[Mathieas]

Hey all,
 
Let me start by saying i have been haveing issues with my sound. I own both the PCI and PCIe vertions of the creative X-fi Fatality cards(few years old). The PCI card will clip sounds every so offten(in game and out). The PCIe while behaving right now has givin me issues in the past and i am not sold on the fact that it is working well. I just bought a Sennheiser PC 350 headset(I had the tritton pro true 5.1 and the surround sound aspect was really quite worthless) and really want to get the most out of this headset. I am a gamer. I would like to find a way to get really clean crisp sounds for things like gun shots, foot steps and explosives ect... I am willing to pay but i dont need any of the extremely  high end audiophile componets. I would however like a setup i can be proud of. A setup that will offer me the best sound quality with the least amount of noise(EMF interferance ect..). I have been looking at the new X-FI HD USB from creative. My new headset has the 3.5mm plugs and i suspect i will need to get an adaptor to the 1/4in front plugs(any loss of quality here?) if i choose to use that external card. I should also mention i just bought this headset and i could always return it... but i really want the mic and speakers together.  My motherboard(EVGA X58 Classfied) will not allow me to use any of the newer PCIe(Titatnium HD,Xonars) card due to there size. I could run one in a free 16X PCIe slot but this will down clock my other two PCIe 16X to 8X(I am running 2X 480GTX and they do infact gain a few % performance from the 16X). At present i see my options as 1)Keep with the X-fi Fatility on PCIe and use a headphone amp(no clue which one),3) get one fo these external X-FI HD cards(does this have a headphone amp??) or 3)another external solution someone might recommend? I would love to try the virtural surround sound and haveing this feature would be prefered but not required. Thank you for your help and assistance.
 
Mathieas

 

[mrnoodle]

X-FI HD USB claims to have headphone amp good for up to 330ohms.
Use google.

 

[Mathieas]

[size=10pt]Let me start by saying thank you for the reply. Your time and expertise are always a[size=10pt]ppreciated. In t[/size]ruth i did quite a bit of goggling prior to posting this message. I had gotten conflicting results and wanted the opinions of the experts here rather than leave it up to chance. I had seen the 330ohm rating (its even on the creative website) but when you look at the box it only claim 30ohms... I have also seen only one review and thus am left with little in the way of resources. What I am hopeing to find out is what options do I have? Is anyone in the same boat trying to accomplish the same thing(high quality sound for games and music(secondary)? I really don’t have a knowledge base with which to even begin knowing what i am looking for... often i will read a review for a particular amp.. they make comments that i simply lack the vocab/experience to understand the relevance it has to me. I am a scientist by background with some computer and EE exposure... but absolutely no exposure to music and sound.  [/size]

 

[mrnoodle]

It's confusing to read your initial post. You say your PCIE card is "not working well". What does that mean? It can't drive your headset well?
Then you state you can't use PCIE card becoz of size, but you're already using PCIE card, then you went on to saying something about being able to run a card on PCIE16 slot. So do you need to buy a new card or not?
 

 

[Mathieas]

[size=10pt]Im sorry my post was quite confusing. Let me rephrase. My current PCIe (1x PCIe slot) sound card works but has had issues in the past with distortion. I wanted to look into getting something of higher quality. What i found was all the new PCIe sound cards of audiophile quality are too big to fit in my 1x PCIe slot(the north bridge heatsink gets in the way). I could always install them into a 16x slot but this will hurt my other 2 PCIe 16X slots by forcing them to down clock to 8X. I only wanted people to know that upgrading to one of the new  PCIe cards(Xonar,Essence,Creative HD) was not an option and i was hopeing to find somthing that would work with either my current PCIe 1x or an external solution.[/size]

 

[mrnoodle]

I see that your mobo has PCI but since you're doing SLI, I guess it will block cooling fan on video card. That limits you choice of buying a new card with headphone amp built in. Have you looked if any of auzentech cards will fit in PCIEx1. To me, buying an amp make sense if it's much cheaper than buying a sound card (external or not). But it's not clear whether you're happy with your current card which you say you have issues "in the past".

 

[Mathieas]

I am not satisfied with the PCIe(http://us.store.creative.com/PCI-Express-Sound-Blaster-XFi-Titanium/M/B0018EFGTM.htm
 ) card that i have currently. The bass output to my headphones is very weak. The over all quality of sound seems ok but really i would prefer somthing more professtional and less gamer only. Thank you again for your help on this matter.
 
Mathieas
 
PS:I have not check out auzentech. I will do so.

 

[mrnoodle]

I see, so the card is not dying or anything like that. Two things. If you just bought the headset, it needs to go through several days of burn-in period before it will sound proper. Also, it's high impedance cans, so your card probably can't drive it properly. Both are probable reasons for subpar bass. Rather than buying another expensive card, maybe get a cheap headphone amp and do some burn in before you spend lots of money on different sound cards or headsets?

 

[Mathieas]

When i called Guitar Audio the gentlmen told me that if i was able to get the sound loud enough that ment the drivers were being being drivin properly. Is this true? If not how can one tell that the drivers are being drivin properly?
 
Thank you again for your help,
 
Mathieas