Sound Card Recommendations??

Kaisermust

Beta member
Messages
3
Had a dedicated Soundblaster SBLive! digital audio card in my old Dell Dimension 4100 (10 yrs old). Just bought new Dell Inspiron I580 w/Windows 7 which has an integrated sound card now. Old music MP3's sound crappy now--they play slower, very tinny sounding, some words muffled. My tech guy says I need to buy separate sound card now to get back my stereo-quality, rattle-the-windows sound I used to have. Still using my Altec Lansing ACS-340 speakers with subwoofer. I'm not a gamer, just want my music to play on my new computer like it did before--like a great sounding stereo receiver. So what type of audio card should I buy for MUSIC only? And will my old MP3's (grabbed via Napster years ago) play great again?
 
Do you have the latest drivers for the on-board sound? That could be an issue. I'm using on-board sound and I'm gaming with it, 5.1, and sounds great.
any mid range Creative sound card will do. it's only music.
 
I assume so--I did not set up my new computer. I had my tech install it. What do I need to know about the integrated sound card in my computer and how do I check to see if I have the latest drivers??? Should I call Dell first and ask exactly what type of integrated sound card is in my computer? If so, then how do I check to see what drivers are installed on my computer and if they're not the right ones, where do I go to get the right drivers? Sorry, but I'm not very familiar with technologically behind-the-scenes installing. That's why I paid my tech guy to set up my computer.
 
if your tech guy installed drivers from a disk, than the sound card should be listed in device manager. or if you can find the model number on your motherboard, you can look for sound drivers that way as well.
 
No, my tech guy did not install any software from a disk for sound dtivers. Everything was already preloaded onto computer--Win 7, etc. Just took computer out of the box and plugged it in. He did install CD disc for my printer though and MS Office Suite discs. So I'm assuming that Dell pre-loaded appropriate drivers for the integrated sound card. So now I guess I should just buy a stand-alone sound card and have tech guy install it in my PC, right?
 
Back
Top Bottom