An ode to the sound card – you were the beating heart of my DIY home cinema setups

As you get older, nostalgia is a constant threat. Whether it’s seeing my niece completely enthralled watching Mysterious Cities of Gold, or The Ataris’ cover of The Boys of Summer unexpectedly popping up on my song radio, these days it's all too easy for that wistful feeling to catch me off guard.

Case in point: this week, when a press release about the new Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro sound card dropped into my inbox, I got hit hard.

Why did a release about a PC component elicit such a strong response? Especially one about a part that experienced PC builders often ignore now that most motherboards have the functionality baked in?

Well, it wasn’t to do with the specific card, which in today’s market is fairly specialist (it's specifically made for PC builders who want to have hi-res audio playback, a bespoke headphone amp and 7.1 surround sound functionality in their build).

No, it was because it reminded me of a key piece of hardware that used to power my music listening sessions and home cinema setups during my youth: a media PC.

There was a specific moment in time when a media PC (sometimes also known as home theatre PC or media centre) was the beating heart of many people's home AV systems.

They were desktop PCs that aimed to work as an amp and source, and offer better-than-average audio and video performance.

We had one at the centre of my family’s home cinema system, taking the place of a traditional AVR, powering a 5.1 surround setup and acting as our main source, with our unit having a disk drive and onboard storage.

Connected to my parent’s now-vintage Epson projector, I enjoyed many movie nights with the family unit running one of the VCDs, or later DVDs, that we had in our collection or had rented from Blockbuster (remember those!?).

They were less famous in high-end hi-fi circles – it was convenience over quality to an extent.

I actually used a desktop PC my dad had helped me build, which also had a Sound Blaster card for audio. Before getting a CD and MiniDisc stereo system, it was my trusty Doom (and homework) station that provided most of my bedroom audio.

The card had a decent, for the time, headphone amp that let me listen to the albums with a "Parent Advisory" label that my parents didn’t know I had, using a pair of Sony MDR-G52LP headphones, and without having to worry about being caught.

I now get why devices including Chromecast sticks and Apple TV 4K boxes remove the need for a media PC. I also will never miss the driver issues, which haunt my nightmares to this day.

And I'm not thinking about actually building a media PC. My home setup and tendency to stream most things via my Hisense PX3, or LG C2's inbuilt OS and apps means I don't need one. My desktop and office listening is also covered by the Chord Mojo 2 with a phone and wired headphones connected.

But even so, I can’t help but feel a little swell of nostalgia for the devices, given their pivotal place in my youth and the way they helped me get into AV hardware. Without them, I probably wouldn’t be in the job I am today.

Which is why seeing the announcement of a new Sound Blaster card still made me smile.

For the increasingly niche group of people who still want them, despite the wealth of more convenient home cinema and hi-fi solutions available in today’s world, I really do salute you.

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