• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Budget sound card?

E

earle117

n00b
Joined
Nov 13, 2010
Messages
34
I have decent speakers and a headset, but the onboard audio isn't cutting it.

My current stuff isn't top of the line so I'm looking towards the cheaper end of the sound card area. My speakers are Logitech Z2300 and my headset is an Audio-Technica ATH-M30. Nothing crazy but I like what I have, just hoping I can get more out of it by upgrading from the onboard audio.

What do you guys suggest? I suppose I would rather not go over $60 but that's not a hard limit.
 
I can recommend the Xonar DS 7.1 sound card. it has the oxygen HD audio processor on it..
it's a really nice card,, no bloated drivers, got one in my shop computer and one on my gaming rig. never had an issue in the 2 years i've owned them. great card if ya ask me and you can get one for around 50 bucks.
 
Well I like my Xonar cards, Auzentech makes decent ones as well.

For the Xonar, it really depends on if you use PCI-E or PCI

Xonars range in price/performance more or less in this order
For the lower cost ASUS Xonar line

DG/D1/DS/DX the best in this regard are the D1/DX.
DX is superior, DG uses the same audio processor as the DX, but misses on some of the dolby stuff
DG is 5.1 with a bit more bite whereas D1 is 7.1 with a little less pump behind it though does have some of the DX feature set.
DS is pricier then DG is also 7.1 but not quite as good. Does not use same processor, and loses a bit in the component selection.

So cut it down, if Dolby stuff is important DX or D1, if that doesnt matter as much DG and apprently DG works the best for higher powered cans.

Another option, HT omega Striker is apprently a pretty good card as well

So, depending on price and such, I would go DG for headphone use, or DX if you plan on using front panel/speakers(DX does have a higher SNR vs the DG, DG gains its power from all ports the same with the headphone part having a dedicated amp, DX does not unless front panel is used, though it is not dedicated headphone amp, more power and SNR goes to the DX front panel connection denoted in the control panel as FP)

The only other card, comparable, X-FI gamer or Titanium or Titanium HD, all more $, and they are creative *yuck*

DG/DS/D1 uses a pci slot, DX uses a PCI-e any slot(x1,x4,x8,x16 whatever you want to plug it into. From my understanding the DG is overall very decent DX is as is but excellent.

Hope this makes sence, the price here in canada starting with
ASUS Xonar DG ~$28
ASUS Xonar DS ~$40
ASUS Xonar D1 ~$64
ASUS Xonar DX ~$70
HT Omega Striker ~$80
Creative Titanium Fatility ~$83
Creative Titanium EAX 5.0 ~$82
Creative X-Gamer ~$90
Auzentech X-Fi Bravura ~$90
Auzentech X-Fi Forte ~$105
X-Fi Titanium HD ~$140
Xonar Essence ST/STX ~$175
Xonar Xense ~$280

Anyways, long post, so cheap but good, and more or less anything you would need, DG probably would suit you fine, that is, if you have a standard PCI slot available, DX, Forte, Bravura, Titanium if you need to have it in PCI-E slot. Well at least there is some options here for you. I have the DX, and while it is not wicked good for gaming, it works wonderfull for everything especially music/movies that, and I also have fairly sensitive ears so I do not have the volume jacked so I may not notice the true benefits of it.
 
the xonar ds does in fact have the AV200 audio processor,
the d1 and dx has the lower AV100 audio processor.
 
there is alot of things tied into this though, the DS uses a different processor, but the dacs, and such are not of the same quality. I know, a higher SNR is a desired thing, able to hear more thumping base and higher sharps, or at least it takes less of a signal to=noise, so more efficent, and usally more clarity.

The AV100 chip can drive 8 channels, however, it can only do 2 at a much more refined clarity, while the AV200 which is a chip that is a higher bin has DTS encoding available to it, is able to drive 8 channels all without quality loss, HOWEVER, this really does depend on the other components beings used, after all, no matter what the audio processor is, it has to pass this information off to its various stages to get the SNR and such to best effect.

