Quote:

Originally Posted by hifiact 

I cannot afford a Xonar STX/ST so what are my other options? I was looking at

Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 Low, which I can get for $60.

 

My budget is $100, I have a JVC HAX700, I play games and every now and then I want quality music, once I have enough funds I'll get the Xonar ST.

I currently have a Asus Xonar DG.

As you using the JVC HA-RX700 headphones, can't really see a good reason for replacing the Xonar DG sound card.

From the rumor mill, I was hearing the Forte is not really a reliable card.

You can get a refurb Creative X-Fi Titanium (non-HD) sound card for $44.99 from Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102043

I would say to just keep using the Xonar DG and sell off your JVC HA-RX700 and put all your cash towards a new headphone.

Takstar Pro 80/Gemini HSR-1000 closed headphones, $88.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PurpleAngel 

As you using the JVC HA-RX700 headphones, can't really see a good reason for replacing the Xonar DG sound card.

From the rumor mill, I was hearing the Forte is not really a reliable card.

You can get a refurb Creative X-Fi Titanium (non-HD) sound card for $44.99 from Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102043

 

I would say to just keep using the Xonar DG and sell off your JVC HA-RX700 and put all your cash towards a new headphone.

Takstar Pro 80/Gemini HSR-1000 closed headphones, $88.

I agree with this. The non-HD X-Fi Titanium is a good, cheap card. I used to have one (X-Fi Titanium Pro Fatal1ty actually) paired with my JVC HA-RX900's and it was a nice combo.

However, I just went through the exercise of trying MANY different sound cards with my RX900's, the X-Fi Titanium, X-Fi HD USB (mobile headphone amp version, not the PCI-E sound card), Asus Xonar U3, a Denon AVR-1712 receiver, a Yamaha HTR-6030 receiver, and finally the Fiio E17. I can tell you BY FAR the biggest upgrade was a new set of headphones. I demoed some Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro/80 headphones and the difference was night and day. I settled on the DT990 Pro/250, along with an E17/E9K combo. Of course, for gaming you will probably want to stick to a gaming card, but the point still remains, save up for a new set of headphones over getting a new card, because it will make the absolute MOST difference versus a new card. With my RX900's being the bottleneck, it was difficult to tell the difference between all of those cards/receivers, but the difference between the RX900's and the DT770/DT990 was absolute night and day, in sound quality, soundstage, games, movies, music, EVERYTHING.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifiact 

Here is a question guys:

 

Can I use an external CD-player as source and forte like a headphone amp by connecting the Cd-player to the forte?

 

The CD-player has an optical out as well.

You can connect the CD player to the Forte using an analog connection (mic in), but I can not find any digital inputs on the Forte.

The Creative Titanium (non-HD) card i listed for $44.99 does come with a S/PDIF Toslink optical input, which should connect to the optical output of your external CD player.

Not sure why you would use an external CD player when you can get an internal CD/DVD burner/player for under $25.

However, if you connect the CD player to the sound card, you will be using the DAC of the sound card anyway, so the CD player is only useful for convenience. On the other hand, you could just rip the CDs to FLAC files, and after that have access to all the music without having to change disks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifiact 

 

That is correct in case I use the optical out from my CD-Player, but if I use the analogue out from CD-player?

That depends on the sound card, but monitoring the line input may actually use an ADC-DAC loop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifiact 

I got the Auzenteck forte 7.1 but the outside of its box there is no mention of the headphone amp? is this normal or i got the wrong version? I have not opened it yet because if i did i cannot return it back.

As far as I know, there is only one model of the Forte 7.1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roller 

At that price, the Auzentech X-Fi Forte is quite a good deal. It has proper gaming audio support and as good sound quality as price competing products.

 

Further down the line, you would do better to upgrade to a Creative X-Fi Titanium HD instead of an Asus Xonar Essence ST, both cards being on the same level, with the Titanium HD having a slightly better DAC and full gaming audio support.

The STX card is far better, They also have much higher Headphone output so low distortion at 128db is very hard to do, I've owned both cards and i feel the STX has good enough DAC and amp to not even bother using my Graham slee Solo amp, The X-FI Titanium HD however sounds rubbish with my HD650's, IT's not so bad with D2000's and ear buds but not for Harder to drive headphones, Plus THX is rated in a different way, I can use 192khz at 24Bit and it's silky smooth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by natashaful 

 

The STX card is far better, They also have much higher Headphone output so low distortion at 128db is very hard to do, I've owned both cards and i feel the STX has good enough DAC and amp to not even bother using my Graham slee Solo amp, The X-FI Titanium HD however sounds rubbish with my HD650's, IT's not so bad with D2000's and ear buds but not for Harder to drive headphones, Plus THX is rated in a different way, I can use 192khz at 24Bit and it's silky smooth.

The Essence STX is better than the X-Fi Forte, but it certainly isn't any better than a Titanium HD. The biggest mistake people do is to use higher impedance headphones, like the HD650, straight out of the Titanium HD, for such headphones are recommended to be driven with a headphone amp alongside the card.

Also, laughable gaming audio support on all Asus cards, something that X-Fi based Auzentech cards significantly improve on, and obviously the Titanium HD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roller 

 

The Essence STX is better than the X-Fi Forte, but it certainly isn't any better than a Titanium HD. The biggest mistake people do is to use higher impedance headphones, like the HD650, straight out of the Titanium HD, for such headphones are recommended to be driven with a headphone amp alongside the card.

 

Also, laughable gaming audio support on all Asus cards, something that X-Fi based Auzentech cards significantly improve on, and obviously the Titanium HD.

Laughable Gaming Audio?, The Asus cards are better for Gaming i work at www.overclockers.co.uk We test all our cards on the forum before we sell them and we as well as all the other reviewers say the Asus Xonar Phoebus is the best gaming card, They did have problems with Drivers and the Price on launch but the card is far better then the Titanium HD, Also the OP is looking for Cards with a Built in Amp for the headphones and the STX and Pheobus are the only Audiophile level Sound cards for us who are so picky. Although unless you're using topend Headphones you won't tell the difference anyway because Both have such low Distortion.

I'm not asking you to Agree with me that's just my Opinion and everyone Else's at OCUK and alot of the reviewers.

interesting read, could someone explain what they mean when they say gaming support? is it stuff like EAX which the Asus doesn't have? The only reason i'm asking is because i'm in the middle of completely upgrading my PC. I'm running Xonar DX and I really don't feel like im missing out on anything (games related)

Also the reason i stopped buying creative products was because of their poor driver support (Audigy and Audigy 2 products) have they improved on that front?