New speakers and sound card?

[MattBee2k2]

I ordered a set of Creative t40 series ii speakers and they arrived today. I was wondering what the best balance between the bass and treble would be?

I'm also looking for any recommendations for a sound card. I'm currently running the speakers off the P67 Sabertooth motherboard. And does the front panel audio connectors default to the sound card once one is connected?

Looking for a good, high quality sound card that would really utilize these speakers. I use them for gaming and movies/tv and occasionally for music when I have friends over.

Thanks

 

[SieB]

I have a Asus Xonar STX soundcard for sale in the FS section if you are interested.
The Xonar STX is the current top soundcard.

 

[MattBee2k2]

I have a Asus Xonar STX soundcard for sale in the FS section if you are interested.
The Xonar STX is the current top soundcard.

Yeah that was one I did a quick google on when I was researching what speakers to get. That sound card was recommended in a review for a set of speakers.

How would you compare them to onboard audio for my kind of uses?

 

[SieB]

Yeah that was one I did a quick google on when I was researching what speakers to get. That sound card was recommended in a review for a set of speakers.

How would you compare them to onboard audio for my kind of uses?

There is a big difference in my opinion, for speakers anyway. Not sure how much difference there is with headphones because I have never used any on my PC or on the soundcard.

But for use with speakers there is a big difference. The sound is much clearer, mids and highs are crisper and smoother. Positional sound is much better in games, especially FPS games. Same with Movies, the special effects and music in them is much more clearer and it makes them more immersive.

 

[MattBee2k2]

There is a big difference in my opinion, for speakers anyway. Not sure how much difference there is with headphones because I have never used any on my PC or on the soundcard.

But for use with speakers there is a big difference. The sound is much clearer, mids and highs are crisper and smoother. Positional sound is much better in games, especially FPS games. Same with Movies, the special effects and music in them is much more clearer and it makes them more immersive.

I'll look at some reviews of the card and whatnot. If it is truly worth buying and using over onboard audio then I'll most likely take it off your hands. Saves £35 buying it new and it's barely aged plus you said you really need the money.

What's the difference between the STX and the ST? Filled with questions, not really and audio savvy but do appreciate and enjoy high quality audio.

 

[SieB]

I'll look at some reviews of the card and whatnot. If it is truly worth buying and using over onboard audio then I'll most likely take it off your hands. Saves £35 buying it new and it's barely aged plus you said you really need the money.

What's the difference between the STX and the ST? Filled with questions, not really and audio savvy but do appreciate and enjoy high quality audio.

The ST is PCI-E like a GPU and would go in a GPU slot, the STX is PCI and goes in the smaller PCI slots above, between or blow your GPU slots.

The STX requires a 12v molex to power it though, the ST gets all the power through the motherboard and the PCI-E slot.

 

[MattBee2k2]

The ST is PCI-E like a GPU and would go in a GPU slot, the STX is PCI and goes in the smaller PCI slots above, between or blow your GPU slots.

The STX requires a 12v molex to power it though, the ST gets all the power through the motherboard and the PCI-E slot.

Ah right, probably should have actually read the title more closely. I never noticed one was PCI-E and the other PCI.

 

[Whiskers]

The ST is PCI-E like a GPU and would go in a GPU slot, the STX is PCI and goes in the smaller PCI slots above, between or blow your GPU slots.

The STX requires a 12v molex to power it though, the ST gets all the power through the motherboard and the PCI-E slot.

I'm pretty sure it's the other way round. The STX is PCI-E 1x and the ST is PCI. But they [Edit] both [/Edit] need molex power and are amazing cards

 

[MattBee2k2]

I'm pretty sure it's the other way round. The STX is PCI-E 1x and the ST is PCI. But the STX does need molex power and is an amazing card

What about my first question about the bass and treble? Should I keep them roughly balanced, does it depend on what i'm doing? or is it just subjective and to personal taste?

 

[SieB]

I'm pretty sure it's the other way round. The STX is PCI-E 1x and the ST is PCI. But the STX does need molex power and is an amazing card

Well, I have a STX and it's definitely PCI. A Google image search should clear it up

EDIT:

My bad, they are both PCI-E one is 1x and the other is 16x.

