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AD700 + Soundcard? COD4 Gaming

post #1 of 43
12/27/11 at 5:02pm
Thread Starter 

Hey guys, So I am going to purchase a pair of AD700's for playing COD4 competitively and need to upgrade from onboard sound.

 

What I am looking for is to be able to hear exactly where my enemies are ie footsteps, them shooting etc.

Positional accuracy and clarity or whatever else will give me the most accurate sound of what's happening is my top priority.

 

My budget is mid range price.

Thanks :)

 

PS: Since cod4 is the only game I play I have heard from other people about COD4's engine not being able to utilize EAX and other similar terms, can anyone elaborate on this?

I will also be using Windows XP Pro


Edited by 443330 - 12/27/11 at 5:04pm
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post #2 of 43
12/27/11 at 6:01pm

What mobo are you running?

 

 

not all on board cards are crap

 

 

 

I use a pair of ad700s for BF3 and they are amazing FPS gaming phone, your hear everything

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post #3 of 43
12/27/11 at 6:02pm

Wow, Windows XP Pro.

Get the Creative Labs Titanium (non HD), should be some low cost used ones for sale.

Get one that has the original install disk.

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post #4 of 43
12/27/11 at 6:04pm
Thread Starter 

Using an Asus P5K SE mobo.

Yeah, I have heard good things about the Titianium.

One thing though, is that I hear from some really good players that EAX and other features actually distort the sound so its not as pure and makes it harder to pinpoint where people are. I think this may hold some truth so I am still unsure which to choose.

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post #5 of 43
12/27/11 at 6:09pm

Asus Xonar DG, PCI, usually goes for $30-$35 and comes with a $10 mail in rebate.

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post #6 of 43
12/27/11 at 6:11pm
Thread Starter 

Oh yea, I should have mentioned I live in New Zealand, so no mail-in rebates for me :C

I was under the impression that the only good thing about the Xonar DG was its built in headphone amp, which I won't be needing since AD700's are really easy to drive. Where as the Asus Xonar D1 has the same processor as the more expensive Xonar cards?

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post #7 of 43
12/27/11 at 6:12pm

your mobo will output 24b/192khz, so unless your going to possibly get something other than the ad700's, stick with on board sound, save the $$

 

 

With EAX on, everything sounds more......blended? Cant really describe it, but I leave it off

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post #8 of 43
12/27/11 at 6:14pm
Thread Starter 

I see what you are saying, but I thought dedicated sound cards do more than just raise the output khz?

Anyway I have to go now, but will be back in around 7-8 hours, Looking forward to hearing every ones input :)

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post #9 of 43
12/27/11 at 6:27pm

They do, but look at it this way.

 

 

For my music, I run a bifrost and lyr.

 

At first I pumped my pc through the bifrost and the lyr and playing BF3 sounded great. But due to the layout of my pc and listening chair, it was causing my headphone cable to drag across my arm, which was alittle annoying  (I only have 1 arm, so maybe i found it more bothersum than usual)

 

Anyhow, to quickly remedy the situation, I just plugged directly into my pc and gave it a go......end result....With constantly moving,firing and tracking movement of others and so forth.....I didnt notice a change at all.

 

 

Now, when I attempted to listen to music, I could tell a slight difference and reworked the cable situation.

 

 

End results

Gaming, because their is so much other things going on that you are focusing in on, will you tell the difference? No.

If you sitting back your chair with your beverage of choice and a nice cigar focusing solely on the music, yes.

 

 

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post #10 of 43
12/27/11 at 8:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 443330 View Post
Oh yea, I should have mentioned I live in New Zealand, so no mail-in rebates for me :C

I was under the impression that the only good thing about the Xonar DG was its built in headphone amp, which I won't be needing since AD700's are really easy to drive. Where as the Asus Xonar D1 has the same processor as the more expensive Xonar cards?

The Asus Xonar DG (PCI) comes with a built in headphone amplifier rated up to 150-Ohms.

It also comes with Dolby Digital (Dolby Headphone surround sound) good for movies and some games.

 

Most Xonars (DS, DX, D1, ST, STX) come with the C-Media Oxygen HD CMI8788, the DG comes with the CMI8786.

