changes the checkbox of the device in the same way as we changed it. Only she does it with just one click of the mouse or in general with hot keys.
How to work with this program? Very simple. Now I will tell you the points.
1) It is necessary to place the downloaded.exe file of this program in some folder. For this I created a daddy at the address "C: \ Program Files \ DefSound"
2) After that, you need to create two shortcuts for this program on the desktop. We name them appropriately. I named them “Speakers” and “Headphones” (Figure 8).
Figure 8 - Create two shortcuts for the DefSound program
4) Now attention, gentlemen! The most important step. We need to register commands for the program in the properties of the shortcut. Take a look at Figure 9.
Figure 9 - Property of the "Columns" label
We need to add 0 ALL after the name of the object "C: \ Program Files \ DefSound \ DefSound-x64.exe". 0 - here it is something like the number of the sound card on which we put the speakers. This number will be different for each sound card. As far as I understand, you can see it if you open the properties of the sound card in the device manager (Figure 10). But it is not exactly. In any case, it can be selected by a simple search from 0 and higher.
Figure 10 - Properties of High Definition Audio
ALL is the command itself for the DefSound program. This command will be the same for all sound cards. What it means, as well as other possible commands, you can see on the DefSound website.
5) If desired, add hotkeys to call the "Columns" shortcut. I put him on the combination "Ctrl + Alt + W" (Figure 9). You can assign any other combination that is convenient for you. However, an important point - if you want the hotkeys to work, the shortcut must be on the desktop. If you remove it from there, the hotkeys will not work.
6) We write properties for the "Headphones" shortcut in an absolutely allogeneic way. There are only two differences: there will be a number 1 instead of 0 before the ALL command and the key combination will be “Ctrl + ALT + Q” (Figure 11).
Figure 11 - Properties of Realtek High Definition Audio
That's all, gentlemen. We installed an additional sound card in the computer and made all the necessary settings so that even the last lazy people who count every mouse click would be wildly happy.
What do we have at the end? We have both speakers and headphones connected to the computer all the time and we can redirect sound between them with just one movement of the hand. Conveniently? In my opinion very much! However, there is one fly in the ointment in this beauty ...
The fact is that after collecting and configuring everything, I ran into one interesting problem. Imagine this situation - you are sitting, listening to music, switching between speakers and headphones, and everything you have is just wonderful in this life. And then you needed to restart your computer. And after this very reboot, the ability to switch between two sound cards is completely eliminated. Both using DefSound and using the manual method via the Windows Control Panel. Only one sound card is playing, which was active before the reboot, and the second cannot be started by any forces. In order for everything to come to life and work again, you need to turn off the computer and remove the power. That is, you need to turn off the computer and completely de-energize it, only in this case it will be possible to return to the royal regime of managing everything and everyone. Honestly, what is the matter, I do not know. Most likely this is some kind of hardware, not software problem. That is, it is quite possible that this will not be observed on another gland. This is certainly not very pleasant, but since I rarely reboot, it does not bother much. Nevertheless, if you know what the matter is and how to solve a similar problem, write in the comments. Well, that's all, good luck to everyone and see you soon!
Can I use a TV as a monitor
Every computer is equipped with a sound card. Without it, the user will not be able to listen to music, play games, etc. A sound card is a special module in your computer that allows it to process sound, that is, output it to speakers, or record it. Accordingly, the better and better this module is, the clearer the sound is. When sound cards (cards) first appeared in the everyday life of computer users, they were installed in a standard slot (input) on the computer's motherboard. Now there are sound cards, both built-in or integrated, and external (they work independently).
Connecting a sound card
Before connecting a sound card, you need to know that they work thanks to the universally specified AC'97 codec. This product was developed by Intel in 1997. It has become the standard for all modern motherboards, sound cards and modules that deal with sound and sound processing.
Since AC'97 evolved into HD Audio, Intel released this sound driver modification in 2004. This version gives us the ability to reproduce sound from even more channels and with even better sound quality. This hardware supports 24 - bit audio at 192 kHz with eight channels of playback. Roughly speaking, this version differs from the previous one only in the high quality of the microcircuit and in greater functionality, and the information transfer remains the same. Here are some of the advantages of HD Audio over AC'97:
- Support for new formats: Dolby Digital Surround EX, DVD-Audio, DTS ES.
- Large bandwidth makes it possible to have a large number of channels, for example: 24 Mb / s input and 48 Mb / s output in HD Audio versus only 11.5 Mb / s AC'97.
- Unlimited full Plug and Play support.
- High input accuracy and speech recognition.
When it comes to using a sound card, frequently asked questions are, for example: how to connect a sound card to a computer? This question is really relevant because you need knowledge of the BIOS, or rather, the ability to navigate in it. To connect the sound card correctly, you need:
- Turn off the computer and turn it on, at the start of the boot press “DEL” or F8 (it depends on the configuration of the motherboard).
- In the BIOS shell with arrows, you need to find the item that is responsible for the built-in devices, most often it is called "Advanced", then we look for the "Integrated Peripherals" tab (the names may differ depending on the chipset models, look for similar items).
- In this tab you will find the item "OnBoard Audio Controller" - this is the function that is responsible for the sound card of the computer. When you select this item, you move the checkbox from "Disabled" to "Enabled", thereby enabling the module.
Connecting an external sound card
It also happens that the computer does not have a built-in sound card. This problem is solvable and you should know how to connect an external sound card too. For this you need:
- Unscrew the side cover of the case; do not forget to disconnect the computer from the network.
- Find a suitable slot on the motherboard, remove the plugs and insert the sound module, then fix it.
- Next, we insert all the plugs into the corresponding inputs on the card, turn on the computer and install all the drivers that go to the sound card.
