Best Sound Card

There's no mystery to Dolby Headphone, et al. It's just multichannel surround fed into an HRTF which mixes down to 2 channels. It sounds like ludicrously over-processed garbage to me, but I won't deny that it does add an aspect of surround-ness to sound.
 
DouglasteR said:
There isnt much to think here.

If you game a lot in EAX games, go for the Titanium HD (Or TOP auzentech´s)

If you listen to music more than game, then go for the TOP Xonar´s.

(Or do like me and get the Auzentech HomeTheater HD and have the best of both worlds !)

AVOID any creative card that isnt the Titanium HD.
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++++1
 
People keep mentioning EAX, but unless I'm mistaken there is no real reason to get a creative card versus another just for EAX, since Windows Vista/7 took hardware EAX out of the picture. Sure, there's Alchemy or other EAX wrappers/emulators... but that's going to sound the same on any card.

Unless you're running Windows XP and are on some kind of retro gaming kick, there's no reason to buy based on EAX...
 
Blue Falcon said:
People keep mentioning EAX, but unless I'm mistaken there is no real reason to get a creative card versus another just for EAX, since Windows Vista/7 took hardware EAX out of the picture. Sure, there's Alchemy or other EAX wrappers/emulators... but that's going to sound the same on any card.

Unless you're running Windows XP and are on some kind of retro gaming kick, there's no reason to buy based on EAX...
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You're right- it also explains why there's no need for a sound card at all. Current games do all of the surround work in their own engines because they have to- all that's left is a good DAC and good analog stage, and a driver that leaves the sound path the hell alone.
 
spaceman said:
Hmmmm maybe. Not sold on that one yet. I find with BF3 that Dolby filters out some of the noise in the game to allow for me to hear people close to me better than without it. Yes it does sound wonky at times but for directional sound, dolby live 2 channel downmix into my headphones is fairly deadly.

Anyway, yes. Hdmi from your gpu to a good receiver is the best sound nowadays. Just has the fattest bandwidth.
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That's the thing though- you're readily admitting that it messes with your sound and provides you with something that the developers do not. The thing is, that cuts both ways, and what may be good for you is just as likely to be detrimental to someone else, and the Dolby processing is most likely 'dumbing down' the sound making things easier on you.

There's nothing wrong in sharing your experience, and I don't doubt that the Dolby layer is a useful tool for you; just understand it for what it is and try to keep your perspective in context :).

Right now I'm at HDMI -> Receiver -> Real Speakers for surround and USB/DAC/Amp for desktop stereo and headphone use. My X-Fi may be dying, so I'm starting to look for a good DAC/AMP solution.
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
the real reason for a creative card is CMSS 3D Headphone! :p
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That has been recommended as more useful than the Dolby mess, but it shares the same problem: it distorts the audio stream into something is wasn't before. I'd like to believe that Creative has done quite a bit more work with game surround-sound though, and CMSS-3D has been reported and reviewed as being an excellent tool for when developers drop the ball.
 
I'm kind of in the same boat. I really want to keep my Titanium HD, but I've never had a good time with it. Driver errors, "device not found" messages when I try to open the audio panel, and Foobar2k crashes. What are the best drivers to use with the Titanium HD? Did DanielK make any?
 
Riddleofsteel said:
I'm kind of in the same boat. I really want to keep my Titanium HD, but I've never had a good time with it. Driver errors, "device not found" messages when I try to open the audio panel, and Foobar2k crashes. What are the best drivers to use with the Titanium HD? Did DanielK make any?
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My non-HD hasn't experienced any of these- try moving it to another PCIe slot, if you can. The humming/noise/static? I think that's there to stay.
 
I have found all the realtek onboard sound to be yucky.

Xonar cards are nice cheap addons.

I am amazed how well the AMD branded sound from 800G mobo sounds on my secondary pc.
 
HT Omega eClaro is very nice. Needs a PCIe slot on your mobo. Sounds great, has no bloatware & just works everytime I turn on my PC.
 
CrazyCuz2k said:
And for that matter, instead of a soundcard, I'd use the digital out to a used receiver you can get for $50 that would sound much better than the sound card driving speakers.
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This.

I'm using a 6+ year old Yamaha receiver to two bookshelf speakers. I was using optical out from the onboard sound to the receiver but upgraded to a Xonar DGX because I thought the Dolby processing and headphone amp might be worthwhile enhancements.

Turns out that it sounds exactly the same as the onboard does through optical to the receiver, the Xonar is better to headphones over analog but sucks badly when compared to the headphone out on the receiver, and the Dolby processing widens the soundstage but doesn't sound realistic nor good to my ears.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
You're right- it also explains why there's no need for a sound card at all. Current games do all of the surround work in their own engines because they have to- all that's left is a good DAC and good analog stage, and a driver that leaves the sound path the hell alone.
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Except that DAC in onboard chipsets isn't particularly good, and the other hardware leaves the audio flat and lifeless.

Nevermind that tech like Dolby Headphone/CMSS-3D is a godsend. Really can't imagine NOT having either of these filters anymore.
 
gamerk2 said:
Except that DAC in onboard chipsets isn't particularly good, and the other hardware leaves the audio flat and lifeless.

Nevermind that tech like Dolby Headphone/CMSS-3D is a godsend. Really can't imagine NOT having either of these filters anymore.
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So, you haven't read anything in this thread, have you? Where was I talking about using on-board DACs?
 
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