Sound card for WinXP, with PCI PCIe adapter?

[tugatomsk9]

(This is a follow up to this thread: )
https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/vid...html#post86449

I was thinking of capturing high quality audio given that the Realtek from my MB (Intel Corporation DH61SA) is not very good (too many audio interference). I found the Asus XONAR SE 5.1 with Windows 10 compatibility.

However, I'm unsure if the Xonar is compatible with my MB. Furthermore, I'm even less sure there are drivers for Windows XP Pro SP2 32bit.

Moreover, given that the PCIe slot is already taken, I was thinking of getting a PCI-PCIe adapter.

What do you think of this?


Cheers,

[BW37]

Amongst the Asus Xonar series, for WinXP and with an available PCI slot in your PC, you might do better with a used Xonar DG or Xonar D1. They are both PCI cards and drivers are available online from Asus. The DG's are more available and cheaper.

It looks like the SE 5.1, being newer does not have a driver for WinXP.

BW

[tugatomsk9]

Thank you for your advice. However, I can't find those models used.

However, a friend of mine advised me to get a PCI "Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SB0570" from a national used sales website.

I also found drivers for it.
https://www.driverguide.com/driver/d...6cac79e49ffa5d

Here's hoping for it.

[lordsmurf]

Creative (Sound Blaster, others) cards are low-end consumer fodder, and have overall pretty crappy tinny sound. If you want a quality audio card, then stick to the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz PCI (not PCIe). Those were almost professional quality.

FYI, those PCI<>PCIe bridges often introduce noise with audio cards, being mostly cheap odd Chinese devices.

[tugatomsk9]

I don't need pro quality, just something serviceable but without noticeable audio interference. What do you think of the aforementioned Asus Xonar DG or a D1?

Furthermore, are those Turtle Beach cards compatible with my MB and Windows XP?

Also, don't forget I'm not from USA, so certain used products are not as easily available to me.

[lordsmurf]

Yes, XP, and one of the best cards ever made in PCI. It hails from the XP era, early/mid 2000s.

Don't do that "I don't need pro quality" thing. It's not a professional audio card, those have features and functions that are not needed for mere quality digitize tasks. It simply has amazing audio quality, that's what you should take away from my comment.

If you're not able to buy from anywhere (which is really odd in our modern world), and are for some reason forced to only buy in-country (again, odd), then I guess you'll have to let us know what's available.

[tugatomsk9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Yes, XP, and one of the best cards ever made in PCI. It hails from the XP era, early/mid 2000s.

Don't do that "I don't need pro quality" thing. It's not a professional audio card, those have features and functions that are not needed for mere quality digitize tasks. It simply has amazing audio quality, that's what you should take away from my comment.

If you're not able to buy from anywhere (which is really odd in our modern world), and are for some reason forced to only buy in-country (again, odd), then I guess you'll have to let us know what's available.

Well, I tried searching for the Turtle Beach on Google but not even Amazon has that sound card. Is there someplace else that still sells them?

[lordsmurf]

Sometimes I have these in the marketplace.

Or eBay, from time to time. But make sure it's sent in a secure padded box, not an envelope. It WILL be damaged in an envelope, the caps will be hit in transit. Too many eBay sellers are stubborn about this. Even at Amazon, too many workers are idiots, send fragile or valuable items in envelope, sometimes even the unpadded ones.

[tugatomsk9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Sometimes I have these in the marketplace.

Or eBay, from time to time. But make sure it's sent in a secure padded box, not an envelope. It WILL be damaged in an envelope, the caps will be hit in transit. Too many eBay sellers are stubborn about this. Even at Amazon, too many workers are idiots, send fragile or valuable items in envelope, sometimes even the unpadded ones.

I never ventured to ebay before. Anyway, for the sake of it, this is all I could find:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...id=m5467.l1311

Which model is the best performance/cost efficient?

[RobustReviews]

The Santa Cruz is a load of 'junk' in 2022, they're going to be out of spec' by now and they were mostly marketing when they were new. They were impressive in a 2001sort of way. They're populated by electrolytic capactirs and they're all going to be aging now. This is entropy, it doesn't matter the quality, they're now all 20 years old if not older.

I'm tired of the Soundblaster bashing, it's just nonsense, yes there's some crap under the Soundblaster name, I also am typing this on a workstation with a SB DxR DBPro and that has made imaging, radio programs and advertisements heard across the UK and beyond, a good deal on BBC radio with their exacting technical standards.

We had them (TBs), and E-MUs and they were all binned as they slowly drifted out of specification as the years passed. They might have been great in a Carillion DAW in 2004, but they're simply not the way to go in 2022.

The Santa Cruz is beaten in terms of specification by most standard quality cards now, it really looks quite pathetic these days. Most of the features lauded refer to interfacing and wavetables which were useful for home studios etc but totally irrelevant for VHS capture. Ooh, and MP3 hardware processing! Yikes.

It was also built for low-impedance output, which is something even a prosumer soundcard would offer flexibility with, we had this issue as most of our 'cans' are 600Ω which were pointless with these cards without addtional hardware. To claim it was 'one of the best soundcards ever made' is simply delusional and speaks to a lack of any real knowledge of the subject or at least an ignorance of the last 20 or so years of developments.

There are some really nice modern SB cards around the $100 price point which are better specified in every conceivable way than these relics. Better sample depths, vastly improved ADCs, faster buffers, more accurate sample clocks, modern drivers, the list goes on.

I'm not even arguing about this, it's just simple fact.

[tugatomsk9]

Is this a good model?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185439298013

Apparently none of the vendors sells to my country...

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobustReviews

...

Where does the Soundblaster I suggested fit in that narrative? Is it good for VHS capture?

