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What can a Xonar DG really do?

post #1 of 11
4/13/11 at 3:54pm
Thread Starter 

I've got a quick question here from one of my friends.  I personally don't know the answer to it...

 

Said friend just bought himself a pair of Audio Technica M50's.  He wants to buy himself a good, cheap sound card with a built in headphone amp, and doesn't have $100 for an Auzen X-Fi Bravura or Forte.  He was looking at the Asus Xonar DG, and wanted to know how it would sound compared to my own X-Fi Forte.  I personally have no experience with the DG whatsoever, so I couldn't really give a good answer...

 

So I ask you:  How would an Asus Xonar DG compare to my X-Fi Forte if he were to buy one?  I'm not looking to replace MY card - I'm looking for something cheap to recommend to said friend.

 

Any suggestions or recommendations?

 

 


Edited by personnamedmatt - 4/14/11 at 10:27am
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post #2 of 11
4/13/11 at 9:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by personnamedmatt View Post

Here's a quick question, just out of curiosity and the fact that I should know this when I need to answer it to other people.  A friend of mine recently bought himsilf a pair of Audio Technica M50's, which I personally plan on doing as well to replace my old Bose cans.  Problem is, his PC is running onboard sound.  I have an Auzen X-Fi Forte myself.  Anyway, he was looking at sound cards with dedicated headphone amps, and I've never really looked in the sub-$50 price range; I was really pretty surprised to see that the Xonar DG apparently has one of its own.  Problem is that I have no clue whatsoever how it would sound compared to onboard, or something like my Forte, and I don't really feel like misleading someone into buying junk, if that's what it is.  Does anyone have any experience with this little card?  Oh, and sorry for my lack of paragraphing... firefox refuses to work with the Head-Fi forums right now and the only thing I can do is type until I'm done and hit submit... the cursor won't work, nor will the enter bar... sorry about that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have the same problem with typing stuff with Head-Fi. The Forte already has a headphone amp. So I can see no reason to replace your Forte.....as long  as it still works.

 

 

 



 


Edited by Tacoboy - 4/14/11 at 12:14pm
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post #3 of 11
4/14/11 at 10:21am
Thread Starter 

Ah, there we go... got IE back up and running.

 

I'm not planning on replacing my Forte with a DG - that's a terrible idea.  I'm only speaking for someone I know, who wants a cheap headphone card.  He wanted to know how the DG would sound compared to my own Forte.  I personally have no experience with the DG whatsoever, so I came here to you guys  That a little clearer?  Sorry about that... I'll go retype my original post when I get the time.

smile_phones.gif

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post #4 of 11
4/14/11 at 11:15pm

I was using the Xonar DS, replaced it 2 weeks ago with the Xonar DX and my Xonar DG is still untested in it's box. So anyway I'm going to guess the Forte sounds better then the DG, but the DG will be the best card for it's price range, tell him to get the DG, it has a decent chip and does Dolby.


 

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post #5 of 11
4/14/11 at 11:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacoboy View Post

...and does Dolby.


 


 

Oooooo *sarcasm*

 

@personnamedmatt: The Xonar DG has a nice price/performance ratio, and will satisfy your friend, specially if he comes from onboard audio. And no, it's not even close to the X-Fi Forte, but then again, that's not exactly its direct competition. Overall, it's a nice purchase, by itself, certainly not for Dolby, those virtual surround techs really got nothing on the real (read physical) dealrolleyes.gif

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post #6 of 11
4/15/11 at 8:05am

I have the Xonar Essence ST and the Xonar DG and i just can say that if you are looking for something cheap it's the better option; i like so much how Xonar DG plays Voices and Rock.

And please disable all DSP if you really like HIFI (high fidelity it's just that, to make the sound the more similar possible to the original one); dolby headphone, virtual speaker, EAX,... better dissabled for a real HIFI experience. The better sound card it's the sound card that processor don't works and only the DAC it's working... (avoid the resampling as you can) IMO.


Edited by Remior - 4/15/11 at 8:07am
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post #7 of 11
4/15/11 at 8:06am

(sorry double post)

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post #8 of 11
4/15/11 at 3:39pm
Thread Starter 

Alright, sounds good.  No pun intended.  I spend basically zero time looking at the sub-$50 sound cards, short of the Xonar DS.

 

I figured it wouldn't be anywhere even close to the Forte, but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a piece of junk, either, like another well-known company's low-end cards...  Ehem...

 

Here's another question:  How would the Xonar DG sound compared to the Xonar DX/D1?  I mean, I know that the DG has a headphone amp on it, but does it make up for the fact that it's just an inferior sound card in general?  And would a pair of cans like the M50's even need an amp to sound their best?

 

 

 


Edited by personnamedmatt - 4/15/11 at 4:10pm
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post #9 of 11
4/15/11 at 4:15pm

Sorry if I"m ignorant, but what's so bad/different about the way the DG does Dolby Headphone implementation as opposed to the DX/STX?  

 

Or was another poster referring to CMSS3D vs Dolby Headphone which is another discussion in itself..?

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post #10 of 11
4/16/11 at 8:52am

I don't like how sound dolby headphone on music and even on games, sounds unnatural to me, soo much echo sounds and i don't like it at all.

CMSS3D it's better possitioning sounds, what it's very helpful on shooter games, dobly  headphone it's not as good as CMSS3D.

M50's its a headphone who sounds pretty good even without amplification.

To me Essence ST it's more detailed sound than Xonar DG on low sounds, more punchy, more natural on mids, and pretty good on highs. Xonar DG it's a bit more agressive on mids, that sounds very good and feels it near to you, what it's very fun on rock and metal.

 

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post #11 of 11
4/16/11 at 9:47am

Thing is, neither DH nor CMSS sound natural to me, there's a pronouced "FX" feeling to them, and that's why I prefer the clean unaltered sound (with the exception of some EQing here and there biggrin.gif)

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