[trivium911]

Hey guys i just gave my Fiio q1 to my brother as i bought the x3ii which has a USB dac built in. Im getting annoyed at having to take my x3ii on the go and plugging it in all the time to my computer and what not...not to mention having wires going everywhere since i output into my objective 2 or my little dot i+ depending on which headphone i use. Can anyone recommend a decent sound card for my PC? I also might be interested in a USB DAC. I dont play alot of pc games but when i do i dont really need all that virtual surround sound crap. As mentioned i dont even need a headphone amp since i have those already. I was looking at the xonar DX 7.1 are these any good?  

 

[PurpleAngel]

An Asus Xonar DX sound card is a good combo (nice CS4398 DAC chip) for use with a separate headphone amplifier.
Find a used DX off eBay.

 

[trivium911]

  An Asus Xonar DX sound card is a good combo (nice CS4398 DAC chip) for use with a separate headphone amplifier.
Find a used DX off eBay.

I found a refurbished one for $75 also the creative sound blaster z i can buy slightly used for around the same price. Do these cards have dedicated line outs? Both my amps dont have optical in just 3.5MM on the O2 and RCA's on the Little dot. 

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I found a refurbished one for $75 also the creative sound blaster z i can buy slightly used for around the same price. Do these cards have dedicated line outs? Both my amps don't have optical in just 3.5MM on the O2 and RCA's on the Little dot. 

 
The Sound Blaster Z comes with a dedicated and amplified headphone jack, something to plug the headphones straight into.
So plugging a headphone amplifier into the Z's headphone jack would be double amping, which may or may not be a bad thing.
Where as the Xonar DX's headphone jack is more line a line-output jack (not really a headphone amplifier) that also pretends to be a headphone jack.
But if the setup is really mostly for music, you can just connect a headphone amplifier to the SB-Z's Front Speaker jack (line-output), you will not be able to use the SB-Z's SBX Headphone surround sound, but it's not need for 2-channel (music) audio.

 

[trivium911]

   
The Sound Blaster Z comes with a dedicated and amplified headphone jack, something to plug the headphones straight into.
So plugging a headphone amplifier into the Z's headphone jack would be double amping, which may or may not be a bad thing.
Where as the Xonar DX's headphone jack is more line a line-output jack (not really a headphone amplifier) that also pretends to be a headphone jack.
But if the setup is really mostly for music, you can just connect a headphone amplifier to the SB-Z's Front Speaker jack (line-output), you will not be able to use the SB-Z's SBX Headphone surround sound, but it's not need for 2-channel (music) audio.

So short answer the Xonar will serve me better since i wont be double amping and i have two great amps that i use already...the O2 and the little dot i+. I guess my next question is my motherboard is a gigabyte z170-Sli with the built in realtek ALC1150 and the gigagbyte Amp-up technology. I was not able to find any replaceable OP-Amp like some of the gigabyte motherboards but that is negligible since i only need the DAC. Its supposed to be really good with EMI shielding and claiming a SNR of 116 DB. Would the Xonar DX vs Realtek ALC1150 both with the same external amp plugged in sound any different? 

 

[PurpleAngel]

  So short answer the Xonar will serve me better since i wont be double amping and i have two great amps that i use already...the O2 and the little dot i+. I guess my next question is my motherboard is a gigabyte z170-Sli with the built in Realtek ALC1150 and the Gigagbyte Amp-up technology. I was not able to find any replaceable OP-Amp like some of the gigabyte motherboards but that is negligible since i only need the DAC. Its supposed to be really good with EMI shielding and claiming a SNR of 116 DB. Would the Xonar DX vs Realtek ALC1150 both with the same external amp plugged in sound any different? 

 
Year after year on-board audio is slowly getting better, so it difficult to judge a motherboard because there are several motherboard makers and each model of motherboard can offer different quality of audio.
But the Xonar DX does come with a dedicated CS4398 DAC chip (separate from the DSP), while most motherboards use the DAC function built into the DSP (audio processor).
I would try to talk you into getting the Xonar DX, but how much real world improvement you will notice is not something I can say for sure.

 

[trivium911]

   
Year after year on-board audio is slowly getting better, so it difficult to judge a motherboard because there are several motherboard makers and each model of motherboard can offer different quality of audio.
But the Xonar DX does come with a dedicated CS4398 DAC chip (separate from the DSP), while most motherboards use the DAC function built into the DSP (audio processor).
I would try to talk you into getting the Xonar DX, but how much real world improvement you will notice is not something I can say for sure.

still have not yet decided, i think i will try my onboard ALC1150 with my little dot plugged in and compare it to my x3ii DAC function with the same little dot plugged in to keep consistent and see if i can hear a difference. 

