Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › Advice on sound card (gaming and headset)
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Advice on sound card (gaming and headset)

post #1 of 16
3/23/11 at 10:16am
Thread Starter 

Hello. First time poster. smily_headphones1.gif

 

As I am building a new computer soon I am (ofc) getting a sound card as well. I play a lot of FPS, so sound is very important to me. Pretty much use the computer for gaming, will say around 95%. I will be using the Sennheiser PC350 for sound.

 

Here are the sound cards I can choose from:

http://www.dustinhome.no/productlist.aspx?lgroup=1198&dgroup=7217&CurrentPage=1
 and http://www.dustinhome.no/productlist.aspx?lgroup=1198&dgroup=7217&CurrentPage=2

 

From what I have read my best choices would be:

1. Asus Xonar Essence ST

2. Asus Xonar Essence STX

3. Asus Xonar D2X

 

I will be using this on a Gigabyte P67 UD7 motherboard with 2 x GTX 580. So hope it will fit fine. As for OS I will be using Win 7.

 

So I am pretty much wondering what would be the best bet for my needs?

 

Thanks in advance

Espen Andreassen

Reply
post #2 of 16
3/23/11 at 12:46pm

mayhaps this will help: http://www.maximumpc.com/articles/reviews/hardware/soundcards

 

Reply
post #3 of 16
3/23/11 at 6:52pm
Thread Starter 

Hmm. I read up a bit there, but did not really get any closer to a decision redface.gif

 

Some people have recommended Creative sound cards (for example the Titanium HD), but most have told me to stay away from these because of drivers.

 

From what I understand the cards I linked to earlier are rated as follow: Asus Xonar Essence ST > Asus Xonar Essence STX > Asus Xonar D2X. The only problem is I am not sure this is the same for gaming. Hope someone can clear things up and help me pick the right card for my needs tongue_smile.gif


Edited by Espen - 3/23/11 at 6:59pm
Reply
post #4 of 16
3/23/11 at 8:16pm
DONT buy creative. one sec while i figure this out direct from asus.....

Alright from my findings it looks like the only difference between ST and STX is the the X model is PCI X-press, while the ST is just PCI. pci express is faster (right?) than pci, so thats the better model there.

The D2 whatever series: the dX is basically the low cost stripped down version. stay away. D2X is what you want. the site also lists D2PM, which is for PCI while the X model is once again for PCI Express.


SO really its down to this: For multichannel output, get the d2x. for stereo, get STX. ST/X is way better for music and D2x is way better for blu ray multichannel junk. Now I dont know what kind of speaker set up you have or how far gaming technology has come (is there multichannel gaming surround sound? or is it just gimmicky like pro logic2 or virtual surround, or dolby digital?) but that should help you in your decision.

PS i'd go for the stx cuz i have audioengine A5's, stereo configuration.
Reply
post #5 of 16
3/24/11 at 6:59am
Thread Starter 

From what I can see, my best bet would be to go for the Asus Xonar Essence ST. Even though it's PCI. It seems to be a small upgrade from the STX, and you can also connect a card to it to get 7.1. Also heard it has a improved clock curcuit, and because of that got a little better sound and removed some "jittering".

 

Edit: When reading on most people say they are pretty much the same in performance. I guess my best bet is to go for the one that can be placed the furthest away from the graphics cards. If this was only for gaming, would you rather go for the Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 considering I will be using a headset (Sennheiser PC350)? I see the ST/STX has a built in headphone amp.

Reply
post #6 of 16
3/24/11 at 8:36am
auzentech x-fi forte is supposed to beat the pants off of the asus xonar, but you only mentioned asus products so I didnt bother mentioning auzentech. There was some small issue that someone found with the auzentech but it was just a minor driver thing. If you got the coin for auzentech, go with that over the xonar any day.
Reply
post #7 of 16
3/24/11 at 10:53am
Thread Starter 

I found a couple of links:

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=766494 and http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=753981

 

I guess Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 is my best bet gs1000.gif A bit concerned on how it works with Counter-Strike Source (as I play it competitivly) confused_face%281%29.gif

Reply
post #8 of 16
3/24/11 at 3:15pm
order from amazon and test it out. if you dont like it, send it back. easy.
Reply
post #9 of 16
3/24/11 at 5:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by shrimants View Post

order from amazon and test it out. if you dont like it, send it back. easy.



Not that easy as I live in Norway and Amazon does not send electronics to us. frown.gif

 

Some quotes from another forum:

"Forte's are notorious for dying after a year. Great while it lasts though.
ST/X is only good if you've got headphones that need amping."

 

"I've heard of PCI-E noise more often than PCI, so I still would suggest a PCI audio card. A headphone amp is handy for powering headphones to small speakers, and will usually give excellent clarity (assuming quality components are used)."

