Sound Card/Speakers Page

Most computers require a sound card to decode sound files into audio that can be sent to your speakers (some have it build into the motherboard).  Sound cards can be either ISA or PCI.  There are few PCI cards out right now, but expect them to become more common in the future. 
Computer speakers are different from regular stereo speakers in that they need to be shielded.  They're also more expensive and it's hard to find quality speakers for a low price. 

What To Look For:

• In Sound Cards, there are several things you need to look for.  First of all, I should note that I'm writing this for the common computer user and if you are interested in doing audio production, just look at the recommendations. 
  *Update* The newest thing to look for is the support of 3D positional audio.  Chipsets that make use of this are Aureal's A3D, A3D 2.0 (found in Diamond's Monster Sound cards), and the Sound Blaster Live!
  You need to decide if you want a PCI or ISA sound card.  The PCI are newer and harder to find.  If you have enough PCI slots, I would advise getting one of them since eventually ISA will not be used (and you can then transfer your PCI sound card into a new computer with all PCI slots).  Many of the standard companies now have PCI versions of their sound cards out now. 
  Other things to look for are Sound Blaster compatability (most are now), how much memory it has, how many "voices" it supports, etc.  Many newer sound cards support 32 or 64 "voices." 
• In Speakers, look for the amount of Watts of power that the speakers are rated at, but this can be very misleading as some companies misrepresent this figure.  If it says something over 40 Watts and it's not expensive, then it's probably not true.  However, many are rated at about 20 Watts, which is quite good.  Anything that claims to be higher than 100 Watts is probably junk. 

Recommendations:

SOUND CARDS:
1.  6/16/00 Update - With Aureal (A3D) now out of business, I would now recommend the SoundBlaster Live! line of sound cards over the A3D cards.  If another company doesn't pick them up, you won't be able to get new drivers further down the road.  Aureal's drivers have been slow to produce anyway.  The Live Platinum is a great card, but the Live! value may be the best for those on a tight budget.
1/17/00 Update- For those of you that are true audiophiles, I would recommend the Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live Platinum, which has a large collection of great audio features for audio editing. If you are not into audio editing, I would suggest any of the A3D based cards below.
11/13/99 Update- Several new sound cards have been released, most based on the A3D Vortex 2.  A couple that take the cake include the Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla and the Xitel Storm Platinum Gamers Pack. 
The Montego II Quadzilla supports quad speakers or S/PDIF output, and great 3D sound CPU Utilization scores. 
The Storm Platinum supports a special TOSLINK S/PDIF (but no coaxial S/PDIF) for connecting digital mixers to, support for four speakers, and even comes with "force feedback" headphones. 
Either of the above would be a great choice.  The Aureal Vortex2 SQ2500 is a more "standard issue" version of the cards above that you may also want to consider.  It is very similar to the Quadzilla. 

2.  9/1/99 Update- Diamond's Monster Sound MX300 is the latest and greatest.  It's also somewhat inexpensive.  It can be had for around $60, which isn't bad for the best 3D sound available.  This card uses the A3D 2.0 chipset.  It also is supposed to support Creative Labs' EAX extensions for 3D audio (it supports its own A3D implementation right now though).  This and the SB Live! below work best with a set of 4 speakers. 

3.  9/1/99 Update- Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Live! is also a great sound card.  While the MX300 is better for games, the Live! may be better for audio editing and production.  The Live! Value is the same except that it doesn't come with the I/O daughterboard that the Live! has. 

4.  9/1/99 Update- Diamond's low-end Sonic Impact S90 uses Aureal's A3D 1.0 chipset for great 3D audio at a very cheap price (about $27).  It's not the best in 3D audio, but it's not bad either. 

5.  Creative Labs' Sound Blaster 16 original is always a reliable performer and comes in both PCI and ISA formats.  The price is right too.  The AWE 64 cards are good as well, but I don't think they are worth the extra money.  Another one to consider is Diamond's Sonic Impact PCI sound card.  The best aspect about it is its price. 

SPEAKERS:
1.  4/25/00 Update - Another great speaker set to consider (if you can't afford the Klipsch) is the new Altec Lansing ACS56.  This is another 5 speaker set with the now standard incredibly powerful bass that Altec is known to create.  It also has a great set of connectors and cables including S/PDIF input.
11/13/99 Update- A new winner in speakers:  Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400 are a quad speaker setup with an incredible amount of power.  They have a total of 400 Watts!  This is a home stereo quality setup designed for the PC.  These speakers are in a class by themselves, but they also cost $250...  In Anand's comparison, the Klipsch speakers beat out the $300 Cambridge SoundWorks DTT 2500 in terms of sound quality.  The Cambridge speakers do have better features and more connection types though. 

2.  10/1/99 Update- Altec-Lansing's ADA 305 speakers are perhaps slightly better in the mid and high areas than the ACS48s listed as my number 2 pick, but they don't have quite as good bass.  The ADA 305s and the ACS 48s are both great sets of speakers and it is difficult to pick a clear winner.  The ADA 305s have some features that the 48s don't, which causes me to choose them as the best.  These speakers support USB controls (so the volume can be controlled from your computer), and they have a Dolby Pro Logic decoder for high quality sound. 
10/1/99 Update- Also note:  there are some new speakers coming out that look really nice.  One is the Altec-Lansing ADA-880 speader setup (4 satellites and 1 sub).  The other is the Cambridge Soundworks FPS2000.  These speakers have gotten great reviews so far and consist of the same type setup as the ADA880.  They can also be found for less than $150.  I have not used the FPS2000 yet, but the ADA-880 speakers sound great!  It's a good, inexpensive way to get quad speaker support. 

3. My number two pick is Altec-Lansing's ACS48 speakers which consist of two separate satellite speakers and one subwoofer.  The satellites are rated at 20 Watts and the subwoofer is rated at 40 Watts.  Computer Shopper rated them as the best they had reviewed.  They can be found for just over $100.  Just behind these are the ACS45s which also produce great sound for their price.   The lowest price I've seen on them was $67. 

  4.  My second pick is nearly as good as the Altec-Lansings, but they are hard to find.  They're made by 4Q-Technologies and are called Sound Image Jr.  They have 2 satellite speakers with 2 parts to each that swivel so you can adjust them to your preferences.  The satellites are rated at 10 Watts each and the subwoofer at 20 Watts.  The lowest cost I found on these was $57.  They were rated the best by Computer Shopper before Altec-Lansing's came along.   I've used about 5 different sets of these speakers and really like them.  The bass is clean and powerful and the highs are clear.  The slightly more expensive Sound Image Pros have the same satellites, but a 35 Watt subwoofer.

5.  If you've got a lot of money to spend, Cambridge SoundWorks are about the best you can get.  Altec Lansing has also made some USB speakers that are about $150 and have great sound, probably better than the ACS48s, but I haven't heard them personally.  Bose makes some quality speakers also, but they are very overpriced (and not worth the expense). 

6.  For the budget user, a company called Nicole makes some good speakers that cost under $30.  The model number is SD969.  They aren't the greatest, but they're cheap and do have good sound for the money...