Perfecting PC sound
An important, and yet often overlooked, side to gaming and owning a PC in general is how it produces sound. Even the most basic PC is equipped with several playback and configuration options according to what you expect to get out of it.
Understanding how it all goes together can, however, be confusing. Here’s a basic rundown of what options you have available to you as a PC user in terms of sound and how it all goes together.
The basic soundcard is commonly integrated into the motherboard itself. It will typically have four 3.5mm jacks for both inputs and outputs. One jack will drive a pair of speakers; another will serve as an input for a microphone while the remaining two will operate as a line-in and a line-out.
For gamers and multimedia enthusiasts a basic integrated soundcard is not usually suitable and they will choose instead to opt for a surround sound card that is able to drive several speakers. Speaker configurations are represented through a numbering system where 2.0 represents a stereo output with a basic left and right channel and 2.1 for a stereo output with a subwoofer for low frequency response.
True surround sound is reflected from 5.1 and upwards. These systems will typically have a front left and right, rear left and right, a centre channel and a subwoofer. 7.1 systems are also available and these simply include an additional set of satellite speakers although the hardware required to run a system like this is often quite advanced.
Despite this even the most basic cards on the market usually offer Dolby Digital 5.1 capability at the very least. For as little as R267 you can pick up a Trust 5.1 Surround Sound SC- 5250 with digital and optical inputs and outputs from Take2.co.za.
The cost does however increase if you are looking to upgrade to the higher end of the scale. An Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe 7.1 Channel Sound Card will set you back R2753 from Take2.co.za. The card does however have HDMI 1.3 compliance, 7.1 PCI express sound capability and SPDiF in/out.
Dolby Digital is the accepted standard for surround sound and incorporates discreet 5.1 channel surround sound that doesn’t affect video performance. It is applied worldwide and represents the most popular audio encoding/decoding technology available. Most modern soundcards are equipped with Dolby technology and will offer the user cinema standard audio reproduction in multimedia and gaming.
Internal soundcards, which are usually incorporated into the motherboard through a PCI Express slot are generally the most cost effective answer for the consumer. They are also more efficient in terms of performance and significantly reduce the performance bottleneck, this frees up the CPU to perform other tasks such as 3D graphics, game logic and game physics.
These soundcards run off the 12 volt computer power supply therefore the amount of power available to the speakers is limited to 2 Watts RMS. Most speaker systems however bypass the internal power source and are fed from an external source through a transformer. This means that the speakers are given more power, resulting in greater volumes and a better sound quality all round before the onset of overload distortion.
Powered speakers are driven by analogue signals from one of the 3.5 mm jacks in your sound card. If you were to plug it into the speaker output however the quality would be greatly reduced. Instead the line out bypasses the speaker amplifier on the sound card and gives a cleaner signal.
Some sound enthusiasts may favour external USB soundcards. The only connection with the computer is the digital USB cable. These however are generally suited to laptop owners due to the fact that most laptops only include two 3.5mm jacks, namely a speaker output and a mic input.
Despite this, an external USB soundcard is exempt from the debugging problems that apply to systems that are connected via analogue signals. With a digital interface the soundcard is completely removed from a noisy computer case that can affect sensitive audio circuits and result in reduced quality. These cards usually operate on USB 2.0 which can become a problem with owners of older PCs.
It is equally important to pay as much attention to the speakers themselves as to the internal engine. Generally one can pick up a beginner Logitech, Labtec or Creative 2.1 system for under R400 although these are not guaranteed to offer the kind of quality you may be looking for. In terms of gaming there is little that can beat the popularity of Logitech’s 2.1, THX certified Z-2300, this system is available at Take2.co.za for R2081.
If you are in the market for a 5.1 or 7.1 system Logitech are generally a reliable, affordable and available way to go. One can pick up a 5.1 system for as little as R1000 although the Z-5500 5.1 is currently available at Take2.co.za for R5019.
PC sound systems – what do you think is best?
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