Suggestions needed for a cheap and reliable sound card

[quicky008]

Today my PC wasn't booting in the morning-after troubleshooting for hours,I determined that my sound card was probably malfunctioning as after removing it from my system,it booted normally but after re-inserting it the problem started all over again.So i think my Creative Sb live 24 bit sound card has developed some fault and therefore i have to go for a new one.

I've a budget of Rs 2000(2.5k max)-i'm looking for a card that has a good set of features like support for 24 bit audio,8 channel output,EAX etc.The creative card i had earlier supported a feature called CMSS which allowed stereo upmix from various sources such as MP3, WMA etcto 4.1/5.1/6.1/7.1 channels -this feature came in very handy while listening to mp3s or watching movies that had 2 channel audio.I'll be glad if I can obtain a sound card that supports this feature or something similar to it.

Please recommend some sound cards that will fit into my budget and have all of the aforementioned features.Thanks.

 

[desiibond]

SB Audigy Value

 

[quicky008]

How about the Asus Xonar DS?how much does it cost?Is it a better alternative to creative?

 

[desiibond]

yes it is a much better card but is a bit difficult to find. If you can find one, get it.

 

[quicky008]

Thanks Desibond-do u have any idea about its price?

 

[desiibond]

no idea. may be, maybe around 3k.

 

[quicky008]

Thank you once again for your valuable advice.Can you tell me the approximate price of the creative sound card that you have recommended?

 

[desiibond]

should be around 1.7k

 

[MegaMind]

^^SB Audigy Value - 1.5k

Also look at Asus Xonar DS & AuzenTech X-Raider ~3k for both..

@quicky008, which speakers/headphones u hav..

 

[quicky008]

Thanks for your advice Megamind.I have a creative 4.1 speaker system.

I'd love to go for Auzentech or Xonar but as far as i know,these cards are not available at most shops in kolkata.I contacted a few shops today to find out which cards they have in stock and was sorely disappointed-I was told that only creative 5.1 VX is readily available,all other cards including audigy value are out of stock.Another dealer informed me that he could procure Audigy value but it would cost 1.9k approx which is a bit higher than what i had expected.

Can someone recommend a shop in Kolkata where these cards are currently available?Thanks.