[blinkstar]

Time for a new card. Here is what I'm looking for:
 
- PCI. (I only have one PCI-E slot and that's taken up by my video card.)
 
- 5.1 analog out
 
- Digital out
 
Those are pretty much my only requirements. The 5.1 analog out is for my desktop receiver, and the digital out will be going to a Mixamp (set to Dolby Headphone) and from there to a Fiio 9 and finally my Beyer dt880s.
 
Gaming in 5.1 whether through my speakers or my headphones is, obviously, my main purpose with this system ...
 
Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Tacoboy]

Asus Xonar D1.
During March there is a $20 mail in rebate (depends were you buy).

 

[blinkstar]

Thanks for the suggestion, Tacoboy!
 
I'll definitely check out reviews for the D1. Do you have one? Can you recommend it based on your own experience?
 
Anyone else?

 

[Tacoboy]

I've been using the Xonar DS (updated last week with the LME49720NA Op-Amp mod) for over a year.
And just yesterday day I replaced it with the Xonar DX (PCI-Express version of the D1).
Wanted the Dolby headphone, my ATH-AD700s now sound better with everything.
Xonar should do well for newer games and using Vista or 7, with Win XP or older games, it's better to use Creative.
I've not used the Xonar for gaming....yet.
The real reason I switched last year from a Creative Labs Titanium to the Xonar DS is because the Xonar
is so much easier to fix then creative.
With Xonar, I can download and fix/reinstall the drivers in under 10 minutes.
It i lose my Creative CD disk, I can spend a long time trying to find the correct ISO to make a new driver CD.
(Sometimes even after burning the ISO, It still gives me an "incorrect CD" message).
Download the Xonar D1 manual from Asus, see if it has everything you need.

 

[DoritosMan]

I was looking at the Asus Xonar DG and it looked amazing for the price.
Is there that much of a difference between the DX and DG Versions?

 

[Tacoboy]

Yesterday I just replaced my DS with the DX.
The Xonar DX can do 7.1, the Xonar DG limited to 5.1.
The DX can play the full sound from a Blu-ray disk, the DG limited to Dolby Digital level.
At the price of the DG, you can't do better.
I'm still investigating.

 

[BananaReed]

auzentech x-fi forte!

 

[kalston]

Quote:

I was looking at the Asus Xonar DG and it looked amazing for the price.
Is there that much of a difference between the DX and DG Versions?

 
Using the hi-fi mode there shouldn't be that much difference between those 3 I think. But if you use the Dolby Headphones and the GX3D mode it might be better on the DX, who knows. 
 
Anyway the DG and DS are great for their price, that's for sure. Got my DS for like 30€ (instead of the usual 50-60 around here) and using stereo headphones + the hi-fi mode it sounds amazing. (not only with music but also with games and films). 
I'm a hardcore gamer but I don't use Dolby Headphones or that GX3D thing because the games I play already have good sound engines and that would just mess things up and possibly affect stability. 
 
ASIO and KernelStreaming (I'm still on XP) both work great on it too if you're interested in that.