Upgrade from integrated

Hey guys I know you get these questions all the time, but am really getting into the audio scene. Right now I am using integrated sound on my mb realtek 889A with hd555 and soon to be dt770pro-80. I reviewed Arkangyl's "big audio post" and decided to upgrade to a dedicated soundcard before going to a dac and/or amp. Since they have them built in.

But of course I am asking the people on here for advice and suggestions.

I am mainly listening to dubstep, trance, house, dnb, and rap

I am also running vista 64 and play a good amount of games while listening to music.

Thanks ahead of time!

(Sorry for any misspelling or run-on sentences I am writing this on my phone since my work won't let me log in but just view the forums)

I don't think you actually asked a question.

But I think I know what you are asking. Depending on your budget look at either the Forte or if you want to go all out the Asus Essence STX.

jhalf said:

I don't think you actually asked a question.

But I think I know what you are asking. Depending on your budget look at either the Forte or if you want to go all out the Asus Essence STX.

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I guess I didn't. I was wondering if I should go with a soundcard upgrade or just get a dac and/or amp? What will I get better quality out of? Does it even matter with the headphones I own? Are there any good third party drivers for the cards you mentioned(thanks I will look into them)? Is there really an 11? Why not 12?(this joke won't amuse anyone reading it)

Yeah, I think the Asus Essence STX is pretty much the best for music. I used the HDAV1.3 Deluxe, which is slightly below the STX for music, and it sounded amazing. That's a great choice if you use headphones, like you said.

However, do you plan to play games and listen to music at the same time? Because I'm almost sure you can only use one set of analogs at a time. Meaning, that if you are listening to music in your headphones, you won't be able to use the other analog connectors to play video games via external speakers, or vice versa. You most likely will be forced to listen to everything through the same of speakers at one given time, either the headphones, or regular speakers. I think the only way to separate music from video games, it's if one is analog and the other is digital.

So, if you are cool with that, then go for it. The Asus Essence STX is more for music, and the X-Fi Forte is more for Music/Gaming. I say this because the X-Fi has CMSS-3D Headphone, which is designed for 3D gaming using headphones. The Asus Essence STX has Dolby Headphone, but that's for watching movies with headphones, not for listening to music, as music always sound better plain (less processing as possible).

So the Asus if you listen to music mostly, and the X-Fi if you listen to music and play games equally.

Sorry for the broad answer, but you didn't give us a lot of information.

Nuforce uDAC!

I listen to music and paly games both audio going through the headphones. I will look into the xfi even though I care for the music quality over game audio. I mainly listen to di.fm or cds/mixes.

Thank you guys for the help. What information would help.

Double post.

What is good about udac?

Edit: I was looking at the udac and I like the idea. Would I just use them during just muusic usage.

Would getting a nuforce icon be a good match with the udac.