Moving from Soundblaster to something better

[QuietOne]

Morning guys, I need some of your wonderful advice regarding my next sound card.

I have always had Soundblaster series cards, my latest addition being the Recon3d Pro. It's fine for games but just doesn't seem to cut it for movies and such in DD 5.1 and listening to music. I tend to use headphones for music and 5.1 for games and movies.

I am looking for a sound card that is great for games, movies and music. Budget wise I don't mind spending the money on a quality card and new headphones if necessary as the ones I have are about 3 years old (Creative Fatality). It needs to have optical out and full control for bass etc. I loved my X-Fi Elite Pro but shame it is a standard PCI card.

If any of you can recommend a great card and possible headphones I would really appreciate it. Thanks guys

 

[SuB]

I'd say you were doing great with your X-fi, up until you got a recon3d. Those cards are pretty naff

My recommendation would be to try and source a pci-express x-fi card if you can (they're hard to find but worthit in my opinion). Only if you're used to the output from X-Fi's and want to do more gaming than anything else. But most definitely ditch the recon3d and forget you ever bought it.

If you're serious about headphones *not headsets* then look into picking up an Asus Xonar Essence STX. It's got spdif out for dolby digital. The sound quality is fairly untouchable by other cards. This can drive just about any headphones with ease and sounds utterly superb.

If you want analogue surround I'd look at something like the Xonar D2X as that has the extra 3.5 jacks.

As for headphones, mostly depends on taste, (and budget). My preference is the AKG K702's mostly for gaming as they have super crisp top-end and really help with positional audio as they have a lovely wide sound field.

If you prefer something a little bassier then the Beyerdynamic DT770 (closed) or DT990 (open) may be for you.

 

[QuietOne]

Thanks for the info SuB, I really miss using my X-Fi and a shame that it wasn't a PCI-e card. As for headphones, I think a headset would be better and I'm not fussed about budget. Although I'm not made of money, I don't mind saving up for a great headset. I will read about the suggestions you gave me though

 

[SuB]

Headsets are no where near as good as a half decent pair of headphones fella. I fell into the headset trap and have since bought headphones and will never, (never) go back.

If I were you I'd pickup the Essence STX and a nice pair of headphones and see what you've been missing.