Xonar Dg $25.00 worth it over Onboard?

ok i guess ill order it then. I just want to get better sound out of my Pro Medias I think my Onboard is just not doing them any good. They sound ok but not as great as I would of hoped
 
i found the DG (mine was $15 after rebate) to be money well spent over the onboard realtek audio on my motherboard.
 
Yeah when I installed DG on my son's computer, I was surprised that even his crappy no name speakers sounded better than from onboard. It will probably be an improvement using the Promedia's especially for very clear music.
 
Thanks im going to place an order tomorrow. I just want better sound since I watch alot of blurays and play games. I dont use my PC for music
 
I'm actually using the DG and a set of Promedia 2.1s myself and I've gotta say it's a huge improvement over onboard sound on my Asus Z68-V (Realtek). Newegg sells them for $15 as "open box" if you're not in a hurry. I usually see them up there a couple times a month.
 
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onboard give good basic sound but as already stayed, anything dedicated will be a world of difference
 
Do note that the DG is one of their older cards and it's PCI, not PCI-E, it'd a great buy at that price if this isn't an issue for you tho.
 
There have been some great deals on the Xonar DGX, or PCI-Express version of the Xonar DG, lately. Either of these cards are excellent for the price. If I were on a budget, either of these would be the card I would choose for PC gaming and movie usage.
 
It does not matter if I go PCI Express or PCI. I dont not plan on going Crossfire or SLI anywhere in my future so I have a bunch of slots open for either. I will keep an eye out for a PCIE version but I dont want to spend to much.
 
Damn, you guys have me wanting to grab one now...

I haven't had a dedicated sound card since my old X-Fi Fatal1ty... when it died I just couldn't see spending another $100+ on a dedicated sound card.
 
Blue Falcon said:
Damn, you guys have me wanting to grab one now...

I haven't had a dedicated sound card since my old X-Fi Fatal1ty... when it died I just couldn't see spending another $100+ on a dedicated sound card.
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Luckily you don't need to spend $100 :) 20-25 bucks is all that is needed for a nice sound bump
 
Blue Falcon said:
Damn, you guys have me wanting to grab one now...

I haven't had a dedicated sound card since my old X-Fi Fatal1ty... when it died I just couldn't see spending another $100+ on a dedicated sound card.
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$100 plus sound cards are a waste these days. IMHO.
 
Snufykat said:
$100 plus sound cards are a waste these days. IMHO.
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Maybe, but I sure did love my X-Fi... probably the last 'good' product Creative put out. Hell even the drivers were decent (and if you know Creative you know how shocking that is).

Is there anything the more expensive Xonar cards add over the DG (or DGX if I wanted PCIE) that make them worth the extra cash?
 
Blue Falcon said:
Maybe, but I sure did love my X-Fi... probably the last 'good' product Creative put out. Hell even the drivers were decent (and if you know Creative you know how shocking that is).

Is there anything the more expensive Xonar cards add over the DG (or DGX if I wanted PCIE) that make them worth the extra cash?
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If you have good speakers, yes the more expensive cards will offer more features and better sound. If you're rocking Logitech or whatever, no real reason to pay more than $25.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
If you have good speakers, yes the more expensive cards will offer more features and better sound. If you're rocking Logitech or whatever, no real reason to pay more than $25.
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I will disagree with that.
I am using a receiver and book shelf speakers, i would see no benefit at all from a more expensive card.
The reason, i am using a digital signal to feed the receiver.
To much of a blanket statement.
 
Snufykat said:
I will disagree with that.
I am using a receiver and book shelf speakers, i would see no benefit at all from a more expensive card.
The reason, i am using a digital signal to feed the receiver.
To much of a blanket statement.
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Sorry, I didn't have my lawyer look over my post first. I'll do better in the future.
 
When using a digital signal, i am pretty sure you wont get better quality from a soundcard over spdif.

in most cases, what you want to pay for a sound card is gonna ultimately depend features, specifically quantity of sound channels and the interface you intend to use.

that said, i had one of the first turtlebeach usb sound cards which could also run optical out. it was pretty cool, but i bent the usb connector. didn't stop me from getting 2 more of the usb creative x-fi go's, though. soundcards make a lot of difference to music and movie lovers, so i like being able to use them in every machine i handle for extended periods of time. so, i'm willing to pay for portability.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Sorry, I didn't have my lawyer look over my post first. I'll do better in the future.
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Not really the point. The features offered by the more expensive cards are not all that useful for some people. To which i agree with your statement about the more expensive cards not being worth the money but for a completely different reason.
 
Snufykat said:
Not really the point. The features offered by the more expensive cards are not all that useful for some people. To which i agree with your statement about the more expensive cards not being worth the money but for a completely different reason.
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Right. Typically if you need an expensive card, you would already know you needed one.
 
Snufykat said:
I will disagree with that.
I am using a receiver and book shelf speakers, i would see no benefit at all from a more expensive card.
The reason, i am using a digital signal to feed the receiver.
To much of a blanket statement.
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I agree with you, but your own statement was just as much of a blanket statement. Cards like the STX are still a really good deal for anyone with decent headphones who doesn't wanna spend another $100+ for an amp on top of the card... I'd imagine there's also still a ton of people using bookshelves and other sorts of speakers with analog out to their amps. Not everyone's rocking a receiver next to their PC...
 
Difference between a decent headset (old Plantronics with larger drivers) using on-board and then an X-Fi, not a whole lot.

Difference with HD555's? Night and day.

But I believe that had more to do with difference between the amplification of the cards than the DACs. That Xonar isn't expensive, but don't expect it to work wonders if your on-board is reasonably well implemented.
 
Impulse said:
I agree with you, but your own statement was just as much of a blanket statement. I'd imagine there's also still a ton of people using bookshelves and other sorts of speakers with analog out to their amps. Not everyone's rocking a receiver next to their PC...
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That is why I narrowed my statement to my particular install situation.
 
I ended up ordering an Open Box from Newegg for $14.99 with $4.00 shipping. Newegg raised the price on new cards to $31.00 with shipping.

Hopefully the open box works as intended i dont want to have to return
 
I was actually disappointed with the Xonar DG.

Feeding sound into my M-AUDIO AV-40 speaker set, I could not tell the difference between onboard or Xonar on either platform (I have two computers).

While I'm sure it's an improvement, if you're not driving headphones you probably won't notice the difference. I'm sure there are still some crappy motherboards out there, but the two I have tried have transparent audio quality from the entry-level Xonar.
 
I figured for $14.00 i will give it a shot. I have 2 sets of headphones & I use them alot. a Pair of Monoprice 8323 & a set of HiFiMan - HE-300's. i also have 2 sets of speaker sets for my PC. a klipsch pro media 2.1 set and a set of Swan M10s

We will see how it does.
 
4LC4PON3 said:
So far i love it. Even my Monoprice headphones sound tons better.
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Glad it's working out for you so far, and I'm happy you were able to find one on Newegg as open box. $15 plus shipping is a hell of a deal for what you get in my opinion. Personally, I've been using a DG that was an open box from Newegg for the past year with no problems... I've ordered a lot of open box from Newegg in the past and I've yet to ever have a problem (you know how it goes, you only hear about it on the forums when there is an issue).

This thread ended up pushing me to pick up a set of Superlux 668bs and meelectronics m11+s, lol.
 
I wanted to give you guys an update on how the DG is performing after a couple of weeks with it. This sound card is amazing and has really opened up my Klipsch Pro Media 2.1s and has even made my Monoprice cans even better. I am amazed by this sound card and it was easily the best $20.00 spent.

It has really made a huge difference in my Klipsch Pro medias that I decided to keep them
 
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