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Which SoundCard to buy ? Asus Brand [Solved Xonar Phoebus]

post #1 of 28
6/30/12 at 4:47pm
Thread Starter 

There are so many cards i don't know what to pick, i want Gaming + Movies + Music for  Headphones + Logitech 5500 Digital 5.1.

 

 

People said about the

Xonar Xense

1. But i don't need the headphones cause i want better ones ? if there are any better than this headphones.

ASUS AV100 High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 192KHz/24bit)

 

ROG Xonar Phoebus

2. Still good but people recommend the above Xense instead of this dunno why.  they just say too bad Xense comes headphones.

Audio Processor :C-Media CMI8888DHT High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 192kHz/24bit)

 

Xonar Essence STX

3. has lesser spec than the above 1+2  124dB compare to the others 118dB and other stuff.

ASUS AV100 High-Definition Sound Processor (Max. 192KHz/24bit)

 

 

Help

Thanks

 

 

Which one xD


Edited by x7007 - 7/1/12 at 12:46pm
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post #2 of 28
6/30/12 at 8:01pm

Any particular reason you insist on Asus Xonar cards specifically?

 

By the way, they ALL use C-Media chipsets (usually the CMI8788 Oxygen HD), even if they rename them most of the time.

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post #3 of 28
6/30/12 at 8:13pm
Thread Starter 

Cause that's the only card which compete vs XFI cards ? - ppl say the Xonar has the best quality + connection for Headphones which i am gonna buy

 

To keep going with XFI cards ? or there are different brands ?


Edited by x7007 - 6/30/12 at 8:14pm
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post #4 of 28
6/30/12 at 9:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by x7007 View Post

Cause that's the only card which compete vs XFI cards ? - ppl say the Xonar has the best quality + connection for Headphones which i am gonna buy

 

To keep going with XFI cards ? or there are different brands ?

I would say to get the Xonar Essence STX, and not bother with the other two.

The phoebus is new, so it might be wise to wait until they have done one or two revisons of the drivers.

And the Xonar Xense is over priced.

 

The Essence STX can work with headphones up to 600-Ohm, the Titanium HD max is around 250 to 300-Ohm and offers no gain adjustment.

Where as the Essence STX comes with three gain setting.

I am biased for Asus Xonar cards.

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post #5 of 28
6/30/12 at 9:26pm
Thread Starter 

Will i see any difference between Xfi XtremeMusic to Xonar STX ?
 

People say if i get the DT990 the STX wont be enough to power it up

 

What the difference between those 3 cards anwway ? expect the voice cancel thing, what else ?


Edited by x7007 - 6/30/12 at 10:09pm
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post #6 of 28
6/30/12 at 9:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by x7007 View Post

Will I see any difference between Xfi XtremeMusic to Xonar STX ?
 

The X-Fi Xtreme Music with it EAX 5.0 would have better support for games made back in the Windows XP timeline.

The Xtreme Music can work with analog 5.1 speakers, the Essence STX only 2.1 analog

But in general, audio quality of the Essence STX should be way better.

The Essence STX has way better support for headphone audio.

The Essence STX can play full Blu-ray audio 7.1

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post #7 of 28
6/30/12 at 10:09pm

You have to determine how much you want to keep true EAX 3/4/5 support for DirectSound3D and OpenAL games. Also, for such games, I find CMSS-3D Headphone to work better than Dolby Headphone for the simple matter of "3D binaural sound beats virtual 7.1". Too bad PC games over the last 5 years have entered a regression in sound thanks to the proliferation of XAudio2 + X3DAudio and FMOD Ex, with their lack of binaural mixing options whatsoever.

 

If those are important to you, I'd recommend the X-Fi Titanium HD instead. If not, consider the Xonar Essence STX.

 

Keeping the X-Fi XtremeMusic would be a more viable option if only you didn't have to hunt down some obscure Flexijack S/PDIF adapter for digital output to an external DAC. That would close the gap significantly, since the main benefit you'd be getting is better analog output. But as it stands, you might as well just step up to a high-end card with a modern PCI-Express interface.

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post #8 of 28
6/30/12 at 10:40pm
Thread Starter 

I really need 5.1 analog support then,  the ppl on guru3d said i need the Xense at least.. i don't care about EAX anymore cause games are no longer support this, the last game that supported this was WoW and that was only Hardware Acceleration, now it doesn't work anymore at all, and soon windows 8 comes there wont be anymore of this, it's gone-dead.

