Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional (70SB135600000) Sound Card

29 Reviews

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	Price: $134.54
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Pros: Sound card for gaming applications, headphone amplifier, light on resources
Cons: No multichannel audio, May not be for audiophiles and musicians, Not compatible with Windows XP

Review: PC gamers know that any rig expressly built for gaming needs more than a powerful processor, gigabytes of memory and one or more blazing-fast video cards. To complete the experience, a proper sound card is an essential part of the package. With its quad-core digital audio processor delivering serious audio chops of its own, the Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional Sound Card lets your CPU handle the more important things, like frame rate and game loading. Fitted with a Sound Core3D Audio and Voice chipset, the Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional maximizes its built-in THX TruStudio Pro and Dolby Digital Live sound processing, creating hyper-realistic environmental sound modeling that has to be heard to be believed. On the other hand, its CrystalVoice voice enhancement technology, combined with a beam-forming microphone that produces an acoustic zone that effectively blocks outside noise, significantly increases sound quality for video conferencing, multiplayer games, and voice chats. A built-in headphone amplifier supports studio-quality headsets of up to 600ohm impedance. The PCI-Express x1 interface and small form factor of the Creative Fatal1ty Professional Sound Card means that it can easily fit into any standard tower case with an available x1 lane. It is also lightweight in terms of resources, as it consumes only about 1.5 watts of power out of your system. The rear of the Fatal1ty Professional has the usual selection of analog connection ports, but it also has an optical audio port and a TOSLINK input port for connecting other devices. Finally, the transistors and processor of the Fatal1ty sound card is covered by a protective casing with a small transparent window, which is in turn adorned with a bright LED light. Although the Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional is a competitive and serviceable sound card model that can handle other applications, its features seem to be targeted towards meeting the demands of the gamer sector of the market rather the audiophile or musician one. For one, it does not have multi-channel audio, a common feature even on budget sound cards. The headphone amplifier is a nice addition, but individual audio outputs would be better. Lastly, the Creative Fatal1ty Professional isn't compatible with Windows XP in any format, which also limits its market share to some extent.

StarTech.com 5 Channel PCI Sound Adapter Card & Audio (PCI - 24 bit - Internal)

22 Reviews

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WIREDZONE.COM	Price: $24.15
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Pros: Easy to install, Decent sound, Small form factor, Modest price, MIDI support
Cons: Average sound

Review: When using your PC, sound cards play a big role if you want to hear every distinct voice or instrument from your movies and music. The 5 Channel PCI Sound Card from StarTech.com is a great entry-level 5.1 sound card, especially when matched with good speakers. Smaller than most sound cards, you can easily install it in your case using the supplied bracket without the fear of blocking other ports or slots. At this price point, the inclusion of a Game or MIDI port serves as a bonus, making the sound card more versatile by letting you use your old legacy gaming devices and MIDI instruments. There's nothing special in terms of sound quality but if you want to experience surround sound or hear clearer and better sound from your PC and you're not willing to pay a lot, this PCI sound card will not disappoint. It supports up to 48 KHz sampling rate and permits a Full-Duplex operation for simultaneous recording and playback. It is also covered with a lifetime warranty and free lifetime technical support. Supported systems include Windows 9x, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, 2003, Server 2008, Vista and 7. Price and ease of installation are two of this 5 Channel PCI Sound Card's key selling points. Although it doesn't provide the greatest audio, it improves the quality of your computer's sound to some extent while remaining wallet-friendly. Bottom line, if you've always wanted to replace your onboard audio but you want to keep your budget in check, you can probably do worse than to give this one a try, but for heavy users who demand the best when it comes to quality, investing in a higher-end sound card would most likely be an intelligent move.