Can someone suggest an audio card for my system (see below) that includes a full 10 or 12 band audio equalizer function? Cost is not an issue, but I'm NOT looking for bells and whistles - just a full range audio equalizer.
Hello there, if you're an Audiophile, i'd suggest a M-Audio Audiophile 192.
There's also the ASUS Xonar Xense.
But i have an integrated sound card and with my audio/video player i have complete access to a 12-band EQ, i guess that's not a hardware enhancement but a software enhancement :)
You mention in your specs that your sound card is Realtek.
You don't like the Realtek 10 band EQ?
Actually, i do have a Realtek one too, but i don't have the 10-Band EQ! only presets. (Gigabyte MoBo) EDIT: forget it, i just saw it, LOL!
But even so, WMP has its own EQ, my audio player (AIMP2) has a 21-Band EQand my video player (GOM) has a 10-Band EQ
Again, this is not a hardware enhancement, you don't need an aftermarket audio card only for EQ-ing. that can be made by software
Thanks for all your responses. I've spent hours to figure this thing out with no success. The audio card works fine, but the software that came with it has no effect on its operation. Also, the equalizer (and a number of other features) show up as "unavailable" when selected. I figure the problem may have something to do with the software location in Program Files vs Program Files (86) and the fact this is a Win 7-64 bit machine. Anyway, I'm not desperate to make this work right now, so I'm getting a different board. I give up. (for now)
Still not sure what you're complaining about. Putting programs in \Program Files or \Program Files (x86) is really more of just a cosmetic thing, and not a functional thing. It also kind of segregates programs which theoretically are 64-bit aware, assuming the software author wrote the installation script appropriately. But having programs located in one or the other of these two folders doesn't impact whether they work or not under Win7 x64.
Also, as has been pointed out the Realtek HD Audio Manager provides a 10-band EQ. You just need to push that EQ button on the Sound Effects tab to toggle between the presets and the 10-band EQ. That's just how Realtek wrote this GUI. It's a bit unfriendly even when you try to save the EQ under some custom name of your own choosing. And there's absolutely no way to preserve the custom EQ settings, so when you uninstall/reinstall a new driver release you will lose all of your existing saved custom EQ's. Great, Realtek! Very nice.
Nevertheless, I don't know why this 10-band shouldn't "work" for you. Do you mean you can't hear any difference when you move the sliders up or down while playing music?
Do you have "speakers" checked as your default playback device? Right-click on speaker icon in system tray, select "playback devices". Are "speakers" (with Realtek High Definition Audio") shown with the green check mark as default device? If so, I would definitely expect the 10-band EQ to be active and functional, and that you should be able to hear its effect.
Can you be more specific about what actually appears as "unavailable" when you select it? Screenshot maybe?
First, I un-installed all the Creative software from the previous sound card. (the one I couldn't get to show an equalizer) I installed a Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! Pro and its software. Instant success. I now have a nice 10 band equalizer and a bunch of other goodies.
Side note: I came across a thread from a few years back (not this forum) that mentions a "jumper" on the mobo that was needed to get his Creative software to control the sound card. I suspect I may have a similar problem.
Anyway, the problem is fixed. Thanks again for your suggestions and help!
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