Pro/Elite Pro/Barracuda/Prelude - Recommendations

S

SFaznSpEEdSTeR

Gawd
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
Messages
537
Which one would be the best value and/or performance?

An X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro for $49AR
An X-Fi Elite Pro for $87AR
An Razer Barracuda for $55/60 - lets see if they go on sale again
Or a Prelude for $100 - I say $100 because I can sell my Fatal1ty Pro for $105 after buying it for $49AR, then paying another $60 out of my pocket to get the prelude

I am looking for something that can at least do Dolby 5.1 surround sound either on-board on the soundcard or is it possible for the Z-5500 to handle the encoding

I am also looking for something that can hook to my front mic/headset-in jacks to the sound card itself

Thank you
 
i have a razer and an x-fi
for 3d sound games the x-fi is much much better
however for non-eax/openal games the razer sounds better

the x-fi puts out more power- only matters for headphones really
the elite pro has better components for a better sound
the prelude has the best componenets of the group

all -i think-can output a dolby signal (i dont use this feature so i'm not too sure)

the razer has a coneector for case mounted headphone jacks- i think the prelude does also
 
Hi

You didn't say if gaming was a priority or music. For gaming, this may not be your best bet. But I just had a Claro+ installed today. OMFG ... went from an XtremeGamer to this and the difference is amazing.

Supports front panel connection, Analog 7.1 Channel Surround Sound, Dolby support headphones, digital output and input, dts interactive ... you can find alot more info on the HT Omega site and newegg. The driver/control panel is very light, especially compared to the X-Fi's

If gaming's your big thing, you may want to go with an X-Fi or Auzentech for the EAX5.
 
Both...I just want something that can do DTS 5.1 on-board, because the Pro only can do 2.1 on-board, and have a connection to my front jacks of the Antec 900. I will hook this up to the Z-5500 (anyone know if they do hardware DTS 5.1 on the speakers)

I just want something that has the best bang for the buck

Here's my situation...I can sell the Fatal1ty Pro Series that I bought for $49AR for $105. I am thinking of getting the elite pro/headset bundle on Newegg...selling the headsets, and I get can the Elite Pro for around $60 after everyone is through

The think is, I can also shell out another $50 after selling the card if the Prelude is the better option...
 
Since you want dolby encoding features X-fi is out of the question without tweaked drivers so a Prelude then if they ever get their drivers out. Otherwise the Elite PRO is the best overall I feel
 
Elite pro for out of the box best sound yes.

However, Prelude has better driver support, can easily swap out opamps, is not entirely creative!

So Prelude still gets my nod. lol
 
Well I have never had any issues with the X-fi drivers and it seem to perform better in games then the prelude. But I have hard time finding newer benchmarks of the review most are from 2006 or 2007 if lucky...

OP amps is a nice feature but I like the default ones in the X-fi. I tried the X-meridian and switched opamps to what now is default in Prelude I think.
 
You never had issues with creative drivers? Weeeeeeellll I sure have. Not in the minority either.

Unless you are oblivious, there is ample evidence to the contrary in regards to the history of creative software "support".

Matter of fact, I gave up on sound cards entirely thanks to creative.
 
spaceman said:
You never had issues with creative drivers? Weeeeeeellll I sure have. Not in the minority either.
Click to expand...

The only real issues I have are the mic input on the Prelude is a bit soft and the ASIO drivers on gaming and entertainment modes are a fairly flaky. Nothing major.
 
Forgive my ignorance but where can you get the X-Fi Elite Pro for that price? I picked one up at Fry's last year for $199 and have never seen it cheaper, even online.

Your Z5500 can do surround sound simulation (Pro Logic) but it doesn't sound like that's what you are really after. If you use the analog inputs on your Z5500, note that encoding (Dolby, DTS, etc) does not matter at all. In this case I would go with the X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro. If you are dead set on running a digital cable to your Z5500 for aesthetic reasons (i.e. single cable) then I would recommend the Prelude or the Asus Xonar.
 
My preferred audio setup for the Prelude

Prelude -> Dolby Digital Live -> Toslink -> Logitech Z-5500 Digital
 
spaceman said:
Elite pro for out of the box best sound yes.
Click to expand...
I've owned both, and I really didn't notice any significant change when I switched from the Elite Pro to the Prelude. I feel like the Prelude has a little more presence and detail in the low end, but I haven't A/B'ed the two. I think they both sound great.

spaceman said:
You never had issues with creative drivers? Weeeeeeellll I sure have. Not in the minority either.
Click to expand...
I haven't had any notable issues with the X-Fi drivers. My Elite Pro worked fine despite the little applets taking a horrendous amount of time to launch, and my Prelude surprisingly doesn't even suffer from that (fairly responsive for what bloated shit it is) for whatever reason. I've also had no issues with the ASIO drivers.

Now, the Audigy on the other hand...let's not even talk about that.
 
I'm going to break from the pack and throw my support for the Barracuda. I've got it outputting via optical to a Yamaha RX-V563 and via the HD-Dai to the matching Barracuda headphones. Note of warning, there are still issues with them on Vista.

