Some are even capable of upmixing 5.1 channel audio to 7.1, which is excellent if your headphones support 7.1 channels and your audio sources don’t.Ĭonnectivity - Look for a sound card with the jacks you need to plug in your equipment. You generally want a sound card with a signal-to-noise ratio over 100dB, but the best sound cards are in the 124dB range, which is a significant improvement.Ĭhannels - Many decent, budget-friendly sound cards typically support 5.1 channel audio, but you can spend a little more to get one that can handle 7.1 surround sound. Audio quality - The overall audio quality of a sound card is a complicated equation that depends on the signal-to-noise ratio, frequency response, and total harmonic distortion.
