Sound Card Suggestions

[kitty]

I'm in the market for getting a new sound card. There's actually nothing wrong with my current sound (on-board chipset which works nicely) but I'd rather have a card I can hook up my front panel jacks to. I want something decent, nothing OMG HAX. I don't to spent much over $50, in fact I'd rather not spend $50 if I can help it.

So any recommendations?

EDIT: And what difference does the bit value for digital audio mean?

[prophetik music]

bit value is a way for chip producers to get more money from audiophiles. you don't need anything over 24-bit.

the only sound card i've ever owned was the soundblaster live! 24-bit external card. it's a great card, but it's like three years old. it works well as long as you don't uninstall it or unplug it while it's active.

beyond that, there isn't really any sound card that's worth the money for under fifty bucks. if you just want the plug in front, get a media dashboard that'll fit in your front 3.5 bay, like this. it takes a bit of fooling around to get the cords to fit, but it works pretty well.

[kitty]

Oh I have a front panel with the headphone and mic jack already, I just need a card that has the plug for it to connect to.

EDIT: I did some tinkering around and I found out I do have front panel support, although it sucks major balls. My current sound card makes adding analog devices a pain in the ass because of that whole detection crap. I can't just connect my mic and have it work. It needs to "detect" it first before it starts outputting sound at a reasonable volume. Because the front panel doesn't mimic that feature, I can't connect a mic to it, which defeats the purpose of even having the front panel hooked up in the first place.

[Schwaltzvald]

What about getting simply a mic headset that plugs in via usb..?

I use a logitech headset that connects to a USB and it works just fine. Though I do use a soundcard mainly for the speakers when I'm not using the headset...

This is just an example, you can probably find something like this much cheaper elsewhere...

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Premium-USB-Headset-980374-0403/dp/B0007SXHP0

[kitty]

Well right now I'm just using an extension cable to get the mic to the back and the audio is plugged in the front. Very ghetto I know. The other cheap alternative I have is to split the audio in the back and just plug the mic into the actual port.