 

So except the most important thing EAX, i need the 5.1 Analog cause if i have this sound card, i don't need to use the digital output to my Logitech 5500, right ? analog will give way better quality

 

 

You want to tell me whoever uses the STX means he doesn't use 5.1 analog ? so what will he use then ?

 

Bloody Asus, why they stuck this headphones in the middle of a sound card, argggg i just want a sound card ::X


Edited by x7007 - 6/30/12 at 10:44pm
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post #9 of 28
6/30/12 at 11:25pm
Quote:

Originally Posted by x7007 View Post

I really need 5.1 analog support then,  the ppl on guru3d said i need the Xense at least.. i don't care about EAX anymore cause games are no longer support this, the last game that supported this was WoW and that was only Hardware Acceleration, now it doesn't work anymore at all, and soon windows 8 comes there wont be anymore of this, it's gone-dead.

So except the most important thing EAX, i need the 5.1 Analog cause if i have this sound card, i don't need to use the digital output to my Logitech 5500, right ? analog will give way better quality

You want to tell me whoever uses the STX means he doesn't use 5.1 analog ? so what will he use then ?

Bloody Asus, why they stuck this headphones in the middle of a sound card, argggg i just want a sound card ::X

As you want good sounding analog 5.1 speakers, get the Phoebus.

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post #10 of 28
7/1/12 at 12:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by x7007 View Post

I really need 5.1 analog support then,  the ppl on guru3d said i need the Xense at least.. i don't care about EAX anymore cause games are no longer support this, the last game that supported this was WoW and that was only Hardware Acceleration, now it doesn't work anymore at all, and soon windows 8 comes there wont be anymore of this, it's gone-dead.

 

So except the most important thing EAX, i need the 5.1 Analog cause if i have this sound card, i don't need to use the digital output to my Logitech 5500, right ? analog will give way better quality

 

You want to tell me whoever uses the STX means he doesn't use 5.1 analog ? so what will he use then ?

 

Bloody Asus, why they stuck this headphones in the middle of a sound card, argggg i just want a sound card ::X

 

Did you even try using ALchemy with it? That might have got it working again...then again, I'm not into WoW, and it's very possible Blizzard changed up the sound system after all these years to where that outright broke, regardless of OS.

 

I only care so much because I still play older games, and even prefer them to a lot of the newer stuff. My main concern with modern gaming audio is not the abandonment of hardware-accelerated reverb/chorus/occlusion (which is what EAX does), but the loss of being able to get proper 3D audio information for a binaural headphone mix.

 

The Essence STX and Titanium HD both only output two analog channels. Seems like a trend for audiophile sound cards lately, and I have no idea why the 7.1 analog expansion board only works on the Essence ST (the PCI version). You could use Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect over S/PDIF to the Z-5500, but those are lossy codecs, and it's said that the Z-5500's own DAC is generally inferior to top-tier sound cards these days.

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post #11 of 28
7/1/12 at 1:50am
Quote:

Originally Posted by x7007 View Post

 

3. has lesser spec than the above 1+2  124dB compare to the others 118dB and other stuff.

 

A higher SNR is better, not worse normal_smile%20.gif Although the 124 dB value is possibly just marketing; other than the Audio Precision test report that comes with the card, it has not been proven yet that it is really capable of 124 dB (Stereophile measured 114 dB referenced to 1 Vrms, that is about 120 dB ref. full scale). 118 dB is already plenty good enough anyway, though. Note however that Xonar cards are significantly worse at 44.1 kHz and its multiples, and the volume and gain control on the headphone output is digital (i.e. you always get the maximum amount of hiss, regardless of the volume setting).

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by x7007 View Post

 

People say if i get the DT990 the STX wont be enough to power it up

 

That is false. If anything, avoid low impedance headphones because the built-in TPA6120A2 headphone amplifier is technically worse at driving those for a number of reasons.

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post #12 of 28
7/1/12 at 8:30am
Thread Starter 

So only Xonar Xenese and Phoubs has Connections for 5.1 or just a setting like creative CMSS Stereo Surround ?

