4 best PC sound cards of 2021 – buying guide and comparison
Whether you are a professional or a hobbyist, the PC sound card will do you great service. Connected via USB or a PCI-E Bus, this computer peripheral allows you to record the signal emitted by your instruments with superior audio quality. To help you find the best PC sound card, we’ve put together this guide with buying tips and hottest products.
Best quality price report
Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen
The best PC sound card
The Scarlett Solo 3Rd Gen is a professional level sound card perfect for singers or composers. In addition, it has the famous Focusrite preamp and has intuitive control.
Compact, yet professional, the Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen sound card features input channels including XLR connections and Hi-Z connections, allowing you to plug in any microphone or electronic musical instrument. In addition, it has Focusrite’s most powerful preamplifier. The sound resolution is very high, with 24-bit analog-to-digital signal conversion function with 192 kHz sample rate, professional grade.
Functional, it has a +48 V phantom power supply for your condenser microphones. On the front panel you have two Halo-equipped Gain controls that glow green when the levels are right. The Direct Monitor button lets you hear what you’re playing and record. For the speakers, it has two balanced TRS speaker outputs on the rear. Finally, it comes with a USB cable and a range of software such as Ableton Live Lite or Pro Tools First.
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx
The best entry-level PC sound card
The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy is a perfect upgrade to your integrated sound card. Using SBX Pro Studio technology, it can provide high quality 5.1 sound effects for your movies, music and games.
The Sound Blaster Audigy Fx is a PCi Express, x1, PC sound card based on SBX Pro Studio technology. It will turn your PC into a 5.1 media center that offers perfect cinematic surround sound to bring out the best in your media files. The sound quality will amaze you as it features a 24-bit DAC converter with 192kHz frequency (playback), 106dB SNR, and high-quality 600 ohm headphone amplifier for studio-quality listening.
Versatile, the Audigy FX is compatible with Win 10, driver download, and comes with Creative software: Creative Software Suite, Creative Diagnostics, Creative ALchemy. Setup is quick, as Creative includes a slimline mounting bracket.
RME HDSPe RayDAT
The best high-end sound card
The RME HDSPe RayDAT is a professional quality multi-channel, multi-format, multi-tasking PCi-Ex type PC sound card for your home studio. If you are looking for a Pro solution for your recordings until final mastering, the RME HDSPe RayDAT will be more than convincing. Compatible with Windows and Mac OS, it has a 24-bit converter with 192 kHz sampling. With a PCi Express Bus, your recordings will not suffer from latency.
The SPDIF and AES / EBU (XLR) interfaces work simultaneously thanks to the division of the hardware as well as the separate play / record function. Professional, this device offers a total of 36 input and output channels including 4 ADAT I / Os. In addition, you have 2 interfaces, I / O, MIDI, RME’s realtime DSP mixer / router, with a calculated level measurement.
TC-Helicon GO XLR
The best PC sound card for streaming
Podcast or Streamer, here is your PC sound card. It’s a mixer with effects and sampling device for live broadcasters. It’s an all-in-one solution! The Go XLR gives you control of your audio with a mixer, digital stereo, 4-channel (2 × 2), for volume control of all your audio sources in real time, motorized and customizable faders, and a LED level display. The converter has a 24-bit resolution with a sampling rate of 48 kHz AD / DA. With a sampling, import and recording function, it is equipped with various vocal effects: Reverb, Delay, Pitch, Genre, Megaphone, Robot, Hardtune.
As an interface, the Go XLR offers a microphone input, 3.5 mm mini-jack, and + 48v phantom power. Then you have a stereo line I / O interface, a headphone output, and an optical S / PDIF input.
Comparison table of the best PC sound cards
Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx
The Scarlett Solo 3Rd Gen is a professional level sound card perfect for singers or composers. In addition, it has the famous Focusrite preamp and has intuitive control. The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy is a perfect upgrade to your integrated sound card. Using SBX Pro Studio technology, it can provide high quality 5.1 sound effects for your movies, music and games.
The RME HDSPe RayDAT is a professional quality multi-channel, multi-format, multi-tasking PCi-Ex type PC sound card for your home studio. Podcast or Streamer, here is your PC sound card. It’s a mixer with effects and sampling device for live broadcasters. It’s an all-in-one solution!
8 buffer sizes
Can power high impedance headphones
Simultaneously operational I / Os
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How to choose your PC sound card
Choosing the best PC sound card will depend on your needs and the type of audio editing you want to achieve. If you are a nomadic musician, it will be wise to choose a USB model and an internal card, PCI, for a home studio. But that doesn’t cover PC sound cards. Here are some basic criteria to remember when making your purchase.
Criterion n ° 1: The sound quality
The sound performance of a PC sound card will depend on two things: resolution and sampling.
The resolution
For beginners, it is expressed in Bits and the higher this value, the better the sound reproduction will be. Most of the integrated sound cards, or audio chipsets, on a motherboard currently offer a resolution of 16 bits. It is for this reason that we advise you to choose a model of at least 24 bits. It’s the perfect mix between professional and multimedia use.
The sampling rate
Here, we keep the same principle as the sound resolution. A higher value indicates better performance. Also called Sampling, the standard is currently CD quality which is 44.1 kHz. The reason is that this sample rate broadcasts an audio frequency of 22 kHz which is the limit of the human ear. Beyond that, it will be difficult for neophytes to distinguish the differences. A studio will use a Sampling between 96 and 192 kHz.
To improve the final rendering, it is advisable to increase the resolution from 16 to 24 Bits or from 24 Bits to 32 Bits.
Criterion n ° 2: Entries and exits
This is the most important criterion on a PC sound card. Clearly, you must have the inputs and outputs corresponding to your audio equipment and your instruments. You can see different types of connectors depending on the range of PC audio cards you want to buy. More professional models may have XLR inputs for more Pro microphones, 6.35mm jack inputs and outputs for your instruments, and headphones, Monitoring outputs and MIDI connectors, for example.
Criterion n ° 3: The signal / noise ratio
In short, this is the maximum volume that your PC sound card can deliver before the sound reproduction degrades or becomes saturated. High-end models have a signal-to-noise ratio that can exceed 120 dB. For more moderate use, cards with an SNR between 106 and 116 dB will be more than sufficient.
Criterion 4: The audio output encoding
For example, on a dual output stereo PC sound card you can only connect two pairs of speakers. Here it is therefore essential that you know what type of audio editing you want to set up. For better flexibility of use, it is recommended to start with a 5.1 multichannel model, at least.
In addition, it will be ideal to have encoding standards such as Dolby, THX and the surround effect to emulate 3D sound. Which is perfect when watching movies or playing games.
Criterion n ° 5: Compatibility
In the market, you can have PC sound cards manufactured for a few years still on sale. Be careful ! Indeed, the big brands accompany their products for years by regularly updating their drivers while others do not. This is a concern since your new acquisition might not be compatible with Win 10 for example. To avoid this, take the name of the product and check the manufacturer’s official website for the different drivers offered and their compatibility. In addition, you should know that not all PC sound cards are universal: Windows and Mac. It is therefore important before your purchase to take a good look at the operating systems supported by the product.
Criterion n ° 6: Ergonomics
This part mainly concerns external PC sound cards connecting via USB or Thunderbolt, for example. The operation of the adjustment knobs on the surface of the housing shall be intuitive. It will be a bad buy if you have to spend 10 times more time trying to understand how the PC sound card works than using it. To do this, we invite you to read the instructions for use well before your purchase. It can be found on the manufacturer’s website or on some online shopping sites.
