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Sound Card Recommendation.

L

Luni

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 8, 2011
Messages
156
I've been interested in getting a sound card for gaming, mostly for positional audio, a friend of mine told me to get the Auzentech Forte 7.1 since it's the only true 7.1 sound card as opposed to "Simulated" 7.1 like the Asus Xonar Essence (His words I know zilch about audio =P) I plan on getting a 7.1 Headset as well, but first I want to focus on the sound card, is that card all it's cracked up to be? Or is he blowing smoke and there's something better? Below I've linked the card.
http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_forte.php
 
Don't waste your time with a 7.1 (or any multichannel) headset. Get a good pair of stereo headphones, and a sound card that can support either Dolby Headphone (the Asus line) or CMSS-3D (the Creative and Auzentech ones). Depending how much you want to spend, you can pick up the AudioTechnica ATH-AD700s (or something similar, there are a ton of good choices) and a Xonar DG and get much, much, better overall sound quality than from a multichannel headset.
 
Forceman said:
Don't waste your time with a 7.1 (or any multichannel) headset. Get a good pair of stereo headphones, and a sound card that can support either Dolby Headphone (the Asus line) or CMSS-3D (the Creative and Auzentech ones). Depending how much you want to spend, you can pick up the AudioTechnica ATH-AD700s (or something similar, there are a ton of good choices) and a Xonar DG and get much, much, better overall sound quality than from a multichannel headset.
Click to expand...

^ What he said. Get a Xonar DG + AD700/HD598's. "Surround sound headphones" are awful. Get a good pair of stereo headphones and use DH or CMSS-3D.
 
Also the fact I find many games output the sound now to the CPU, makes it even less a need for any "surround sound" emulation. I hate emulated surround sound, as I find it degrades the quality of the sound and sounds unnatural. Especiall with music which you should never do anyway.
 
Luni said:
a friend of mine told me to get the Auzentech Forte 7.1 since it's the only true 7.1 sound card as opposed to "Simulated" 7.1 like the Asus Xonar Essence (His words I know zilch about audio =P)
Click to expand...

The Xonar DX is capable of discrete 7.1 output. It is not "simulating" anything. Software outputs 8 channels, Xonar DX decodes 8 channels and outputs 8 channels. I dunno wtf your friend is talking about.
 
dustNbone said:
The Xonar DX is capable of discrete 7.1 output. It is not "simulating" anything. Software outputs 8 channels, Xonar DX decodes 8 channels and outputs 8 channels. I dunno wtf your friend is talking about.
Click to expand...

Xonar Essence STX is a stereo card, it doesn't have any analog multichannel support. You can connect it digitally to a surround sound system, but that would be a dubious use of its DAC/amp circuitry for $180.
 
See, like I said I know zilch about audio, I currently have the AKG MK271's So, would a Auzentech be better then a Xonar Essence STX? Or is the DX better then the Auzentech and the STX? Also why are surround sound headsets shit, wouldn't it be better to have the audio come out of a small speaker dedicated to THAT sound area, rather then one big speaker broadcasting audio to one side?
 
The STX is the best of those choices. The Forte and the DX are about the same, however, I would not recommend the Forte since they have a history of failure (bad capacitors causing popping noises). I have personally had two go bad on me.

The reason headsets are generally poorer quality is twofold - one, the drivers are necessarily smaller than stereo headphones because instead of 1 in each earcup you are trying to cram several, and smaller drivers generally means poorer quality sound. Second, the size of the earcup also limits the amount of physical separation of the drivers, so you aren't getting any better positional quality - there isn't a driver in front of you (that the center channel uses) so it still isn't going to be "real" positioning. Better to get two really good drivers, rather than a whole bunch of crappy ones. Quality is better than quantity.
 
I see what you're saying about the headphones and how each speaker has to be smaller, I'll probably end up going with the Auzentech just for the offset of if I want to use my sound system I can, and If I want to use headphones I can too! So, if using 7.1 headphones for a headset is bad, then what's the best way to get positional audio? Cause that's a huge thing in competitive gaming. Also, if there ARE better positional Headphones then the AKG MKII's then what would they be? I had a set of ATH AD700's but the honeycomb design made it seem like it had an external speaker and drove my roommates batshit >.> hehe The whole reason I even made this topic is cause I was gonna get the Razer Tiamat's when they came out >.>
 
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Either Dolby Headphone or CMSS-3D can take a multichannel source and encode it to provide positional information in a stereo output for headphones, which is why it is important to get a soundcard that supports one of those two for gaming. It works surprisingly well. All of the cards you listed support one or the other of those, so you're set either way. As to which is better - it really comes down to personal preference.

As to whether the AKGs are good for positioning, someone else will have to weigh in. The AD700s are among the most commonly recommended for gaming, because they have very good positioning and good sound for the price.
 
I can't STAND creative just because they robbed me blind back when I played WoW and got their WoW wireless headset. (It went kaplooey due to hardware fault, and they kept pointing the finger at me, blaming my PC, and saying I did something wrong refusing to warranty them should I just go to a audio store, and try many different headsets out?
 
Forceman said:
That is a worrisomely blank card. .
Click to expand...

explain more please because i just read the review that it offers better sound quality than any previous creative labs sound card due to a NEW quad core sound processor, including titanium hd.

there is Recon 3d Fatility version too, it comes with an 600ohm amp, but that one isnt reviewed yet.

if you are judging quality based on how much stuff is on a board then you are wrong.

im sure everyone heard about cracking/popping crap from previous sound blaster cards, i read that its gone with these from people who got them earlier today.
 
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Well, it still has caps, so it doesn't automatically solve that problem (although maybe they are using better ones now). With everything integrated into the single chip, you don't have replaceable op-amps, and it also means the DACs are going to be Creative, instead of some other higher-end part. The only chatter I found on it has it spec'd out pretty low to mid-end, but it is priced almost the same as the Titanium HD, which has better specs. Not saying it is a bad card, just I'd wait and see before jumping on it (plus Creative isn't exactly known for great drivers support for new hardware).

And do we really need a "quad-core" audio processor?
 
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Forceman said:
Well, it still has caps, so it doesn't automatically solve that problem (although maybe they are using better ones now). With everything integrated into the single chip, you don't have replaceable op-amps, and it also means the DACs are going to be Creative, instead of some other higher-end part. The only chatter I found on it has it spec'd out pretty low to mid-end, but it is priced almost the same as the Titanium HD, which has better specs. Not saying it is a bad card, just I'd wait and see before jumping on it (plus Creative isn't exactly known for great drivers support for new hardware).

And do we really need a "quad-core" audio processor?
Click to expand...

that's the low end model, the mid and high end models are coming out in late december or early january.

do we need quad core audio? idk, back in the days i heard people ask do we need a dual core cpu.

from what i've read, one of the 4 cores/dsp handles voice/speech alone in games, other cores/dsp are doing different tasks.

but i agree, lets wait for more reviews, the review source that claimed that it offers better sound in games than titanium hd was unknown to me.
 
Thanks for all the help guys. You're a lot better for help then 4chan was XD!
 
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