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Looking for a card

R

rUmX

Gawd
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
1,019
Hi guys, I picked up the Sony SRS-DB500 2.1 set yesterday, which finally replaced my 8 year old Creative Inspire 5300. I'm using the onboard audio right now, and I feel like the onboard Realtek isn't doing the new set justice. I don't follow the audio industry so I don't know whats good or not.

I mostly listen to music and will be gaming on my Razer Carcharias headset, with the occasional movie (but that's usually only done on the HTPC/HDTV). My budget is around $150, but I could go higher if the card is really "kick ass" (thinking Xonar STX).


Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Titanium FATAL1TY PCI-E 1X 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 Optical IN/OUT
ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channel PCI-E Sound Card 24BIT Dolby Digital 116DB SNR W/ Low Profile Bracket
AuzenTech Forte Low Profile PCI-E 7.1 Sound Card PCI-E Dolby Digital Live Headphone AMP

Which would be the best out of these three?
 
Maybe I skipped over something, but do you need a low-profile card?
 
Don't even think about Creative Fatal1ty as it has low quality components (DACs, OPAMPs, etc..) Auzentech and Asus are both good cards - good quality components + swappable OPAMPS. The major Auzen advantage over Asus is integrated headphone AMP and true (not emulated) EAX effects support, but Asus produced music may be a little bit "warmer", more detailed. (it's complicated, because it vary from peson to person). Overall my vote goes to Auzen Forte:)
 
Don't even think about Creative Fatal1ty as it has low quality components (DACs, OPAMPs, etc..) Auzentech and Asus are both good cards - good quality components + swappable OPAMPS. The major Auzen advantage over Asus is integrated headphone AMP and true (not emulated) EAX effects support, but Asus produced music may be a little bit "warmer", more detailed. (it's complicated, because it vary from peson to person). Overall my vote goes to Auzen Forte
 
i really like my forte. It sounds good with audio technica A700's
 
I say go for the Asus if you ever even consider running Non-Windows OSes and want better audio quality. The Auzen may have better components, but it still uses an X-Fi chip which can mean driver hell.
 
Thanks guys. Looks like I'll be picking up the Asus card. The funny thing is that from reading around all these cards seem to have some type of software/driver issues, especially with Windows 7. I hope my experience will be trouble free. *knock on wood*
 
Matas said:
Don't even think about Creative Fatal1ty as it has low quality components (DACs, OPAMPs, etc..) Auzentech and Asus are both good cards - good quality components + swappable OPAMPS. The major Auzen advantage over Asus is integrated headphone AMP and true (not emulated) EAX effects support, but Asus produced music may be a little bit "warmer", more detailed. (it's complicated, because it vary from peson to person). Overall my vote goes to Auzen Forte:)
Click to expand...

Why didn't I see support for OpenAL or Direct Sound restoration aka Creative Alchemy on Creative sound cards for Auzentech and Asus Xonar DX except for Alchemy on the Auzen X-Fi Bravura. I didn't notice any X-RAM for either the Asus Xonar Essence STX and the Xonar DX or the Auzen except on the Auzen X-Fi Forte 7.1 and Auzen X-Fi Home theater HD both of which can be more expensive than the creative alternative as all of these are important features if your a gamer. On the video play back side though who needs HDMI though your audio card like the Auzen X-Fi Home theater has when video cards are designed to route the audio directly from the sound card to the video card for HDMI or Display Port which is missing from all three sound cards. They all include Optical Digital audio out so why do you need HDMI anyway since they are both digital and besides Optical Digital doesn't suffer from distortion or delay like HDMI. The only problem I have with Creative is that they drop support for their products which was especially annoying if you owned an Audigy series sound card because toward the end of its life creative had drivers for it that supported OpenAL which I still have and their are many more examples of creatives poor driver support currently.
 
scharfshutze009 said:
Why didn't I see support for OpenAL or Direct Sound restoration aka Creative Alchemy on Creative sound cards for Auzentech and Asus Xonar DX except for Alchemy on the Auzen X-Fi Bravura. I didn't notice any X-RAM for either the Asus Xonar Essence STX and the Xonar DX or the Auzen except on the Auzen X-Fi Forte 7.1 and Auzen X-Fi Home theater HD both of which can be more expensive than the creative alternative as all of these are important features if your a gamer. On the video play back side though who needs HDMI though your audio card like the Auzen X-Fi Home theater has when video cards are designed to route the audio directly from the sound card to the video card for HDMI or Display Port which is missing from all three sound cards. They all include Optical Digital audio out so why do you need HDMI anyway since they are both digital and besides Optical Digital doesn't suffer from distortion or delay like HDMI. The only problem I have with Creative is that they drop support for their products which was especially annoying if you owned an Audigy series sound card because toward the end of its life creative had drivers for it that supported OpenAL which I still have and their are many more examples of creatives poor driver support currently.
Click to expand...

Ummm...mate...OpenAL is not a proprietary standard...any card can use it, and x-ram is a gimmick not required by ANYTHING, i've owned hella sound cards in my time, creative cards are fucking aweful.
 
Vercinaigh said:
Ummm...mate...OpenAL is not a proprietary standard...any card can use it, and x-ram is a gimmick not required by ANYTHING, i've owned hella sound cards in my time, creative cards are fucking aweful.
Click to expand...

Creative is not perfect but it is still the defacto standard for sound card if it weren't for them we would be using Aureal Montego Beach Direct sound crap instead of OpenAL that their card and other brands like Auzentech and Asus support for open source.
 
The Forte is an amazing card still today, very impressed with it. Mine died a while back unfortunately, so picked up the Essence STX
 
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