Xonar D2X, smash or trash?

[VorpalBFG]

Curious to know if anyone has any experience with this card. Worth the upgrade from Audigy 2zs or waste of money? I am currently running Vista 64. Does the card do EAX 5.0?

 

[Balthazor]

The card emulates EAX 5.0. It tells the game that it has EAX 5.0 capabilities and then gives you an approximation of what you'd hear if you were using a card with EAX 5.0. I think it is limited to 64 simultaneous voices when doing this (true EAX 5.0 has up to 128), but I'm not certain about this particular point.

User opinion on how well it does this seems to be split; I haven't personally tried it.

 

[Godmachine]

The card emulates EAX 5.0. It tells the game that it has EAX 5.0 capabilities and then gives you an approximation of what you'd hear if you were using a card with EAX 5.0. I think it is limited to 64 simultaneous voices when doing this (true EAX 5.0 has up to 128), but I'm not certain about this particular point.

User opinion on how well it does this seems to be split; I haven't personally tried it.

It seems to emulate it fine but you might end up taking more of a hit CPU wise since its software emulation from what I remember vs true EAX 5.0 hardware driven.

Its a very good upgrade from a Audigy 2 ...IF you have a good set of speakers or decent set of cans.. if you don't I really dont think the difference will be big enough to warrant the upgrade. If you do however , Its totally worth it .. its a beautiful sounding card with quality gear. It is marketed as audiophile kind of sound card , but most audiophiles run external DAC's so ..it really comes down to your taste.