Need sound card help

I don't have experience with Dolby Headphone in games, so I can't say if it's any better or worse than CMSS-3D Headphone set up properly (Windows speaker settings to 7.1, X-Fi control panel to Headphones so you're not getting the wrong CMSS-3D).

But it's important for me to have a proper X-Fi card because I still play a lot of older games that use EAX 3 through 5, and those that use DirectSound3D (needs ALchemy under Vista/Win7) or OpenAL also allow CMSS-3D Headphone to not bother with simulating a speaker system. Instead, it applies the binaural effects to every sound source in the virtual sound space, since those sounds have actual 3D spatial coordinates instead of being pre-mixed to a speaker position.

I still bring up the Xonar DG as a value option, mostly because it has a lot of bang for the buck and a lot of the newer games don't use EAX, but for those willing to pay more, I'm more likely to recommend an Auzentech X-Fi Prelude or Forte, or the Creative X-Fi Titanium HD (if analog surround is unnecessary).

As for the big Mad Lust Envy thread, that stems from the fact that MLE is a console gamer, and PC sound cards aren't much use to him as a result. Since you can't get external DAC/DSPs with CMSS-3D Headphone like you can with Dolby Headphone...you get the idea.

Oreenzy is actually my brother and we are both having similar problems. I however need something good for gaming with my M50's on my laptop, what would you suggest? I could go for either an express card or usb. I mainly want it for gaming, as I think I might get a IBasso or PD Xm5 for music down the road.

Thanks for any help.

Ohh and I play mostly newer games, all of my old stuff is on my desktop.

ExpressCard or USB only? That complicates things a bit.

Unfortunately, the only real X-Fi cards with the EMU20k1 or EMU20k2 DSPs are all PCI and PCI-Express, respectively. The rest do it in software, including the X-Fi Go! Pro that claims to have EAX 5 support somehow. (I have my doubts about that one having good sound quality...but I can't really vouch for or against something I haven't used, can I?)

The Xonar U3 might be a promising little product, though I've never used one of those either. Price is only $40 on Amazon.

Since EAX is most likely a moot point in the games you play (as if using a notebook didn't make it enough of a moot point), this boils down to a matter of sound quality and the X-Fi Go! Pro's CMSS-3D Headphone implementation (which probably isn't as good as the true X-Fi cards) vs. the Xonar U3's Dolby Headphone implementation.