 

You should go to a Call Of Duty forum and tell them you use Windows XP Pro and see what sound cards they recommend.
 

 

 


Edited by PurpleAngel - 12/28/11 at 7:37am
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post #11 of 43
12/28/11 at 1:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mpodesta View Post

They do, but look at it this way.

 

 

For my music, I run a bifrost and lyr.

 

At first I pumped my pc through the bifrost and the lyr and playing BF3 sounded great. But due to the layout of my pc and listening chair, it was causing my headphone cable to drag across my arm, which was alittle annoying  (I only have 1 arm, so maybe i found it more bothersum than usual)

 

Anyhow, to quickly remedy the situation, I just plugged directly into my pc and gave it a go......end result....With constantly moving,firing and tracking movement of others and so forth.....I didnt notice a change at all.

 

 

Now, when I attempted to listen to music, I could tell a slight difference and reworked the cable situation.

 

 

End results

Gaming, because their is so much other things going on that you are focusing in on, will you tell the difference? No.

If you sitting back your chair with your beverage of choice and a nice cigar focusing solely on the music, yes.

 

 

 

Yea, I would say I would definitely notice the difference as I play competitively. The question is how much of a difference would there be? Ideally I would like to borrow someones card and try them out first hand but that's unlikely.
 

 

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post #12 of 43
12/28/11 at 1:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by PurpleAngel View Post

The Asus Xonar DG (PCI) comes with a built in headphone amplifier rated up to 15-Ohms.

It also comes with Dolby Digital (Dolby Headphone surround sound) good for movies and some games.

 

Most Xonars (DS, DX, D1, ST, STX) come with the C-Media Oxygen HD CMI8788, the DG comes with the CMI8786.

 

You should go to a Call Of Duty forum and tell them you use Windows XP Pro and see what sound cards they recommend.
 

 

 

Most of the people on Call of Duty forums are lacking in knowledge when it comes to Audio, that's why I asked you audiophiles :P, problem is most of you don't play competitively and generally listen to music instead of gaming. 

In the end I don't think between the cards there will be a huge difference, but I like knowing I got the best bang for my buck.
 

 

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post #13 of 43
12/29/11 at 1:13am

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by mpodesta View Post
With EAX on, everything sounds more......blended? Cant really describe it, but I leave it off


Wait a minute...CoD4 uses EAX? I thought it used some software audio API like XAudio2, though maybe that's just CoD:MW2 onward. Then again, CoD1/UO and CoD2 used it if I'm not mistaken.

 

I just want to make sure that you leave any EAX options in the sound card's control panel off, unless you like having excess reverb added to every sound. Game engines should handle their EAX settings automatically, as long as it's turned on from within the game.

 

Then again, while EAX is meant to increase immersion (sounds behind walls sound occluded, sounds in an enclosed space have added reverb, that sort of thing), the main draw for competitive FPS play is something like CMSS-3D Headphone or Dolby Headphone, so that you know where all those gunshots, explosions, and footsteps are coming from using nothing more than a good pair of stereo headphones.

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post #14 of 43
12/29/11 at 1:28am
Thread Starter 

Hey nameless, So you believe having an asus or creative card with either CMSS-3D or Dolby Headphone will enhance my sounds in COD4 with my AD700's?

This I guess is the real question I am getting at, I just want to have the most accurate positional sound (imaging?), I guess that's all I care about.

So which sound card would provide me with this? I only play COD4 btw.

Cheers

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post #15 of 43
12/29/11 at 1:28pm

For CoD4, going by the pre-release demo, it uses the Miles Sound System, just like Source-based games. There's no in-game option to enable EAX, but there was a "msseax.dll" file in the game directory, suggesting that the MSS middleware does support it to some extent. I don't notice any particular height cues, so I'm guessing it's software-mixed, meaning that CMSS-3D Headphone and Dolby Headphone will perform about evenly. In that case, you'd gain the most bang for you buck with a $30 (maybe even less) Xonar DG, if you have a PCI slot free. If you only have PCI-Express slots free (small x1 ones are fine), step up to an X-Fi Forte or Titanium HD, maybe a Titanium non-HD if you can't quite afford those.

 

Do note that while I do own and play a lot of games, none of them have "Call of Duty" in the title. Can't say it's a franchise that interests me much...

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