 

It just seems to me that the only "real" gaming sound cards out there are some Auzentech cards and quite a few Creative cards. Forte is from my understanding basicly a Creative card with better drivers and therefore better performance.

If I was getting a headset ONLY for gaming with the Sennheiser PC350. What would you recommend?


Edited by Espen - 3/24/11 at 5:22pm
Reply
post #10 of 16
3/24/11 at 8:47pm
I dunno, maybe the turtle beach audio ones? They are basically one subwoofer driver with 3 normal drivers arranged radially. They take USB input. They cost about 100 bucks, that might be your best bet. If you live in norway, just use whatever YOUR major supplier is. For instance, for us its newegg, tigerdirect, amazon. Just look around some more until you decide very clearly what you want. If you want straight up headphones for gaming and it HAS to be a headset, you are looking at the wrong thing. For that you need a simple digital passthrough to a DAC/Head amp and have the head amp driving your headphones. If you are hard set on those headphones, just look at the impedance and whatnot on it and get a matching amp that will fix your problem.You only need stereo sound so I dont know why you are trying to get a sound card in the first place. Just get the nuforce uDac (NOT the udac2) or something by fiio, or if you really want something massive, get something from Audio-GD. A sound card i dont think is what you are looking for.
Reply
post #11 of 16
3/24/11 at 8:53pm

There is nothing wrong with using ASUS cards for gaming, even if your headphones don't require an amp. I have used an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer also, and my Essence STX is so much better than it. Haven't heard the Auzentech before, but you can't go wrong with ASUS. The ST is slightly better than the STX also.


 

Reply
post #12 of 16
3/24/11 at 9:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobcow View Post

There is nothing wrong with using ASUS cards for gaming, even if your headphones don't require an amp. I have used an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer also, and my Essence STX is so much better than it. Haven't heard the Auzentech before, but you can't go wrong with ASUS. The ST is slightly better than the STX also.


Good to read, hoping to get an Essence ST some time soon, been using these DT 150's with this X-Fi Prelude for around a year and a half now... lol :)

 

Reply
post #13 of 16
3/24/11 at 10:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Espen View Post

It just seems to me that the only "real" gaming sound cards out there are some Auzentech cards and quite a few Creative cards. Forte is from my understanding basicly a Creative card with better drivers and therefore better performance.

If I was getting a headset ONLY for gaming with the Sennheiser PC350. What would you recommend?

The unfortunate truth is that one can not serve two masters. However, there is a way to win in your situation. Since I don't think you care all that much about speakers, skip the sound card. Get an external DAC/headphone amp, and find headphones that compliment the DAC. That is your stereo setup. For gaming try a cheap USB headset. Dialog, in-game music and audio (and certainly positional sound effects) are less likely to to be ruined by a mediocre gaming headset. If the cheap USB headset isn't good enough, upgrade to a Creative headset with decent positional audio. My opinion is that you want surround capable Creative's due to support by most gaming titles where surround matters. This approach gets you solutions that are optimized for competing use cases.

 

The Sennheiser PC350s are not durable. I have personally seen two failed PC350s (one of them mine). My mic switch failed after a year of moderately heavy gaming use (and I was careful with them!). I am not crazy about their sound for stereo use. For gaming, I am fond of the wireless Creative World of Warcraft headset. My preference is all about comfort and convenience - not audio quality (the PC350s do sound better). The batteries are an obvious problem with the wireless WoW headset; they are not going to last forever, and they are expensive for what you get.

 

Good luck!


Edited by MtnSloth - 3/24/11 at 10:16pm
Reply
post #14 of 16
3/25/11 at 9:26am
Thread Starter 

Tbh, the most important thing for me is not getting the best sound quality, as I have a Klipsch + Onkyo + DAC system for that. I am using my computer for mainly FPS gaming (a lot of Counter-Strike Source). And positional sound is very important to me. It seems that my my best choices are: Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1, Asus Xonar Essence ST (2.1 but can be extended to 7.1) or Creative X-Fi Titanium HD (7.1). I had the Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer before, but that was on XP. From what I hear Creative drivers are awful now, and that I should stay away from them. Also heard that the Auzentech is made by quite a few Creative parts, but that they make their own drivers.

 

It seems to me that the Auzentech X-Fi Forte is more of a gaming card because of EAX and stuff, but from what I am reading it seems that most games do not support EAX now? Therefore I am wondering if the Asus Xonar Essence ST would be a better option?

Reply
post #15 of 16
3/26/11 at 3:41am

Purely from a positional audio point of view, the X-Fi cards were better for me. I preferred CMSS 3D to Dolby Headphones, I have just never got used to Dolby for positional audio and nowdays just use stereo for games anyway. If you don't mind sacrificing sound quality, the Auzentech cards will be a better option for positional audio than ASUS cards.


 

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Computer Audio
Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Computer Audio › Advice on sound card (gaming and headset)