sound card

Sound card
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Sound Card

A Sound Blaster Live! Value card, a typical (circa 2000) PCI sound card.
Connects to:
Motherboard via one of
PCI
ISA
USB
IEEE 1394
IBM PC Parallel Port
PCI-E
Dedicated interconnect (onboard or via Advanced Communications Riser port)
Line in or out: via one of
Analogue - TRS, RCA or DIN connector
Digital - RCA, TOSLink or AES/EBU
Microphone via one of
TRS connector
DIN connector

Common Manufacturers:
Creative Labs
Realtek
C-Media
M-Audio
E-mu Systems

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.