Need an external DAC recommendation for my gaming laptop (HQ stereo & 5.1 for gaming preferred) - Page 2

Yes, I did see that you mentioned Auzentech on the list above. What you seem to be understanding incorrectly is that Auzentech doesn't emulate any Creative features, unlike what Asus does alone, but it performs in terms of hardware just like a Creative card because it is basically one.

Considering that the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude is basically a first generation X-Fi card, it's clear that it's a good performer when it comes to games, but an Essence ST/STX better than a Titanium HD for games? Please, that's just a joke. Those Essence ST and STX can at best match the Titanium HD, looking at measurements alone, nevermind that amp they have that increases THD and makes them a second choice on their own line-up.

It's great that you've been assembling machines for quite some time, as I've been doing the same. What you don't seem to be getting is that for gaming purposes alone, external DACs don't stand a chance when faced with X-Fi powered cards, be it Auzentech, Creative or others. Now, for music purposes, that's an entirely different situation, but let's be realistic about gaming, no DSP makes up for a very poor experience.

The way you talk about Creative cards makes it sound like they're little better than onboard audio chips, which would only be slightly valid is refering to those rebranded exceptions, as the real cards are nothing alike and quite superior to onboard, and even a legacy Audigy 2 ZS outperforms all current onboard audio chips, nevermind any of the three X-Fi generations. Press? How about we focus more on performance and less on advertising?

I suggest you read the first post again, because gaming is very well explicit there, and not a side thought (like what Asus made for their Xonar cards).

@dmcs414: You could go with the 2 external DACs idea, either using the gaming oriented one for games and the other one for music, or using the gaming one, sending the audio through SPDIF to the other one and using them combined. If you go ahead with the idea of getting one of those entry USB gaming DACs, I'd suggest you go with the X-Fi Surround 5.1 for both more I/O and gaming performance a notch above of competing gaming solutions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roller 

Yes, I did see that you mentioned Auzentech on the list above. What you seem to be understanding incorrectly is that Auzentech doesn't emulate any Creative features, unlike what Asus does alone, but it performs in terms of hardware just like a Creative card because it is basically one.

That's kind of a weird line of reasoning, because if you extend it to DACs, that's like saying because the majority of high-end DACs use some sort of Wolfson or Saber chip, they'll all sound the same.  There some variation subcomponents on the pcb in addition to custom programming for signal processing which separates a Nuforce from a Resonessence.  Even extending the analogy to video cards, the third parties tweak and adjust the build and components off of Nvidia and AMD reference designs.

Anyway, I'm not sure why you seem to be taking this whole thing so personally.  If you take into account hardware site reviews in addition to user reviews, there's far more parity than there used to be 10 years ago.  I'm not sure why you keep stressing gaming is such a specialized area.  I used to work in commercial PC game publishing (as well as semiconductors) and there's no black magic about specialized 'made for gaming' hardware, the same way 'made for gaming' headphones are just silly.

Onboard audio is far more competitive than it used to be, and it'd be interesting to see the global product line revenue for internal and external sound cards these last few years.  My suspicion is that the overall revenue is either stagnant or decreasing, as onboard audio has gotten far more competitive on the price-performance curve (even providing pretty decent surround sound capabilities for desktop mobos).  I have a friend who works in product launches for one of the larger consumer and console gaming hardware OEMs, and even he acknowledged that the market isn't really there for sound cards anymore, so they've been doing a lot more R&D on cheap USB sound cards for laptops and low-end PCs, and cross-platform headsets.  Just look at what's happening to the product line strategies among the $100m+ players in the market, and it's pretty obvious what's happened on the price-performance curve for onboard vs. discrete sound cards.

Regardless, I don't think I'm going to change your mind and you're not going to change mine, so this is my last response on the matter unless OP needs any other advice.

Apparently you are disregarding the fact that despite Auzentech cards are high quality cards, all their cards that have a X-Fi DSP on it perform better on games than the ones that don't have the DSP. That goes for onboard audio chips, which do have improved specs and features, but OpenAL, EAX, EFX, and others aren't present on them, with some having limited and emulated (therefore not actual or real) support or not having those features at all.

Lol, let me know when you can make an external DAC "made for music" play games as well as even a lowly X-Fi Titanium or even a Xonar DG that has emulated game support alone. Sonic performance is one thing, feature support is another, specially since it's tied to the hardware itself.

Yes, it is most unfortunate that the whole computer audio scenario isn't as favorable, growth wise, as it was years ago, this regarding dedicated hardware, not onboard audio chips. Yet, there is enough availability for budget USB audio dongles, which often limit features but improve on measurements, so it ends up being a trade-off.

Interestingly, I wasn't trying to change your opinion but you seemed to be trying to do such thing. Regardless, we each have our own opinions, and that's that.