Need help for choosing sound card

[chiewleong]

Hi everyone,

As the topic says, i need some help/advice or opinion to a new sound card. Between ASUS and Creative, which one better?

after reading some previous post, i found that creative have driver problem while asus, in some opinion is for gaming.

My rig is mostly for gaming( so far i game on it and didnt use for other things). so, should i choose asus sound card.

Here is my rig:

CPU: I5 2500K

Mobo: Asus P8Z68-V Pro

GPU: Asus GTX560 DC2 Top

Speaker: Logitech Z623

Headphone: Razer Tiamat 7.1 (planning)

Budget: approximately USD100.00

one more question: if i sli the 560, do i have space for the sound card?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dolph123]

Nowadays Asus and Creative are pretty much equal when it comes to gaming. Many of the Creative cards support EAX, which is used in older games but not anymore. But when it comes to sound quality, Asus usually wins over Creative. Creative also seems to have a lot of driver issues. So far i haven't had any issues with my D2X. For 100$ you could probably get a Xonar DX, which should be pretty good when it comes to the price. If i were you, i would stay away from surround sound headphones (or any other gaming headphones with a few exceptions). I'd either get a 5.1 system or some decent headphones with a great soundstage. My current headphone, the ATH-M50 which has a pretty small soundstage, is almost as good as my old Roccat Kave when it comes to surround sound in my opinion.

And yes, you will have enough space if you sli. I'd either put it in the slot over the first card, or under the second card.

 

[Excalabur50]

As Dolph has stated Creative have driver issues go with an Asus card you won't be disappointed.

 

[chiewleong]

thanks, dolph and excalabur.

my initial opinion also go for xonar dx.

by the way, i cant see the significant/clear difference between Xonar DS, DG, DX and D2X.

I know that in asus website, D2X is in home theater category and the rest is in gaming.

If i get Xonar DX and use my Z623 for movie and music, still awesome?

and,any suggestion for a good gaming headphone as i play game( usually FPS) at night. I like Roccat Kave and very nice, thanks dolph.

I read some reviews and quite a number of people say that headphone 5.1 better than 7.1. is that true and why?

 

[Dolph123]

The differences between them are mostly components like amps, DACs etc. and connections. The G and S versions are PCI and the X versions is PCI-express, which is probably what you are looking for. You can of course game on all of them, but since "gaming" products usually are cheaper and usually not as good as "normal" products, they just wan't to point out their multimedia cards are better than the "gaming" cards. I really don't know how the headphones and Z623 are compared to each other, so i can't really comment on that. If you wan't to know some good headphones for gaming, i'd suggest you to look at head-fi.org. They know a lot more than i do. The reason why some say 5.1 headphones are better than 7.1 headphones, is because most 7.1 headphones are only "virtual" and only have 1 speaker, whereas some of the 5.1 headphones have more than one speaker.

 

[Dolph123]

You might also wan't to check out some Omegas, but i don't really know that much about them.

 

[Excalabur50]

As far as gaming headsets go take a look at OC3D's headset of 2011 the steelseries 7H if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[chiewleong]

thanks again dolph and excalabur.

so, i decided get Asus Xonar DX as it can plug to front I/O (according to asus website). i like this feature.

about the headphone, i like steelseries 7H and Roccat Kave. Both are very nice headphone but 7H is much more expensive than Kave at my place. And Razer Tiamat even expensive than 7H.

According to razer, tiamat is like true 7.1 not virtual as it has 5 drivers at each earcup. cant be sure as razer havent release it.

and Dolph, i think you misunderstand my question. i was asking my Z623 still can perform very well on Xonar DX for music and movie compared to onboard devise not compared to headphone.

 

[Dolph123]

I think you should read some reviews or see a roundup to find the best headset for your use. The Kave is big and heavy, and the surround sound doesn't work nearly as good as they want you to believe.

And yes, when upgrading to a sound card, everything you own will in 99 % of the cases sound better.

 

[BaMb1N0]

moved from more 12 or 13 years of creative to an asus d2x in 2010. did not regret it so far. I don't have any driver issues anymore, what I'm really happy about. build quality, sound quality and accessories are great. i listen to music a lot (high bitrates, lossless audio with decent amp and speakers).

 

[Perturabo]

Gaming headphones are not a good choice, they are over priced for what they are. Your are much better off looking for normal music headphones. The surround that uses multiple speakers creates an awful sound reproduction as to fit that many drivers in they have to be small, tinny ones. If the soundstage of your headphones is good then virtual surround (dobly headphone) works brilliantly. How much are you looking to spend on the headset?

P.s. As music headphones do not have a mike you can just get a cheap clip on one to go with them.

 

[chiewleong]

yes, i know that the gaming headphone is (usually) overpriced and good aesthetic value. just cant get my eyes off the gaming headphone.

perturabo, can u explain about soundstage? so you suggest a dobly headphone. any good recommendation about that?

since razer tiamat 7.1 is USD199.99, then my budget is $200.00 better still $100.00.

 

[Perturabo]

Dolby headphone is the signal processing technology used in the asus sound cards, so any of the ones that will output 5.1 or 7.1 will do so using dolby headphone/surround.

Soundstage is the illusion of space the audio system can produce. So for virtual surround the better the soundstage the more realistic the surround will feel. Often the reason people dont like virtual surround is that the headphones they are trying it with have a small soundstage so the directionality is indistinct.

With the pricing just bear in mind im not from the US so im judging pricing on converting from £ so might not be quite right.

Audio technica ad700 are ~150 dollars I think and have a very good soundstage but are kind of light on base.

the dt770 pro headphones by beyerdynamic have a good soundstage and great all round audio reproduction. I think they are ~150 dollars too.

Out of the two I would probably go for the dt 770 pros you can get them in an 80 ohm version that should be easy to drive from a soundcard.

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

Im not going to read all the posts, but the Xonar series has a larger range than the Creative cards do. Creative (sound blaster) only goes up to 92khz, Xonar goes up to 192khz.

 

[fcb]

Yup, I totally agree with KING_OF_SAND. Also, Asus has a much better after sales and driver support for these media products.

 

[chiewleong]

i've been searching for the headphone a my local store that you all mentioned like Audio technica ad700 or ad50 and beyer. but i couldn't find any of them. even the staff there dont know what are the brands that i'm talking about. they know only like logitech, AVF, creative, Phillips and sennheiser.

Dont have clue to get these thing? I want to try the headphone before i buy it.

 

[Excalabur50]

I have a set of Sennheiser pc350's and love them mind you if you want better sound as they are a gaming headset try some HD598's

 

[chiewleong]

hey, guys. sorry to bring this old post up again.

I bought Xonar DX last week and tried out with my Logitech Z623.

the sound quality are way better than the onboard sound card.

the bass is very intense and the sound is clearer in Xonar compared to onboard card.

just awesome.

for those need a discrete sound card and in tight budget, i recommend Xonar DX.

EDIT: one problem though. I plugged the casing audio cable to the Xonar. However, when i plug my earphone to the front casing audio jack pot, my earphone didnt have sound. my speaker still playing the music or whatever.

Is it I plug the wrong cable to the card or other problem? Please help.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Perturabo]

If the DX is anything like my STX then you need to use the software that comes with it to tell it which channel to output audio to. So in this case tell it to output to headphone rather than speakers.

 

[tharionos]

if u are still looking for a card i recommend the

creative soundblaster HD pci express

a bit expensive tho but worth evry penny to me

but their are other cheaper and as good cards aswell , but i can only comment on this one