 

[Whiskers]

What about my first question about the bass and treble? Should I keep them roughly balanced, does it depend on what i'm doing? or is it just subjective and to personal taste?

I'd say personal taste, unless you're a music producer or work with sounds that have to be represented accurately. Like audio post production or sound creation

Well, I have a STX and it's definitely PCI. A Google image search should clear it up

I also have an STX and mine is PCI-e 1x, see here http://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Xonar_Essence_STX/

 

[SieB]

I'd say personal taste, unless you're a music producer or work with sounds that have to be represented accurately. Like audio post production or sound creation



I also have an STX and mine is PCI-e 1x, see here http://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Xonar_Essence_STX/

Yeah, just edited my last post before you made this one.

My bad, they are both PCI-E, one is 1x and the other is 16x.

 

[Whiskers]

Yeah, just edited my last post before you made this one.

My bad, they are both PCI-E, one is 1x and the other is 16x.

Sorry to keep jumping on you and hijacking the thread but the ST is the old style legacy PCI. They don't need the bandwidth of a 16x slot with it only being a sound card

MattBee2k2 if I were you I'd go with the STX with it being PCI-e it will last a lot longer. I have the Z77 Sabertooth and it doesn't have any of the old PCI slots on it so the ST wouldn't fit my board and most new boards now only have PCI-e so the STX will last you through more upgrade cycles

 

[MattBee2k2]

Sorry to keep jumping on you and hijacking the thread but the ST is the old style legacy PCI. They don't need the bandwidth of a 16x slot with it only being a sound card

MattBee2k2 if I were you I'd go with the STX with it being PCI-e it will last a lot longer. I have the Z77 Sabertooth and it doesn't have any of the old PCI slots on it so the ST wouldn't fit my board and most new boards now only have PCI-e so the STX will last you through more upgrade cycles

Yeah I have the P67 sabertooth. Just did some researching and everything I read about the STX is good, should allow me to get the full potential out of the t40 series ii I just got. Upgraded from 7+ year old speakers as well so the quality is more than better.

One last question, pretty dumb question, but see with a sound card installed, does the front panel headphone jack default to using the sound card or would headphones need to be plugged directly into the sound card or the speakers which are connected to the card?

 

[Whiskers]

Yeah I have the P67 sabertooth. Just did some researching and everything I read about the STX is good, should allow me to get the full potential out of the t40 series ii I just got. Upgraded from 7+ year old speakers as well so the quality is more than better.

One last question, pretty dumb question, but see with a sound card installed, does the front panel headphone jack default to using the sound card or would headphones need to be plugged directly into the sound card or the speakers which are connected to the card?

You would connect the front panel header that will be currently connected to your motherboard to the front panel audio header on the sound card. But the the STX, I wouldn't recommend using the front panel for headphones as the cable will pick up interference inside your pc and as far as i'm aware the headphone amp circuit doesn't apple to the front panel connector.

You get a RCA to 3.5mm adapter in the box with the card that you could use for your speakers and then use the 1/4 inch jack on the back of the card for headphones. Once you have connected the headphones you have to go into the Asus Xonar control panel and which it to headphone. You will hear some very satisfying relay clicks and then the headphones will work and the speakers will not output sound. It is not automatically sensing like most other solutions, so you have to tell it where you want the sound to come from.

Hope this helps!

 

[MattBee2k2]

You would connect the front panel header that will be currently connected to your motherboard to the front panel audio header on the sound card. But the the STX, I wouldn't recommend using the front panel for headphones as the cable will pick up interference inside your pc and as far as i'm aware the headphone amp circuit doesn't apple to the front panel connector.

You get a RCA to 3.5mm adapter in the box with the card that you could use for your speakers and then use the 1/4 inch jack on the back of the card for headphones. Once you have connected the headphones you have to go into the Asus Xonar control panel and which it to headphone. You will hear some very satisfying relay clicks and then the headphones will work and the speakers will not output sound. It is not automatically sensing like most other solutions, so you have to tell it where you want the sound to come from.

Hope this helps!

Yeah that helps out hugely, all my questions have been answered now.

Thanks a lot for the info from you and SieB.