Differnent soundcards, different volumes, why?

[Yasoo]

Any ideas why one sound card can be so much more louder than another? I got all the slider's maxed for each one. In my current comparison, it's a Mia Midi and a SoundBlaster Audigy. The Audigy seems to be attenuated by 6-10dB. Designed that way? I've tried a couple PCI slots and it had no effect. My onboard sound is like the Audigy too. Is the Mia that "good"? (If yes, then why don't it work with my video game! ) Or, does a SoundBlaster Audigy suck as bad as my onboard sound?

I noticed that the Lexicon Omega USB soundcard matches the Mia Midi. But, once again, it won't work with the video game. So what's the deal? Can't I get a sound card that sounds as good as my Mia and Omega and have it work for video games too?

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

You want to play games, you use a game card (Soundblaster and its ilk...) -- but recording requires a more audio-oriented soundcard, which gamecards are not suitable for.......

further... gain structure can vary between the two types, resulting in differing levels from the gamecards......

 

[Yasoo]

You want to play games, you use a game card (Soundblaster and its ilk...) -- but recording requires a more audio-oriented soundcard, which gamecards are not suitable for.......

Yeah, it seems that way, but it doesn't make much sense. When the game installed, it played a .wav of one of the sounds in the game (a car engine) and asked me if I heard it. I heard it and it sounded awesome. But during gameplay, the sound is messed up. For regular sounds (menu clicks, highlighting buttons, etc. which have sounds attatched to them) the Mia sounds great and the SoundBlaster Audigy sounds not as great. I mean, I can even hear very subtle pops at the end of samples that I don't hear with the Mia and the sound isn't as loud and vibrant. And that has nothing to do with recording or playing video games.

 

[Sklathill]

The volume levels are exactly that. There's a professional level and a consumer output level. I believe most semi-pro to pro cards like the Echo should be able to have their outputs switch between both.