Sound cards, talk to me

[sburrell93]

Hoping someone can help me here.

I want to connect my XB One to my PC speakers. Anyone got any recommendations for a sound card? From what I can see, I'll need an optical input on the card to connect the Xbox, but apart from that, I have absolutely no idea what i'm looking for.

I have a set of Logitech X-530 speakers which I realise are far from high end, so I'm not really looking to spend loads on a card.

Also, I'm aware I could use the headphone out on the tv and plug it into the line in on my pc but i've tried that, it sounds s**t lol. Ideally I'm after something that will give me proper 5.1 to get full use of the speakers!

Cheers folks

 

[Toypop]

It just seems a fuss running your XO through the PC?

I mean I have my XO connected via HDMI to my Onkyo AV receiver and I could connect the PC to that receiver either via HDMI or Optical as even without a sound card most GFX cards have HDMI and mobo's have built in optical audio out.

As it is I have a Z906 system and I have the PC connected via the 3 jacks on the soundcard to the main Sub unit but the system also takes an optical connection that I could use for the XO.

I dunno, I'd buy another set of speakers than mess around with a card and having the faff of needing your PC on when you play the XO. Surely it isn't much for a speaker system with enough inputs to handle your PC and XO? Buy the cheapest system with all that on it and it will last you 10 years so its a good investment?

 

[sburrell93]

I don't have the money or space to go down the AV receiver route really. I looked at the Z906 speakers too, but I figured getting a new sound card kinda killed two birds with one stone, as I'm using the on board sound on my pc just now and could probably do with a slight upgrade.

I've pretty much got my pc on all the time anyway, and with dual monitors I can run the XO on one of them and still have access to my pc which is what I usually do, so running my sound through the pc isn't an issue for me.

 

[Toypop]

If you sold your existing system and combined the cash with what you would have to spend for a soundcard with a high quality digital input, you wouldn't have to save up that much more to get a system that covered all your bases?

You could run your PC via HDMI through the XO and have the XO connected a cheap 5.1 system with an optical input? (EDIT: ignore that sorry, just remembered u wanted to do a dual monitor thing).

But I'd go for a system with separate inputs for each system. The Z906 can sometimes go down to £200 on Amazon. The price really fluctuates. Allegedly its been seen at 180, I wouldn't pay more than 220.

I'm no audiophile but for general home use it sounds very good and would easily give you 10 years use. £20 a year tops for a system like that is a bargain IMO.

 

[sburrell93]

The speakers I have atm aren't really worth that much. Taking that into account and adding what I'd ideally like to spend on a sound card, the Z906's are still over £100 more on top of that, unless I got them going cheap. All I'd ever have plugged into them is my PC and XO too. It's not like I have a load of different things to plug into it and make use of all the inputs on them.

Don't get me wrong, they look like decent speakers, but I think it's a bit overkill for what i'm after. I'd also like to have the ability to have sound from more than one source at any one time. By the looks of it those speakers just let you cycle through the different sources so I'd need to choose between my pc and xbox. If I have my xbox running through my pc I can have the sound from both at once.

 

[Dink]

i'd go for something like this

got the optical in you would need for the xbox and the 3.5mm sockets for the speakers

 

[Mikeyjp]

that creative one should do the job, just make sure have a slot free in ya pc

 

[Addicted]

Creative ZxR, it's what I do also means I can switch between headphones and speakers too, with the Xbone

 

[Wilkeh]

Creative ZxR, it's what I do also means I can switch between headphones and speakers too, with the Xbone

This. Although I have just the Z and it's more than sufficient

 

[sburrell93]

Cheers folks, may go for the one Dink recommended, seems a good price for what it is!

Creative ZxR, it's what I do also means I can switch between headphones and speakers too, with the Xbone

£200 for a sound card bit out of my budget lol. What's the differences with the more expensive ones? Will I still be able to get proper 5.1 from my xbox using that X-fi Xtreme Audio one above? That's all I'm after really, just some decent surround sound audio from the xbox and my pc.