[TehLurv]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if I could get advice from the community regarding a replacement soundcard for my PC. For the past few years, I've been using an Audigy 2 ZS & Grado SR 80 I picked up from a Cambridge Soundworks sale. About a month ago I upgrade to Windows 7 x64 and took the opportunity to remove the Audigy. I've never been entirely happy with Creative products and I've decided to explore other manufacturers. My audio uses on my PC:
 
* Movies & TV (through DVD & Hulu)
* Music (Mostly Internet radio for Ambient Techno & Trance genres)
* Gaming
* I use headphones exclusively on my PC. No external speakers to consider.
 
I've also been thinking of eventually stepping up from the Grado 80s to headphones unknown. Since I'm currently getting my with integrated audio, I figure to start with a soundcard first. I've been reading these forums and I'm leaning towards the Xonar ST/STX. Ideally I'd like to hold onto the card for a few years and be a match for whatever headphone I decide to move up to. I have some doubts though:
 
*With my SR 80s, I could immediately tell a difference between the integrated audio and 2 ZS in my day-to-day use, though would the same be true for the ST/STX? Would the difference be only appreciable with more expensive headphones and/or high quality audio? Would purchasing a mid-range card like the DX be more sensible until I purchase a higher end headphone?
 
*In the same vein, would I notice a difference between the ST/STX with the same headphones?
 
Any thoughts are alternative recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[khaos974]

Since you are considering gaming, I would advise either the Asus ST/STX series, or an x-fi based Auzentech, they are the only companies with gaming products who care about sound quality.
I would say go for the ST, but I don't know if you will hear anything different.
 
Here's a link, you may want to search for more though:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/483315/the-significant-difference-between-asus-xonar-essence-stx-and-st
 
If you don't care much about 3D sound (for gaming) or can be satisfied with software emulation of 3D sound and your budget can stretch a bit, try the the Lynx L22 or an EMU 1616, both are professional studio sound cards with top notch converters.

 

[dweaver]

auzentech forte 7.1 has been a darn nice card for me and I know they have a newer fancier card available as well.

 

[Solude]

But do either have Win7 64 drivers?  Emu has beta drivers, not sure about Lynx.  My advice is to consider that while Creative was happy to watch their product quality and market share drop with the Live and Audigy cards... the X-Fi is a good product.  I replaced my Emu 1212m with an X-Fi PCIe Titanium and its quite good, even in Win7 64.

 

[Cid]

The Auzentech Bravura does.