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Best Sound Card For Beyerdynamic MMX 300's?
Apr 5, 2011 at 4:16 PM Post #17 of 54
I have both the MMX 300 and the Forte.
 
CMSS-3D works rather well in games; I like it far better than Dolby's solution that I used to use with my old M-Audio card, but do keep in mind that the M-Audio card was likely an older implementation as well.  (With both CMSS-3D and Dolby headphones, you will need to EQ the bass down a bit to allow you to hear the more subtle audio cues of competitive play as the MMX 300 still has a good amount of bass, though somewhat less than the non-headset version.)
 
Since you play an EAX game, I can see where having actual EAX will certainly be an improvement over the software implementation of EAX found on the Asus cards.  Software EAX is simply not the same.  That said, while the Forte's hardware is superb compared to the stock X-Fi, the drivers are no different.  I have had issues, while relatively uncommon, particularly with CMSS-3D where virtual surround "channels" will drop out, requiring a reboot.
 
The other major issue with the Forte is that the card has grounding issues.  If your Forte is placed adjacent to a graphics card or CPU, or even if the Forte's bracket contacts the bare metal of the case, EMI is readily transferred to the Forte's ground.  The result is that the Forte can have a very noticeable hum as background noise during quiet points in games or quiet passages in music.
 
In my case, this was easily remedied as my case has a painted back bracket.  Thus, I simply added rubber washers between the screw and the Forte's bracket, and the hum was gone.  (Others have needed to tape the surface of their Forte's bracket.)  The Asus cards do not have these problems as they are properly shielded.
 
All this said, both the Asus and the Forte drive the MMX 300s very well (as will most amplifiers), and I do really like the Forte.  Granted, I too got the Forte for EAX with legacy games.  Given the Forte's few quirks from driver and grounding issues that you must work around, at first, however, I can say hands down that if I had no need for EAX, the Asus would have been my card.  The Asus cards simply have far fewer issues.
 
Oh, another minor annoyance that I have with my Forte versus the Asus cards is that the Forte requires a breakout cable for the mic whereas the Asus cards have both the mic and headphone jacks on the PCB.
 
I hope this helped.
 
Apr 6, 2011 at 6:54 PM Post #18 of 54
Hey spork42,
 
Thanks so much for the informative and detailed response, I can't tell you enough how much it helped. So, after some research I have discovered that Call of Duty 4 actually does NOT support EAX, as it uses DirectSound and not DirectSound3D, hence no EAX. So being that I can't use EAX, I believe you have already answered my question with this: "...however, I can say hands down that if I had no need for EAX, the Asus would have been my card."
 
So thanks again for the help, and unless you or anybody else has something to add about the Forte's strengths for gaming over the Essence OTHER than EAX, I believe I will be picking up the Xonar Essence STX sometime soon!
 
Thanks again,
Matt :)
 
Apr 7, 2011 at 10:12 AM Post #19 of 54
Other than CMSS-3D being ever so slightly better than Dolby Headphone (in my opinion, anyway), you might gain a few FPS in some games due to the X-Fi chip and its on-board RAM.  Keep in mind that if you have a modern quad core CPU, however, this difference is likely to be insignificant, and even if you have a single core, you will gain maybe 2-3 FPS.
 
Once again, I can not recommend the Forte without stressing that you may need to go through the hassle of shielding the card from EMI.  (It is a very common issue with the Forte.)  The Asus does not have this issue, and its drivers have fewer problems.
 
Anyway, you're welcome, and happy to help.
 
Apr 13, 2011 at 4:47 AM Post #20 of 54
Cmss3D sounds like crap. Dolby headphone doesn't muffle gunshots or explosions.

I prefer my Asus Xonar for MP shooters. It seems the Forte has a much lower noise floor tho.

The Asus software works well all he time. It wont wig out like the 5 creative processes running in the background.

---Thunderbolt using TaPaTaLk---
 
Jun 23, 2011 at 10:06 AM Post #21 of 54
:wink:Hi astonish I have both the mmx300 & Asus STX.
The headphones just arrived today and have used them briefly for music & short bought of gaming with CSS. If you use the front panel inputs the music is reasonable but the in game sounds are poor. However the magic happens when you use the card's dedicated headphone jack and mic - the sound improvement is stellar. Don't forget to reboot when you change from front panel to headphone jack on the card. If you don't reboot the mic won't work.

Good luck an happy gaming :)

P.S. I will test them over the next couple of days and let you know my impressions with a few different games.
 
Jun 26, 2011 at 11:04 AM Post #22 of 54
Hey!
 
