Xonar DX vs Xonar DG vs Phoebus Help me decide.... - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by cba1986 

I didn't know that the onboard has an amped line output. To my knowledge the headphone jack is the line out also there is subwoofer, side speaker, rear speaker, mic and line in jack. Nothing more.

Do you have a front panel headphone jack ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by cba1986 

From what i reading the DX wouldnt be enough to replace the onboard solution. What do you think about the DG?

It is not as good as the E11, but should be OK, and is cheap, and does not use batteries either. With the prices at your location, it might be the best choice, other than the PCI slot issue.

The onboard+E11 could be better overall than the Xonar DG or not, it depends on how well the Realtek chip is implemented on your motherboard. The DG is a safe low cost choice.

The Xonar DG (and of course DX too) supports Dolby Headphone and DirectSound 3D GX 2.5, which can indeed be useful for gaming.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cba1986 

So why the prive diff is almost the doble. Because a head amp plus the price the dg is a no brainer

Well, you can compare the specifications of the cards here and here. I think the price of the Xonar DX may also be increased slightly by the PCIe interface. A short summary of the advantages of the D1/DX:

- higher quality analog components (DAC and ADC chips)

- 7.1 channel output instead of 5.1

- support for sample rates up to 192 kHz (both playback and recording)

- more driver features (particularly Dolby technologies)

Of course, it is up to you to decide if these are worth the higher price for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cba1986 

Thinking about the STX, it is really worth it over the DX?

With the STX, your playing more for having a built in headphone amplifier that can drive headphones up to 600-Ohms.

The STX also has a better DAC chip (PCM1792A).

The STX comes with a coaxial digital output (both cards have optical output).

Quote:

Originally Posted by cba1986 

 

The problem with the stx is that i will only use it for headphones, as the 5.1 i hace has only analog inputs. For now the DG is taking all the points. But  i'm worry that with the DG the quality will be inferior to the onboard (spec wise the ALC892 has superior quality).

Perhaps the better option is the DX + an amp, could you recomend me one that is AC powered?

I doubt the DG's sound quality would be inferior to any motherboard's built in audio.

On eBay they sell single tube headphone amplifiers, start out at $50.

The SMSL SD-793II sells for $60 (eBay), needs to be connected to the optical output on the sound card (DX has optical output) or motherboard.

The Fiio E11 portable headphone amplifier is good ($65), but uses a rechargeable battery, so order the E11 with spare battery (BL-5B) and a simple battery recharger (if you get it).

Quote:

Originally Posted by cba1986 
Mhh. What about eax?

Only goes up to 2.0 like most non-Creative hardware, though they claim to emulate 5.0. How well that works out in practice is something I have yet to test.

That said...X-Fi Titanium HD for US$370 in your country? Ludicrous! You could probably get an Onkyo SE-300PCIE for that much, and I think even that card's overpriced! Again, I'd help out by buying the card of your choice myself at US prices (around US$40-45 for the DGX and X-Fi Titanium) and shipping it out to you, but then you'd have to deal with customs and all that crap associated with international shipping

As for the difference between 96 KHz and 192 KHz, it's generally regarded as not being that big of a deal due to the limits of human hearing, and that 192 KHz might even cause more problems.