I need help making a decision

[daos]

Hello all.

I own a pair of ATH-A900's and HD595's for gaming. I used to have an Audigy 2 zs but I had a little watercooling accident and fried my sound card. So, lately I have been suffering with onboard audio and I have decided to make the jump into X-Fi land.

I mostly listen to techno, rock, and some rap. Most of my headphone use is for gaming though. Mostly FPS where good sound quality is a must.

I have been torn between all of the different model X-Fi's around but I have slimmed it down to two and I want to know from you all if there is a benefit to going with one over the other.

I have slimmed it down to the FPS or the Elite Pro. The main reason I want either of these is of course for the headphone 1/4" headphone input. I hate using adapters. I know the Pro comes with the upgraded DAC but is it worth it in gaming? Isnt this something that only a hardcore audiophile or recording artist would notice?

I cannot make my mind up on which one to get. Its driving me absolutely nuts!

Someone please help. If I can get away with the FPS at a much cheaper price and get the same benefits of the Elite pro when gaming then thats what I will do. But if the Elite has features that I can benefit from over the FPS in gaming then I will take the splurge.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[Sycraft]

I'm kinda doubtful you'd notice much difference. I have a pretty high end setup (B&W 604S3s) and when I went from an Extreme Music to an Elite Pro I didn't really notice any improvement. Of course I didn't do any A/B tests, but it wasn't night and day or anything.

 

[Valaire]

The upgraded DAC in the Elite Pro is not worth the extra $ premium for audio quality in games. Stick with the front bay platinum model if it has 1/4th jack.