So I suppose it truly does depend, the best X-Fi card there is to this point is the Titanium HD, below that is the Titanium EAX5.0/Fatality Pro and Auzentech Forte, Xonar on the other hand the Essence ST/STX/Xense take that honor the D2X/DX are next inline overall, however, the DX is lower cost then D2X and almost identical in everyway except for a couple of fancier features, and a little less oomph, but, the actual realworld performance of them is superior to anything but the higher end Xonar cards, DS/DG/D1 vs DX, well again, SNR among other things has a huge deal to play in this, and just raw specs, no matter if it uses AV100 or AV200 chip, the DX is just simply better all around.

Anyways, here is a couple links to a couple different sites exploring the differences, one is to asus another to techreport and another to head-fi (dont mean to break any rules, just figure this may be helpful to explaining what I mean)
http://techreport.com/articles.x/14500
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...odel=Xonar+Essence+STX&page=1&SLanguage=en-us
http://www.head-fi.org/t/414322/xonar-essence-st-sneak-peek/15

Also for the actual audio chip
C-Media CMI8786 and C-Media "OXYGEN" 8787/8788 processor, ASUS rebadges these as AV66/AV100/AV200 chips "bins" Functionally the AV100/200 are identical prior to ASUS testing them. higher end cards generally will use AV200, low grade cards use AV66.

DG uses 8786 which is an unnamed(maybe ASUS use only)C-Media chip, DS AV66, D1/DX AV100, Essence AV200(this is coming directly from ASUS spec sheets for these cards)

seems like the DG/D1/DX share alot more in common as far as dolby and such compared to the DS.
DG is 105db SNR output 103db SNR Input
DS 107 out 100 input
D1 116dB for front-out, 112dB for other channels 112 input
DX 116dB for front-out, 112dB for other channels 112 input
D2X uses AV200 is 118 SNR in and out
XENSE AV100 118 in/out
Essence STX AV200 124dB for Front-out,117dB for Headphone-out (600ohms) 118 input
XtremeGamer 109db
Xfi Titanium 109DB
Titanium HD 118db out
Forte 109/115
Bravura 115/110
Omega Striker 102db? also uses C-Media but 8770(prior to ASUS buying the "oxygen" chips for thier own use)

Anyways, alot of variety, I would be basing it on the card at hand, and its capabilities against the others that do not have these, the DG has 3/4 of what the DX has, its not quite as good, but is 1/3rd the price and 5.1 but can drive its 5.1 without issue, specs wise the DS runs 7.1 but will not have as much oomph when driving all of its speakers, the D1/DX/D2X are the next step up and give you all the bells and whistles.

So if you need PCI card, the DG seems best bet for its price and very good for headset, if needs to be PCI-E DX seems the best pick, it will use its front panel header better for the headset and will work awesome for the speakers set on the rear channel with one flip of the control panel (xonar control panel)
 
For the question about what I'll be using for the slot, it would be a PCI-E x1. Also, I would definitely like front panel audio with the card. Thanks for all of the posts, I have a lot of cards to look through =)
 
Any pci-e card will work in any slot, as long as it fits, they are back/forward compatible. I have used the DX in a pci-e x1 as well as a x16 slot no difference that I have noticed, it will let you put it where it fits best, also becuase it is slim and not to bulky you can easily put it above or below your gpu and it should work just as well and not interfere with airflow or EMI(shouldnt in EMI case)

For the Xonars, any card that has an X in its name DX, STX etc, uses a pci-e interface, just so you know, DX also is able to be hooked up to the front panel, and sould be used as such for the headset as it gains more SNR this way 116 vs 112 db SNR in the front panel vs the rear panel, rear panel can be used as such although it is better to use the rear panel for the speakers, front panel for headset or 2.1 speakers if you want( and it is much more powerfull then the vast majority of other sound cards currently out there, the other Xonars even more so, DX is kind of the main stream performance if you will)

If you want to change from front to rear, its as easy as opening its control panel and selecting the channel/input area, example 2.1/5.1/7.1 or FP headphone FP speaker

Also, I can give you the settings I use to maximize its ability if you wish :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top