Sound Blaster ZxR for $165. NewEgg

Have this card, like it alot. Was an improvement over my previous X-Fi. The sound is very nice for music and games. I love the volume knob when I am listening through headphones. I have not hooked up the daughter board yet.
 
The ZxR has optical in/out but no coaxial. Your speakers would be fine though since you have both. Creative includes an optical cable in the box if you get the non-oem.
 
nob0dey said:
The ZxR has optical in/out but no coaxial. Your speakers would be fine though since you have both. Creative includes an optical cable in the box if you get the non-oem.
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What does it offer (other than additional connections) over the $60 card I linked above though?
 
Justintoxicated said:
What does it offer (other than additional connections) over the $60 card I linked above though?
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The ZX has a Cirrus Logic DAC and a Maxim MAX97220A amp, while the ZXR has a Burr-Brown DAC and a 80mw TI TPA6120 amp

All Z series have an EMI shield on the vertical plane. THe ZXR also has an EMI shield on the horizontal plane.

The Z and ZX have a SNR of 116db, the ZXR has a SNR of 124db

The ZXR has changeable op-amps, the other two do not.

The Z and ZX have LED lights. The ZXR does not.

THE Z does not have an ACM controller. The ZX and ZXR does.

The Z series base line is not equipped with the Nichicon FG capacitors. The Zx and ZxR do have Nichicon Fine Gold Caps
 
Only if you have quality cans and the ears to discern the difference, but yes it will produce slightly better sound for a substantial price increase
 
I bit on the plain Z as I didn't see the need for higher. I didn't take the cover off, but looking through it I'm all but certain it has the gold capacitors. Compared to the Realtek ALC898 it's night and day, and I only have a 2.1 Logitech Z2300 speaker set and Corsair HS1A's for headphones. The software needed some tweaking to sound right to me, but the amount of control allowed a perfect crossover and separated the bass/mids/highs in a way I hadn't heard in a LONG time. I had a Xonar DG in my last rig and it can't compare either.
 
I originally got this at the suggested MSRP when it was only out for three months. Worth it to me since supposedly got a good set of cans. If you can find the ZX for a decent deal, I would bite on that aswell but some say the Burr-Brown DAC and TI amp are worth the upgrade to the next up. Right now the ZXR is still $176 on newegg but who knows how long that will last?
 
Or if you are mainly using cans you can just buy a good DAC/amp combo and get much better sound overall. I use the aune T1 DAC/amp combo and it significantly out performs most built in sound cards. Nothing against this card though. If you also have a 5.1 or 7.1 setup then this is the way to go probably.

I use my AKG sextett's and Beyer DT990 600ohm with my aune T1 and it is brilliant.
 
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