I find it to be a solid card that puts out plenty of power. Turn on the Dolby Pro Logic || or DTS Neo-PC effects and even lower quality rips start to sound good. Even better, you can find them new on ebay for $60.

I tried a Prelude with the same headphones and really didnt notice a difference.
 
I am asking because I heard the Fatal1ty Pro and Elite Pro can only do 2.1 through S/PDIF while the Prelude, I think, can do the actual 5.1 DTS through the S/PDIF, as well as the Barracuda...I don't mind all the wires, but I mean one wire would be better than 3...

Actually I got my Fatal1ty Pro for $49AR and sold it for $105. I then bought this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102018 - which is the Elite Pro sound card but just no I/O box...but since I sold my Fatal1ty Pro, I basically upgraded for free, and when I sell the headphones (should I keep them?) I will make about $40/50 through everything

Thanks for the input guys...I decided to sell my Fatal1ty Pro, buy the Elite Pro bundle, and sell the headset, making the Elite Pro (sound card alone) $54 and making about $50 bucks!
 
spaceman said:
You never had issues with creative drivers? Weeeeeeellll I sure have. Not in the minority either.

Unless you are oblivious, there is ample evidence to the contrary in regards to the history of creative software "support".

Matter of fact, I gave up on sound cards entirely thanks to creative.
Click to expand...

Onboard sound is becoming a force to be reckoned with; both Realtek and ADI have upped their games to make the most of modern CPUs without a tangible penalty. If you're doing 2.1 and Vista, the difference is trivial to all but the audiophile.
 
Onboard sound still doesn't compare in terms of gaming through EAX 5 or even OpenAL. I tried using onboard audio for music & gaming but it doesn't live to the experience I prefer with dedicated audio.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Onboard sound still doesn't compare in terms of gaming through EAX 5 or even OpenAL. I tried using onboard audio for music & gaming but it doesn't live to the experience I prefer with dedicated audio.
Click to expand...

Yeah but a lot of the new games do not have eax. Cod4 is software only.
 
True, but I honestly admit that onboard audio still sounds flat to me whether or not a game supports a specialized sound API. I just prefer EAX 5 & OpenAL over software.
 
Oh I agree. I just got sick of the bullshit associated with sound cards. The prelude was a disappointment. Not a huge one and it was mostly due to creative STILL managing to mess up the situation.

I sold my gaming pc for better speakers. My laptop + UD-10 + dac = way better sound for music, movies but I can't even play wow on my laptop lol.

The 360 actually has better gaming sound with dolby stereo than my prelude which is just sad.

What most folks have not experienced is decent stereo sound. I can hear things behind me and moving around with just two speakers and a sub. Of course, I still think that a prelude + decent headphones is the best budget PC sound system a gamer can get.
 
I have full surround with the Prelude & I'm not disappointed at all. I went off of recommendations from people on this forum in regards to what sound card to use for gaming. I'm thoroughly satisfied with it & it holds up well with music, too.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
True, but I honestly admit that onboard audio still sounds flat to me whether or not a game supports a specialized sound API. I just prefer EAX 5 & OpenAL over software.
Click to expand...

I think it largely depends on your speaker setup: if you're just running a 2.1, the differences are limited.
 
unless you have the razer headphones just get the prelude, I have the razer and its great with the headphones but my Z5500s arent as nice as the prelude i had. above average though.
 
I managed to snag an Elite Pro for $110 last year, and at that price it was a sweet bargain. Hasn't given me any serious grief with anything, nice analog DACs/outputs to go with my Klipsch 2.1 set...though I admit that I've probably been fairly lucky with the drivers not screwing anything up. If I was shopping for a card now, unless I could find another $100-ish EP, I'd probably be looking at the Prelude (mainly for the DACs/analog outputs) or the Barracuda...assuming the driver situation for the latter ever stabilized for 64-bit OSes, and I'm not certain right this second if it ever did.
 
You could've gotten an elite pro stand-alone card along with the HS-900 headset for $79AR

Can anyone give me a definite answer...can the Elite Pro do 5.1 DTS through S/PDIF?

If not, should I try to sell my Elite Pro as well and get the Razer Barracuda for $55 on woot? (I know for sure the Barracuda can do 5.1 DTS through S/PDIF on-board)
 
Sorry for the double post but I feel like I need to in order for me to get an answer

If I were to connect my Z-5500 to the Elite Pro via S/FDIF, would I be able to do 5.1 DTS?

Is it through the sound card itself or the speaker set?
 
SFaznSpEEdSTeR said:
Sorry for the double post but I feel like I need to in order for me to get an answer
If I were to connect my Z-5500 to the Elite Pro via S/FDIF, would I be able to do 5.1 DTS?
Is it through the sound card itself or the speaker set?
Click to expand...

Man.. you need Daniel-K!! ;)

If you insist on getting an XFI, you'll need his driver to get the DDL, and it's still not the 5.1 DTS you wanted.
Otherwise you'll have to go with Prelude with just go with the Asus Xonar series, they come with DTS Connect so you'll get he 5.1 DTS to your Z-5500.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top