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobustReviews

The Santa Cruz is a load of 'junk' in 2022,
, modern drivers

You're making mere ageist comments again. We get it, you hate anything not bleeding edge tech. But you fail to respect legacy tech for what it can still do.

Quote:

They're populated by electrolytic capactirs and they're all going to be aging now.

Not these cards. Bad caps on TBSC cards is rare. Those cards were made with quality components, not cheap crap. Now, speaking of crap...

Quote:

I'm tired of the Soundblaster bashing, it's just nonsense, yes there's some crap under the Soundblaster name,

Most Creative/SB cards are crap, including almost all of the "high-end" (HA!) models. It's just mass produced consumer fodder, with dreadful response curves. (Look up that term right there, with any Creative/SB card. The response curves suck.) It's not quality, mostly "gamer" stuff. Nobody working with audio would ever own Creative gear. You'd have raised eyebrows if you ever stated that in professional (or serious hobby) audio circles. And no, I don't refer to "audiophiles" here, those people are nuts (but they'd probably also NOT have any of it).

Quote:

slowly drifted out of specification as the years passed.

What?

Quote:

To claim it was 'one of the best soundcards ever made' is simply delusional and speaks to a lack of any real knowledge of the subject or at least an ignorance of the last 20 or so years of developments.

It's "one of the best cards" in terms of sub-$100 cards on the consumer market. Not specialty cards. I can name several reference setups that are needlessly expensive for this mere home digitize task (using home source).

And for the record, I was using MediaVision Pro Audio Studio/Spectrum (PAS) cards in the 90s, popular with musicians at the time. And part of my "studio days" (that you're always creepily curious about) was working with audio (as it intersected video), at a large international label. The TBSC was the first card that I considered a true upgrade from the PAS, not just a sidegrade.

Quote:

vastly improved ADCs,
more accurate sample clocks

ADCs really haven't changed much, neither audio nor video. If anything, overall it's gotten worse, cheap, Chinese.

[RobustReviews]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

...

I don't even know where to start here.

This may take some time!

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tugatomsk9

Is it good for VHS capture?

This is complicated.

- most video cards have integrated audio capture now
- most cards that needed external audio no longer work; many arguably never did
- for AIW cards, TBSC is the best pairing, period

If you're just extracting audio from the tape, not video, then I would suggest the TBSC for PCI. If you need PCIe, then Xonar is favored by many.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobustReviews

I don't even know where to start here.
This may take some time!

I'm really not interested in further discussion on this. I'm too busy. We each said what was needed, let it rest. It won't help the OP. If you want to suggest some specific cards to him here, then do that. I likely won't agree, if listing SB cards, but we already both know that, no reason to state it again here in this thread.

Don't derail the OP's thread..

[BW37]

@tugatomsk9: Have you asked around amongst your local friends or relatives? Maybe one of them has a random old PCI sound card you could borrow?

I'm guessing the Venn diagram intersection of new, brand name, PCI (not PCIe), and available WinXP x86 drivers sound cards is near or exactly null. Even finding a new, brand name, PCIe sound card with available WinXP x86 drivers looks dodgy at best as tugatomsk9 stated re: the XONAR SE 5.1.

Amazon does list a number of off brand PCI cards that look new (cheap Chinese stuff) and also some that look suspiciously old/used. A couple list XP support. One could gamble on one of those.

In this case I think an eBay gamble is not unreasonable. Getting the seller to properly protect the card electrostatically and physically during shipping could definitely be an issue and becomes part of the gamble. I always check the seller's reviews specifically to see if there are comments on the packaging of delicate items. But eBay is always a gamble...

BW

[tugatomsk9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BW37

@tugatomsk9: Have you asked around amongst your local friends or relatives? Maybe one of them has a random old PCI sound card you could borrow?

I'm guessing the Venn diagram intersection of new, brand name, PCI (not PCIe), and available WinXP x86 drivers sound cards is near or exactly null. Even finding a new, brand name, PCIe sound card with available WinXP x86 drivers looks dodgy at best as tugatomsk9 stated re: the XONAR SE 5.1.

Amazon does list a number of off brand PCI cards that look new (cheap Chinese stuff) and also some that look suspiciously old/used. A couple list XP support. One could gamble on one of those.

In this case I think an eBay gamble is not unreasonable. Getting the seller to properly protect the card electrostatically and physically during shipping could definitely be an issue and becomes part of the gamble. I always check the seller's reviews specifically to see if there are comments on the packaging of delicate items. But eBay is always a gamble...

BW

Sadly, I have no one to ask to about such equipment.

I've decided, however, to change to the suggested mentioned earlier, the Xonar DG via the Spanish version of Ebay, which is much more advantageous to me.

https://www.ebay.es/itm/175342989941

I hope there are drivers of the Xonar DG for my MB, the Intel Corporation DH61SA.

[BW37]

Asus does still have the drivers available. The motherboard shouldn't matter.

I was able to go directly to their Xonar DG support page via a Google search. It's also possible to get there from their overall main webpage (Asus.com) at least from the US and hopefully from Spain. Just do a search right from there (the magnifying glass icon) for Xonar DG, then click the "support" link and it should show up as one of the devices.

Good Luck.

[tugatomsk9]

The sound card finally arrived.

I successfully installed the drivers for both winXP and win10. It is better than the inboard MB audio, that's for sure. It captures from the Line-in input audio with Adobe Audition flawlessly.

With Virtualdub, however, things don't go so smoothly. Even though virtualdub does detect the asus in the audio capture menu, the same 8kHz noise from before appears. I didn't begin sync testing because of this.

Is the USB capture device the source of that noise? Which would be strange since the "capture" audio mode records no noise, only the "Asus Xonar DG" mode. Or is it "just" a driver issue?

(At least with "asus" audio mode I have volume control, something I don't have with "capture" audio mode.)