[Phantom87]

Ok so i just picked up this card yesterday and i gotta say I am overwhelmed by the quality of sound compared to my onboard Realtek ALC883 HD audio.

I expected there would some difference considering the price tag but didnt expect the difference to be so damn much.

There is so much clarity, more crisp and clean and louder sound. And u really tell when you have a wack mp3 file in quality as u listen to different mp3 rips on my Studiophile AV 40 Monitor speakers and i use Jetaudio as my music player.

The software that comes with it also impressed me cuz of the different sound environments (movie, music and game) you can input which added to the audible enjoyment. The driver that came with it had to be updated to the current beta version on the website because When i was watching tv through my tuner card (Hauppauge HVR 1600) there was a loud hissing going on when the volume got considerably loud. With the update the hiss reduced immensely.

So far anyone looking to get this would not regret it one bit. I was too skeptical about it before i got it because it was a PCI express card and i have never installed one before and u had to power the card too with a floppy pin power adapter

 

[techniqu]

i think that card is a waste of money honestly. this isn't to say it sounds bad, the cmedia chip sounds great, but honestly theres no difference between the between it and the pci version. if you can you should just return it for the pci version and save a few bucks, or maybe replace it with a claro+ which I hear has the same chip and a better opamp on the front speakers/headphone output.

 

[Phantom87]

Quote:

Originally Posted by techniqu /img/forum/go_quote.gif i think that card is a waste of money honestly. this isn't to say it sounds bad, the cmedia chip sounds great, but honestly theres no difference between the between it and the pci version. if you can you should just return it for the pci version and save a few bucks, or maybe replace it with a claro+ which I hear has the same chip and a better opamp on the front speakers/headphone output.

One of the reasons i had to buy it is because i didnt have any PCI slots left hence this card being one of the options i had. If part of the reason for it costing more is that it was a PCI express card then it is totally worth it

 

[techniqu]

oh i see, that makes sense.

 

[TSi]

Integrated sound vs any sound card would make the sound card sound good.
Its just because most of the integrated sound dsp are disgustingly cheap and garbage.

 

[ADD]

I actually picked up the PCI version of this ASUS Xonar card earlier this week. I was actually in the position of preferring to buy the PCI Express version of it, but I decided that in terms of card layout in my computer case, the Express version would have been too close to my video card. With the PCI version I could mount it far away from all other components - the Express version would have been in the middle of lots of components.

Still, I think the PCI Express version merits consideration because sooner or later PCI slots will go the way of ISA slots - mainboards will no longer include them. And I think this card is so incredibly good that I would be wanting to use it in future machines.

Anyway, I agree with the OP about the quality of this card - I am absolutely stunned by it. The sound is so incredibly smooth, detailed with incredible accuracy of soundstage, depth and acoustic instrument timbre. I have made some 24-192 digital copies of some of my audiophile vinyl LPs and the copies are unbelievably good - I have always been able to tell the difference between the original vinyl and a digital copy, but with this card at it's maximum resolution I find this absolutely impossible.

I was really happy to find out that the cards "ALT" function doesn't just work for making compressed copies of files for portable use. With suitable recording software (i.e Acoustica) you can use the "ALT" function just like you use the "What U Hear" function with Creative cards - and that means recording in high resolution PCM if you feel so inclined.

Another thing that really surprised me as a headphone user was the quality of the Dolby Headphone implementation. I have been using Dolby Headphone in Foobar and as a VST plug-in version for quite some months, but I wasn't prepared for the emormous improvement in quality with it's implementation on the Xonar card. With Dolby Headphone enabled on the Xonar card, the soundstage, depth and instrument seperation were far better than I have ever heard with the Foobar or VST versions of Dolby Headphone. I am not quite sure why it sounds so much better (it still appears to only process data at 48 khz sampling rate - just like the Foobar and VST versions), but I am sure the overall audio quality of the card makes quite a difference.

 

[argentum]

Dolby headphones !? Yuck it sounds so artificial , though i quite agree with the rest of ADD's statements .

 

[jruser]

I went from the X-Fi Fatal1ty to the Xonar D2X a few months ago.

The Xonar seems more detailed, but overall a very transparent source.

I am becoming a fan of the PCM1796.

 

[Zathan]

HT Omega Claro Plus is a good option as someone mentionned. I haven't compared both yet but I doubt the Claro would get 2nd place