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Fubar or Xonar or other?

A

Arkangyl

Gawd
2FA
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Messages
711
Okay, after spending some time here I'm feeling the urge to spend some money and upgrade my audio setup.

Right now I'm on onboard audio, Realtek 889A chip on the Foxcon Bloodrage audio board (comes with some X-Fi software-based stuff too).
My speakers are the pariah Z-5500, I really don't mind them ATM but my audio options are: Z-5500 on the desktop, in-ears on the Macbook Pro, car audio in my 96' Accord :-P so the Z-5500 are easily the best of a bad bunch

I also have Grados SR60 and Koss SB40 cans, which honestly I use more than anything. The Grados (to me) sound the best out of all my options, I use the SB40's because my computer is right next to the gf's and the Grados bleed sound pretty badly, to the point where I might as well use the speakers.

I'm thinking about getting either the Swan M10 or the 200 MkII's, that's going to be more of a budget & space thing than anything else though.

The sound card is where I'm looking for some help, I'm considering either:
- Fubar II (or Fubar III) from Firestone Audio
- Xonar D1
- Xonar Essence STX

Main application will be my desktop which is used for gaming, TV, movies, and music (all pretty equally). Also I expect to be using headphones 50-70% of the time and speakers the rest, speakers will probably be the Swans as mentioned so only having stereo out is not a bad thing at all.

The Fubar III caught my eye since it could do triple duty as DAC for desktop -> speakers, DAC & amp for desktop -> headphones, and the same on my laptop when I travel.

I'm also NOT looking to get an external receiver for the desktop, space is a bit of a premium (my U2-UFO case is to blame... love that thing though), all the listed options fit into space & budget though.

thanks, now come convince me on how I should spend my money!!
 
I would go for the fubar III since it is all in one, and you said space is an issue. From what I've heard it's a pretty decent setup, but I haven't been able to test it for myself. (If only space was my issue, not money.)
 
Just so long as you don't buy Creative, I'll be happy. I owned an X-Fi, hated it, sold it. Took 6 months to forget how much it sucked / assumed there would be driver improvements. Bought another, higher end X-Fi. Hated it too. Sold it. Learn from my mistakes -- friends don't let friends buy X-Fis.
 
I have a Fubar II and the Swan M200MKII's, absolutely LOVE these two together. I don't have any nice headphones or I would have gone with the Fubar III.

Big recommendation from me for the Fubar II/III.
 
silent-circuit,
Don't worry, no X-Fi for me. Last Creative product was back in the Live! days, most recently I went through a Razer AC-1, didn't seem to be anything special IMO, keeping it around in case I need optical in/out for something.

sounds like a lot of support for the Fubar II/III, anyone know how it stacks up to the Xonar Essence STX? Both seem pretty similar on paper:
Burr-Brown DAC
high quality, stereo based components
similar numbers in testing
 
I have the FubarIII, and love it. Simple Plug and Play, rollable opamp, Low/High gain for HP amp for different ohm headsets, powerful enough to drive my dt770s. I got it with the power supplier and haven't looked back.
 
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