Illustrated step-by-step instructions for building your own high-quality cheap computer.

Cheap Sound Cards and Speakers

     Choosing a sound card for your computer is determined by how you want to use it. If you want really clear playback of CDs and downloaded MP3s, then getting a good really good sound card and good speakers will be appropriate. If you just want to know when you have received an email or listen to a MIDI files associated with web pages, then a low-end low-end sound card and some cheap speakers will do the trick.

Cheap Sound Cards

    A sound card performs one, or more, of the following three functions.

1. The sound card plays back audio generated by your computer. This could come from music software, games, MP3s, CD etc. It provides an output to connect to speakers, headphones or recording gear.
2. The sound card plays back or records sounds from external gear. The sound source could be a MiniDisc, cassette player, microphone or a musical instrument.
3. Some sound cards have built-in synthesizers that can be triggered by either your computer or external MIDI instruments. This is especially useful for making music, and is also used by multimedia applications and games.

What is a synthesizer?

     A synthesizer is any device that electronically produces manufactured sound. They can be stand-alone devices or built-in to a keyboard, and some multimedia sound cards come with a synthesizer on-board, for playing back music and sound effects. PCs and Macs also use software synthesizers, which can create instrument-like sounds without using a special sound card.

Do I need to upgrade my sound card?

    The sound cards that ship with most modern PCs are jacks-of-all trades and masters of none. They are just good enough in terms of audio quality for most multimedia users, but if you're interested in making music you're going to need a card that performs at a higher level. The MIDI synthesizers on most standard sound cards quickly begin to sound too 'cheesy' for the majority of musicians, the brass, guitars and strings sounding like cheap imitations rather than getting close to the real thing. More professional cards have onboard synths from 'big-name' music companies, Yamaha for example. While these cards will never completely replace the real thing (you can't always afford to book a full symphony orchestra for your latest composition) so a good synth is an important tool for most musicians.

     The audio inputs and outputs on a soundcard also vary greatly. A good sound card should be full duplex, meaning it can playback and record at the same time. Also, when you record or playback audio using your sound card the data has to be transformed by the computer, either to or from a digital signal. Your computer is a digital device, your microphone and speakers are analogue, so your sound card has converters to change the signal for you. The better the converters the better the sound quality. A third factor in terms of audio is the card's sample rate and bit depth. Sample rate is the number of times per second a sound file is sampled, and the bit depth is how detailed that sample is. To give you an example, a telephone samples audio about 11,000 times per second (11kHz) at 8-bit quality (giving a fairly poor sound signal), FM radio samples about 22,000 times per second (22kHz), and your CDs play back at 44,100 times per second (44.1kHz) at 16-bit quality (giving pretty good results). Modern audio gear is rapidly moving towards a standard of 48/96kHz, and 24-bit depth. If you want to connect to gear that works at these levels you need a sound card that sends and receives sound at the same sample rate and bit depth.

    Almost all of the sound cards featured should install and run with no problems alongside your existing sound card. The exceptions (the Digital XG Gold and the Sonic Fury XG) will replace your current sound card, improving performance in most cases.

Audio cards vs. synthesizer cards

    If you use MIDI in your work, you need a high-quality synthesizer to make your music come alive. This can be an external sound module or keyboard, or can be a part of the sound card within your computer. If you're connecting to external instruments you'll need a card that can be used as a MIDI interface and a set of MIDI cables.
If you primarily work with audio then a MIDI synthesizer is not as important. Finding a card with high quality audio input and output connections that are compatible with your existing audio gear will be your first priority (a MiniDisc usually has S/PDIF digital connectors, a studio microphone will probably need an analogue XLR connection with phantom power).

Speakers    

    Speakers come in a wide range of prices and performance characteristics. It is pretty safe to say that the speakers in the ten dollar range will not perform as well as well known speaker manufacturer's speakers costing much more. As previously stated, it depends on what you will be using the speakers and sound card for to determine how far you want to go in purchasing your components. I listen to music on my computer but not as an audiophile. When I really want to hear good music, I turn on my stereo system which has great fidelity. My computer speakers are inexpensive and my sound card is down right cheap.

But if you plan to play high end games with awesome sound that creators have worked long and hard to create, then you should definitely consider getting a good sound card and speakers.