USB vs. PCMCIA sound card

I started to consider that I might want to invest in a decent sound card for my laptop. At the moment my MP3 player, hooked to my speakers, sounds better than my laptop

I must admit I haven't looked around much, but I was wondering which performs better, USB or PCMCIA. I was thinking USB would be better down the line since once PCMCIAs disappear I can always make use of it.

Any opinions, or links to reviews appreciated

 

Also depends on how much you want to spend.

I only use my speakers at home, so I decided to get an external USB one, I got a Philips Aurilium 5.1 USB soundcard which was pretty awesome for the price, and I use it when I'm on my desk, which is 50% of the time, as I'm usually roaming around

 

I don't think I want to be spending too much on it. After all it isn't hooked up to some state of the art speakers, just my 2.1 Z3 speakers. I think it isn't too good an idea to pay more for the sound card compared to the speakers

And yeah this will remain on my desk connected to speakers. I don't use my laptop for music on the go. That's the job of an MP3 player

 

I hate USB. PCMCIA is at least internal, as in connects directly to the system board, depends on the internal clock, whereas USB is completely external and performance depends on the mercy of the controller and the external "box". PCMCIA is also much more elegant. You can have the card stuck permanently in the slot, but you wouldn't want to have USB dongles "dongling" out of the laptop regularly. Not to mention that various general purpose peripherals use USB, so it makes sense to keep as many USB ports free for them.

 

This is for my DTR. I already have 2 powered USB hubs connected to it, with 3 HDDs and an external DVDRW and the usual periferals ... so ports and dongles are not a problem, everything is neatly connected thru 2 rear Usb ports.

I was just thinking that USB might be better since with express cards taking over, a pcmcia sound card might become useless once I change my laptop. But if there is a performance issue with USB, then pcmcia it is

 

I wouldn't phrase it as "performance issues" with USB. Just "more potential problems". You'll probably not encounter most of them ever. If you're concerned about future upgradability, you may want to go with USB indeed, as I find it hard to estimate how long it'll take for them to phase out PCMCIA.

 

Creative External Sound Blaster Live! SB0490 Sound Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102174

maybe

 

i have those speakers there actualy quite good and a decent sound card has deffinatly made mine sound better! the fact that i now have an equillizer to use without the sound clipping has i think mostly done that, they can handle it especially the bass.

 

Whatever you get will be an improvement - my old Gateway would hiss and buzz - it was pretty nasty. I think the USB ones are getting smaller (the Turtle Beach one reviewed at this site seems pretty inexpensive also) I ended up getting an Echo Indigo PCMCIA card. Like someone said earlier, the PCMCIA card just seems more durable (a USB dongle still has most of the parts outside of the laptop, which can be damaged or causing damage). It was incredible - the sound was impressive, but the silence was even better! The Echo Indigo is probably overkill, though since it simulates 5.1 sound - although in its defense, it is really good at it (especially paired with Bose Headphones and Intervideo's 5.1 booster pack for WinDVD). Price was around $100 (3 yrs ago - I think I learned of it through Tom's Hardware).

 

I like the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (PCMCIA), and it worked out pretty good. Except for one minor problem.... it broke in half. So now I have to get another one. The sound was great though.

 

That was my first find actually. I'll look around a bit more when I get some time, but for now that is #1 choice.

BTW my built-in produces no hiss or crackles, but for some reason the bass is too dominant and annoying, and the treble is either not there or sooo high pitched, quite annoying.

SG, how did you manage to break it in half?

 

Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 NX
http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=204&product=9103
and ZDNET review
http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Creative_USB_Sound_Blaster_Audigy_2_NX/4505-3022_16-30580579.html
Pricey though, $99

 

I'm still trying to figure that out. I had it in my PCMCIA slot, and i must have pushed on the laptop with my hand and that caused it to crack or i might have hit the card when i was moving it.

Let me put it this way, I didn't know that I broke it so it wasn't that much weight that was put on it. I was using it, then had to do some. In the span of 10 minutes, it broke.

I thought I read some reviews somewhere that said the Audigy 2 ZS was fragile.

 

Same thing I was saying. Agreed with the fact that PCMCIA sound card is better then the USB one in many ways.