What sound cards are we using these days?

hossdaddy

hossdaddy

2[H]4U
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Mar 1, 2007
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Hey guys!

I am a hardcore gamer, very little movies and music. I have an aging Creative Xtremegamer sound card that has been having random crackling freakouts.

What should I be looking at as a replacement?
 
X-Fi Titanium HD if you care about EAX on older games, Xonar STX if not, imo. Xonar DG as a budget friendly option.
 
The Titanium HD is ideal for you. The sound quality overall is very very good. The RCA output is transparent to the ears based on measurements that Creative has published (in other words, perfect, impossible to improve in terms of sound quality). I have the Titanium HD myself. I'm not sure if the headphone output is as good as the RCA output, but it's a great sound card overall. I'm happy with mine.

I don't play games on it, but the sound quality will let you pinpoint sound really well in games. It has CMSS3D, THX TruStudio CMSS3D, and EAX 5.0 with X-RAM (this is only useful with older pre-2007 games).
 
No new games are using EAX, there are lists online regarding older games.
 
Big thumbs up for Auzentech, I have had a first gen X-Meridian and its an excellent sound card. Very good quality, and Ive never had a problem with drivers.
 
my Sennheiser HD555's. No plans for a stereo application or htpc as of yet. I am a hardcore gamer, which is the main use of this equipment.
 
If you are using primarily headphones, I'd probably go with the Titanium HD (or the Essence STX if you want to spend a little more). Those cards are designed for headphone use.
 
Spdif out>dac>amp>cans..... But that's just me.

gaming? I still prefer stero 2 channel with a sub for my tank rounds. A Friend has that Auzentech card and a pair of ath700 cans and it sounds good. Better speakers or headphones are you gnto make more of a difference than a 200$ sound card. You can pick up older xfi cards on this form real cheap...
 
Im running a Xonar DG and have nothing but good things to say about it for a budget card.
 
You'd be happy with any of the current ASUS or Creative offerings. I personally won't buy anything from Auzentech again after the X-Fi Forte fiasco. Mine flipped out and died within a year. Lots of people reported bad X-RAM, grounding issues, and/or crackling audio after a few months of use.

My current setup is an X-Fi Titanium HD -> Bravo Audio V1 (6922) Tube Amp with Electro-Harmonix tube -> Audio Technica ATH-AD700's. I'm very happy with the sound. It wasn't terribly expensive either (~$315 total). I don't feel any pressure to upgrade anything.
 
I(illa Bee said:
Spdif out>dac>amp>cans..... But that's just me.

gaming? I still prefer stero 2 channel with a sub for my tank rounds
....Better speakers or headphones are you gnto make more of a difference than a 200$ sound card.
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My vote's here. Except, I go S/PDIF > receiver > speakers / cans.
Sound cards are a waste of money for listening without needing special mixes.
 
positional gaming audio is my primary requirement for the soundcard.

With that being said my budget is about $100 but could venture a little more depending on what I get for it.
 
So I bought a mobo without a PCI slot so I can't use my X-Fi Extreme Music card. All I have is an extra full lane PCI-E slot. What are my options?
 
XamediX said:
So I bought a mobo without a PCI slot so I can't use my X-Fi Extreme Music card. All I have is an extra full lane PCI-E slot. What are my options?
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use onboard audio or get an pci-e sound card. Whats your budget and requirements/use of the card, gaming, movies?
 
I play a lot of mp3 based music and game alot. Not so much older stuff but newer stuff. I was under the impression that onboard audio will use up system resources that could go to my gaming fp/s. I have a cheap set of 2.1 speakers that were not doing my X-Fi justice but sometime in the future I will get a decent 4.1 speaker set.

I just want the same quality as that X-Fi and I could do without EAX, CMSS, and other X-Fi features. Or can I just buy a PCI-E to PCI converter?

I have had that soundcard since it first dropped many years ago and I have grown attached to it. I just want to make sure I don't lose out on quality of fp/s savings.
 
That's not really true anymore. If you get a better soundcard it should be for features like CMSS or just better quality audio.
 
If you just want better quality without X-Fi specific features, why not just get a different brand of audio card, like one of the Asus Xonar series? I never saw the Xonar cards as "packed with random features". Just solid audio quality with enough functionality for gaming, and not a lot of extra fluff.
 
XamediX said:
I play a lot of mp3 based music and game alot. Not so much older stuff but newer stuff. I was under the impression that onboard audio will use up system resources that could go to my gaming fp/s. I have a cheap set of 2.1 speakers that were not doing my X-Fi justice but sometime in the future I will get a decent 4.1 speaker set.

I just want the same quality as that X-Fi and I could do without EAX, CMSS, and other X-Fi features. Or can I just buy a PCI-E to PCI converter?

I have had that soundcard since it first dropped many years ago and I have grown attached to it. I just want to make sure I don't lose out on quality of fp/s savings.
Click to expand...

Soundcards haven't been a drain on CPU's since the mid 90's. Don't worry about that.

If you don't need EAX , CMSS or Dolby Headphone then just get a nice all in one external solution and don't worry about it. No fussing around inside your PC and no drivers to have to worry about.
 
I love my Auzentech Forte. I have a revised version and never had a problem.
 
I'm running Win 7 64-bit on my home PC. I have an HT Omega Claro Halo sound card which I plan to use with my desktop speakers consisting of two (2) Tapco Mackie S5 studio monitors and one (1) Klipsch powered sub-woofer). I need suggestions, however, as to the best method (for performance) to hook these speakers-up to my Claro Halo. I hope someone here is familiar with the Claro Halo and can help? I've been using the RCA connectors on the Halo sound card with my Tapco Mackie S5's and the headphone jack on the Claro Halo to hook-up my two channel Klipsch sub-woofer. Thank you for ANY suggestions if there is a better way to hook everything up!
 
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