 

[PurpleAngel]

  still have not yet decided, i think i will try my onboard ALC1150 with my little dot plugged in and compare it to my x3ii DAC function with the same little dot plugged in to keep consistent and see if i can hear a difference. 

 
The FiiO X3 Gen 2 and Xonar DX both use the same CS4398 DAC chip.

 

[trivium911]

The FiiO X3 Gen 2 and Xonar DX both use the same CS4398 DAC chip.

Exactly so its a great comparispn than and we shall see how decemt the alc1150 is..at least as a dac.

 

[Chik0240]

I am still using the almost 10 years old only se300 PCIE, to my ears it's still better than the asus

 

[trivium911]

I am still using the almost 10 years old only se300 PCIE, to my ears it's still better than the asus

Just picked  up an asus zonar d2, sounds excellent with my little dot plugged in. For now my objective 2 stopped working and is only coming out of one channel...dont know why. Also on the little dot was getting a bad buzzing and electronic noise so i built an isolation transformer in a 4x4x4 PVC junction box from the wall to power my little dot. So far everything sounds excellent. My only gripe right now is the sound card is PCI express so if i ever get a second graphics card the fit might be tight. 

 

[Chik0240]

  Just picked  up an asus zonar d2, sounds excellent with my little dot plugged in. For now my objective 2 stopped working and is only coming out of one channel...dont know why. Also on the little dot was getting a bad buzzing and electronic noise so i built an isolation transformer in a 4x4x4 PVC junction box from the wall to power my little dot. So far everything sounds excellent. My only gripe right now is the sound card is PCI express so if i ever get a second graphics card the fit might be tight. 

My Onkyo (though almost unused completely now) occupies two slots, but as a fellow gamer I would say adding a second card is pretty not practical, you get double noise and power consumption,
but if you need to add another one, it means your current one is likely quite old, then buying a new mid- high end card and replace the old likely gains you more performance, uses less power and supports latest stuffs, imagine the GTX970 vs GTX 1070 case. 
 
So personally speaking I think the chance that you need to buy another card for SLI mode is pretty low. and even if you need to do so, there's always another option for USB dacs

 

[trivium911]

  My Onkyo (though almost unused completely now) occupies two slots, but as a fellow gamer I would say adding a second card is pretty not practical, you get double noise and power consumption,
but if you need to add another one, it means your current one is likely quite old, then buying a new mid- high end card and replace the old likely gains you more performance, uses less power and supports latest stuffs, imagine the GTX970 vs GTX 1070 case. 
 
So personally speaking I think the chance that you need to buy another card for SLI mode is pretty low. and even if you need to do so, there's always another option for USB dacs

Fair enough i have a GTX 970 which is still a great card and runs everything i want it too in 1080P in pretty much max. So i guess for now im fine and you are probably right that im better off upgrading to a better card down the road...not that i play a ton of games anymore. My computer probably gets used for music more than games these days due to lack of time. I guess the SLI reason was just to use the feature on my Mobo and just to say i have it. Was kind of avoiding the USB DAC since i have a quite large computer case already and i hate having more devices and wires on the desk...which is why i went with the soundcard. The X2 has no interference and has a completely black background, it sounds slightly better than my Fiio x3ii DAC surprisingly with my little dot plugged into both for comparison but the difference could be placebo. Im also hating the virtual surround...tested on the witcher 3 and it sounds tinny and harsh...not liking it.   

 

[PurpleAngel]

I am still using the almost 10 years old only se300 PCI-E, to my ears it's still better than the Asus.

 
I believe your Onkyo SE300 PCI-E also cost a lot more then any Asus sound card.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Just picked  up an Asus Xonar D2, sounds excellent with my little dot plugged in. For now my objective 2 stopped working and is only coming out of one channel...don't know why. Also on the little dot was getting a bad buzzing and electronic noise so i built an isolation transformer in a 4x4x4 PVC junction box from the wall to power my little dot. So far everything sounds excellent. My only gripe right now is the sound card is PCI express so if i ever get a second graphics card the fit might be tight. 

 
Did you disable the motherboard's on-board audio, in the BIOS, when you installed the Xonar D2?
Have you tried the Unified Xonar Drivers?
http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/
 
In the future you could always replace the Xonar D2 (PCI-E) with an Xonar DG (PCI) and an external DAC with a optical connection.
Assuming you would still have need for the Dolby Headphone that comes with Asus cards and assuming you have a free PCI slot.