Sound Cards		TOP SELLERS
Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card Enjoy a 3D soundscape during gameplay. Bullets whiz past your head. Explosions shake the room. Take your games to the next level! Only $179.99	Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE The Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE is an excellent value upgrade to 7.1 surround sound on the PC. Only $29.99	1.  CL Sound Blaster X-Fi Extrem 2.  Creative Labs Sound Blaster 3.  Creative Labs Sound Blaster 4.  Creative Labs X-FI Xtreme Ga 5.  Creative Labs 70SB104000000 6.  Creative Labs External Sound 7.  Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 S 8.  Turtle Beach Montego 9.  Sound Blaster 10.  Turtle Beach Audio Advantage

Sabrent SBT-SP6C Sound Card Sabrent SBT-SP6C 6-Channel 5.1 Surround Sound 3D PCI Sound Card - Vista Ready Only $9.99    CL Sound Blaster X-Fi ExtremeGamer Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI Sound Card Only $89.99    Turtle Beach Montego Turtle Beach Montego 7.1 Dolby Digital Live Surround PCI Sound Card Only $54.99    Creative Labs External Sound Card Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit External USB Sound Card Only $49.99    Auzentech HDA Digital X-plosion 7.1 DTS Sound Card Auzentech HDA Digital X-plosion 7.1 DTS Sound Card Only $84.99    Sound Blaster Creative Labs Sound Blaster Sound Card Only $29.99    Turtle Beach Riviera Turtle Beach Riviera 5.1 Digital PCI Sound Card Only $29.99    Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Audio Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Audio Only $64.99    Creative Labs 70SB104000000 Sound Blaster Creative Labs 70SB104000000 Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Only $64.99    Diablotek 7.1 Tremor Digital Optical Sound Card Diablotek 7.1 Tremor Digital Optical Sound Card Only $24.99    Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Fatality Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Fatality Platinum Only $179.99    Sabrent 3D PCI Sound Card Sabrent 8-Channel 7.1 High Performance Surround Sound 3D PCI Sound Card Only $14.99    Creative Labs X-FI Xtreme Gamer Fatality Sound Car Creative Labs X-FI Xtreme Gamer Fatality Sound Card Only $139.99    Diamond Xtreme Sound Card Diamond Xtreme Sound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card Only $29.99    Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Only $269.99    Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro USB Sound Card Only $29.99

4.1 Sound Cards (1)   5.1 Sound Cards (7)   7.1 Sound Cards (16)

PC Sound Cards

A sound card (also known as an audio card) is a computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to/from a computer under control of computer programs. Typical uses of sound cards include providing the audio component for multimedia applications such as music composition, editing video or audio, presentation/education, and entertainment (games). Many computers have sound capabilities built in, while others require additional expansion cards to provide for audio capability. Sound cards usually feature a digital-to-analog converter, to convert recorded or generated digital data into an analog format. The output signal is typically connected to an amplifier, headphones, or external device using standard interconnects, such as a TRS connector or an RCA connector.

Another important characteristic of sound cards is polyphony, which is more than one distinct voice or sound playable simultaneously and independently, and the number of simultaneous channels. These are intended as the number of distinct electrical audio outputs, which may correspond to a speaker configuration such as 2.0 (stereo), 2.1 (stereo and sub woofer), 4.1 or 5.1 etc.). Sometimes, the terms "voices" and "channels" are used interchangeably to indicate the degree of polyphony, not the output speaker configuration.

Today, a sound card providing actual hardware polyphony, regardless of the number of output channels, is typically referred to as a "hardware audio accelerator", although actual voice polyphony is not the sole prerequisite, with other aspects such as hardware acceleration of 3D sound, positional audio, surround sound, and real-time DSP effects being more important. For that reason Surround Sound PCI Cards are among the most popular.

Since digital sound playback has become available and provided better performance than synthesis, modern soundcards with hardware polyphony don't actually use DACs with as many channels as voices, but rather perform voice mixing and effects processing in hardware inside a dedicated DSP. The final playback stage is performed by an external DAC with significantly fewer channels than voices (e.g., 8 channels for 7.1 audio, which can be divided among 32, 64 or even 128 voices).

The leading manufacturers of sound adaptors today are: Creative Labs, Diamond Multimedia, Sabrent, and others.