Going from an Xi-Fi Xtreme gamer to an Xonar Essence STX. Will I notice a difference?

[Gmok Bonecrusha]

This is 100% for gaming. I own some Sennheiser RS180's, Sennheiser PC350's and some Sony MDR XB700's that I use for gaming. Will I notice a difference in sound quality?

I totally give up on Creative. BFBC2 drives me up a wall with the sound totally going bonkers on me at times with mortar strikes, and getting too close to tanks. I literally need to rip my headphones off from the screeching.

I decided on the Xonar because of the headphone amp.

Any suggestions or comments would be welcome.

OS is Win 7 64.

 

[Rossi~]

You will probably notice the following:

-- More power
-- Lack of EAX
-- General increase of sound quality (it's an audiophile card as such at the end of the day)

Edit: Here's a review of the Essence STX that i thought was good
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/asus_xonar_essence_stx/4.htm

 

[Forceman]

You will probably notice the following:

-- More power
-- Lack of EAX
-- General increase of sound quality (it's an audiophile card as such at the end of the day)

Edit: Here's a review of the Essence STX that i thought was good
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/asus_xonar_essence_stx/4.htm

Is EAX even still relevant?

 

[zod96]

No...

 

[ashmelev75]

There will be a noticeable difference. Something may be better, like the audio quality, but something may be worse.
Asus Xonar does not support hardware audio channels, so all sound is handled in software and in games with a large number of sound streams some may be missing.
That is Very noticeable in BFBC2 or even in WoW.

 

[Evi1d33d]

EAX is not gonna matter in BFBC2:

PCGH: Does Frostbite Engine EAX 3.0 for a better sound experience?

Anders Gyllenberg: We use our in-house HDR Audio technology. It performs all software mixing on the CPU, and has a tremendous amount of flexibility. The output can be either Stereo, 5.1 or whatever sound setup you happen to have.

They decided to have their own software solution instead of using canned effects from EAX.

 

[Gmok Bonecrusha]

Well the Microcenter near my house had one in stock. Decided to grab it and give it a go.

The card just wasn't made for gaming. Everyone on vent and TS had a very slight echo. BFBC2 just didn't have any "oomph" no matter what settings I used. Sounded flat and hollow is the way I would describe it.

Anyone have suggestions for a gaming card that is not Creative?

 

[ashmelev75]

The card just wasn't made for gaming. Everyone on vent and TS had a very slight echo. BFBC2 just didn't have any "oomph" no matter what settings I used. Sounded flat and hollow is the way I would describe it.
Anyone have suggestions for a gaming card that is not Creative?

Have you checked the Echo Cancellation option?

It does not look like there's any perfect non-creative based gaming cards.
Most of the card that claim to be 'gaming' are based on some kind of CMedia Oxygen HD or similar chip. Other cards like stuff from Auzentech are based on X-Fi and use Creative drivers.