 

and there are some other differences like

 

Dolby® Technologies : Dolby® Home Theater v4
Smart Volume Normalizer™
Xear Surround™
Magic Voice™
FlexBass™
GX 3.0 Game Audio Engine


Dolby® Technologies:
Dolby® Digital Live, Dolby® Headphone, Dolby® Virtual Speaker, Dolby® Pro-Logic II
Smart Volume Normalizer™:
Normalizes the volume of all audio sources into a constant level and also enhances your 3D sound listening range and advantages in gaming
Xear 3D™ Virtual Speaker Shifter:
Virtual 7.1 speaker positioning
FlexBass™:
Professional Bass Management/Enhancement system
Other Effects:
10-band Equalizer/27 Environment Effects
3D Sound Engines/APIs:
DirectSound3D® GX 2.0 & 1.0, EAX®2.0&1.0, DirectSound® HW, DirectSound SW, OpenAL generic modes, 128 3D sounds processing capability
DS3D GX2.5:
GX 2.5 supports EAX gaming sound effects and Di rectSound 3D hardware enhanced functions for more games on Windows XP/Vista/7. (DirectX/DirectSound 3D compatible)

Don't they have the same things ? GX2.5 GX3 Theater V4 , what do i actually need ?

 

EDIT : the Xense is hell expensive and not many sell it :X i think i'll go with Phoubs and buy some headset i still can't decide on headphones too. AD700 DT770 DT880 or DT900 or if there is really difference then DT990 Premium , still can't decide, they just look like normal headphones.


Edited by x7007 - 7/1/12 at 8:37am
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post #13 of 28
7/1/12 at 8:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by x7007 View Post

People say if i get the DT990 the STX wont be enough to power it up.

My Essence STX has no problem driving my DT990 Pro 250-Ohm and DT770 Pro 250-Ohm headphones.

Can even drive my AKG K240 Monitor 600-Ohm headphones.

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post #14 of 28
7/1/12 at 8:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by x7007 View Post
So only Xonar Xenese and Phoebus has Connections for 5.1 or just a setting like creative CMSS Stereo Surround ?

and there are some other differences like

Dolby® Technologies : Dolby® Home Theater v4
Smart Volume Normalizer™
Xear Surround™
Magic Voice™
FlexBass™
GX 3.0 Game Audio Engine
Dolby® Technologies:
Dolby® Digital Live, Dolby® Headphone, Dolby® Virtual Speaker, Dolby® Pro-Logic II
Smart Volume Normalizer™:
Normalizes the volume of all audio sources into a constant level and also enhances your 3D sound listening range and advantages in gaming
Xear 3D™ Virtual Speaker Shifter:
Virtual 7.1 speaker positioning
FlexBass™:
Professional Bass Management/Enhancement system
Other Effects:
10-band Equalizer/27 Environment Effects
3D Sound Engines/APIs:
DirectSound3D® GX 2.0 & 1.0, EAX®2.0&1.0, DirectSound® HW, DirectSound SW, OpenAL generic modes, 128 3D sounds processing capability
DS3D GX2.5:
GX 2.5 supports EAX gaming sound effects and DirectSound 3D hardware enhanced functions for more games on Windows XP/Vista/7. (DirectX/DirectSound 3D compatible)
Don't they have the same things ? GX2.5 GX3 Theater V4 , what do i actually need ?

EDIT : the Xense is hell expensive and not many sell it :X i think i'll go with Phosbus and buy some headset i still can't decide on headphones too. AD700 DT770 DT880 or DT900 or if there is really difference then DT990 Premium , still can't decide, they just look like normal headphones.

I think the Phoebus is coming with the latest revisions of C-Media and Dolby software. Asus is just coming up with fancy names to make everything sound newer then it really is.

GX is Asus attempt to offer something to compete with Creative's EAX 5.0, but I'm guessing most Xonar users do not really use GX that much anyway.

The ATH-AD700 has some good points, but it's lack of any real bass is a turn off, I never use my ATH-AD700s anymore.

The DT770 are good headphones, but being closed bothers my ears too much.

The DT880 Pro 250-Ohm and DT990 Pro 250-Ohm would be the one I would recommend.

The DT990 are full bass, full treble, nice sound stage, vocal are very clear, but not as strong as the bass & treble.

The DT880 is a more over all balanced, semi-open headphone compared to the DT990.

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post #15 of 28
7/1/12 at 8:58am
Thread Starter 

On the review on the site http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-updated-6-10-2012-ultrasone-pro-2900-added-many-edits

 

He says there is a problem with 5 clock to 7 clock means everything behind you with DT880, i think it's going to be a problem cause i really want the perfect headphones with no issues.

 

So i understand the only choice is DT 990 Pro 250ohms and not premium, cause not different between them ?
 

 

EDIT : I ordered the Phobus it should arrive soon i hope, and still can't decide which headphones,

 

EDIT : I chose the DT990 Premium eventully


Edited by x7007 - 7/1/12 at 2:12pm
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