Sorry I was late responding to your last post. I'm so excited another game has the same setup that I want. I'm actually about to place an order for the STX today. My MMX 300's have been great for the past 6 months, but I really am getting fed up with all the glitches that are occurring due to the USB sound card. How has everything been working for you over the past few days? Is the STX really improving the MMX 300 that much? Also, do you have an xfire? I'm assuming you do since you're a gamer :wink:
 
If you do, add me:  MattAstonishKelly
 
I would love to talk to you in more detail about how everything has been for you :D
 
Thanks!
Matt
 
Jun 30, 2011 at 10:34 PM Post #23 of 54
Alright, so I got the Xonar Essence STX earlier today and I finally have everything installed properly. Now I just feel like a toddler in a candy shop with all these settings hehe ;D
Moving on though, I truthfully have some questions for you mrtim6 (or anyone else that can assist in my troubles). I cannot seem to get my own voice to loop back through the headset so that I can hear myself talking. When I check monitoring in the control panel or on the Xonar drivers, I have a SERIOUS lag of probably an entire second. I can't even finish a sentence without slowing down or stuttering because I stop to hear my own voice... and leaving the setting off isn't helping me either, because then I start screaming in order to hear myself haha. What are you doing for this problem Tim? Also, do you have any new settings that you're enjoying? What are you putting your PCM levels to? How about the gain, are you leaving yours at 32 because of the MMX 300's ohmz or are you turning it up "in hopes for better sound quality"? I'm really just curious about new settings for best performance in game, and also fixing this microphone problem. Any feedback would be very much appreciated!
 
Thanks again :)
 
- Astonish
 
Jul 1, 2011 at 1:31 AM Post #24 of 54
to hear yourself from mic
 
go to windows voulume settings
 
select playback and recording
 
make the mic tab full and dont select mute
 
from recordings so the recording is louder
 
from playback so you can hear the talk
 

 

 
Jul 1, 2011 at 1:45 PM Post #25 of 54
Hey Tom,
 
Thanks for the response, however I cannot do what you have done in the post above. As you can see from the screenshots below, playback/recording properties do not have the proper sliders needed to do what you have done. I found another tutorial on how to do this, however once again, I do not have the needed sliders showing (even if I right click and enable disconnected and disabled devices). I'm also confused why if I have my microphone jack from my headset plugged into the Line In, why it is showing Line In as "currently unavailable" and instead just showing "microphone" as my mic... Maybe I'm a noob but I seriously can't figure this thing out. I will post screenshots below that I believe may be of some help. I'm just hoping that someone can help me figure this thing out :D
 
Thanks again,
 
- Astonish
 

 

 

 

 

In the above picture ^^^^^.... If I turn monitoring on I can hear myself but its very choppy and there is an EXTREME delay that makes this function completely useless (like I said in my previous post)...
 

 
Jul 1, 2011 at 7:10 PM Post #26 of 54
hi Astonish have you tried playing around with the following settings in the asus control pannel? under vocal FX there is a check box you can tick for local VoiceEX out put to speakers. There are also mic settings you can change in the mixer tab when you click on the red record button. Let me know how you get on. I am still playing around with the STX my self as I have only had it for 6 weeks or so. Good luck and let the games begin!!!
smily_headphones1.gif

 
moz-screenshot.png

 
Jul 1, 2011 at 11:51 PM Post #27 of 54
Hey Tim,
 
Thanks for the response :)
Yeh, I had messed with those settings before, and again right now, but they do not seem to output my voice back into the headset. Have you gotten your voice to successfully loop back to you yet?
 
Jul 2, 2011 at 3:14 AM Post #28 of 54
try downloding the latest driver from website
 
the original driver not modded
 
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=21&s=3&m=Xonar%20Essence%20STX&os=29&hashedid=zCDHPnfR1jymHK2f
 
if you have win xp try it there also
 
edit:
 
try this program
 
http://download.cnet.com/Microphone-Pass-through-Emulator/3000-18503_4-10973610.html
 
Jul 2, 2011 at 11:57 AM Post #29 of 54
Hey Tom,
 
I actually had my drivers installed from that exact link, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to reinstall them once more, so I want ahead and did so... unfortunately the reinstall did not allow me to loop the microphone back to my headset. I went ahead and tried the emulator you linked me to, but the delay is so bad that I can't even finish a sentence without slowing my voice down... I really feel like I am missing something that is probably quite simple. Tim, I know you have the exact same setup as I do, are you even getting microphone loopback to the MMX? If so, what are you doing that I might be missing?
 
Thanks a lot Tom and Tim (and anybody else that can help haha)
 
- Astonish 
beyersmile.png

 
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