THIS PAGE IS OBSOLETE.
If you have time, please take a look at this page, see if there's anything here that belongs in one of the other categories, and merge it in. Please put a note on this page if you do that. Then I will delete this page. --SlinkP
CHEAP SOUNDCARDS THAT DON'T SUCK
Try a dejanews search of linux newsgroups for the card you're thinking of buying. Check if it's supported by the kernel drivers (free), ALSA (free), or OSS/Linux (not free).
OSS-free: www.4front-tech.com/ossfree/ossfree.html ALSA: www.alsa-project.org/ OSS-linux: www.opensound.com/ High-End Sound Driver Project: iem.mhsg.ac.at/~geiger/high.html SAM 9407 drivers: www.anime.net/~sam9407
What Cards Sound Good?
See if there's a performance test for the cards you're considering at this site: http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/reports/index.htm
You'll notice that some cards have the potential to get as much as 10 or 20 dB better noise performance than others, and for not much more (or even for less). For instance, the Ensoniq AudioPCI, aka SoudBlaster? PCI has great specs and retails for $50 or so, and is now supported by ALSA and OSS/Linux. Disclaimer: I have not used the Audio PCI, I've just heard many reports that it's good. For instance, Brian ?? writes that it "...works very well with the ALSA drivers. However, the drivers that came with RH5.2 were not so good (by the author's own account)..."
Brian also points out that there is some confusion about what, exactly, IS an Ensoniq Audio PCI, in the wake of Creative Labs purchasing Ensoniq. Specifically,
"...note that there is a difference between the original Ensoniq AudioPCI (1370) and the Soundblaster Ensoniq AudioPCI (1371). I don't believe that the original Ensoniq is sold retail anymore. It's certainly much less common than the 1371. Yet, a few months ago, I was able to find an OEM Ensoniq AudioPCI 1370 on the web for $20. The results on the PCAVTech? site you referenced (see above. --PW) indicate that it's worthwile taking the time to get the 1370 instead of the 1371. In addition, the SB 64 / 128 also seem to have the 1370 chipset, so those might be another option."
"I recently acquired a Soundblaster AWE 64 (Value) and am using the OSS/Linux driver for it. Performance is excellent, with complete activation of the internal EMU8000 synth and the external MIDI port ... after much trial & error I found that this command sequence is necessary to get full-duplex Csound using the AWE64:"
csound -i devaudio -o /dev/dspW -b 64 in_foo.*
"...and the output gain needs to be turned down, else the distortion is ear-splitting. Note too the buffer size."
"Regarding audio quality: this card will present an output gain to the mixer, and bringing down that gain will significantly reduce hiss in the output. Other than that, sound quality is quite good, much better than my generic CS4232 card."
Caveat: As far as I can tell from the soundcard test page listed above, the SB64 (both Value and Gold) suffers from poor full-duplex performance; I think the card may, like earlier Soundblaster cards, only be able to output eight-bit samples when used in full duplex mode, resulting in about a 50 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Blah.
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