[ausjoker]

Hi all. A friend noticed I was looking to upgrade my PC's audio solution and recommended I try here, so here goes!

I'm currently just using onboard (mother board is gigabyte p35c-ds3r) and with the upcoming release of Bad Company 2 I'd like to upgrade to get the full experience. My current (rather average) audio gear includes a logitech Z5500 speaker set and the Beyerdynamic DT234Pro's (although I will probably upgrade them once I get a new soundcard - likely I'll get the Audio Technica ATH-A900 or AD700 headphones, although I'm definitely open to suggestions - I'm sure I'll start another thread here about it sooner or later ). I'll be keeping the Z5500's for the time being as I'm living in a shared house and can't really use them as much as I'd like anyway.

The soundcard is primarily for enhancing my gaming experience, however I do listen to lots of music (a bit of everything - rock, classical, techno, metal, pop) and watch a reasonable amount of TV and films.

Budget is up to $200, and maybe stretched to $250 if necessary (this is in Australian dollars). I've looked at the Asus Xonar D2X and while it seemed like an excellent card, a review or two indicated it would not be the best for games due to the lack of true EAX support higher than 2.0 (feel free to correct me if wrong, this is just my interpretation). I hear bad things about the Creative cards even though I've used them with no problems years ago, so I'm a bit hesitant about going down the X-Fi Titanium road. The last one which I just found out about Auzentech X-Fi Forte which I know jack all about, so some help here may be required. I'm still definitely open to all suggestions, this information is just what I've come across so far

Cheers

EDIT: Just realised how much of an essay I wrote. Sorry for the long read!

 

[N0sferatu]

I haven't gamed in a long time on the PC but if I recall EAX is falling out of favor thanks to the audio stack revamp since Vista/Win7. Anyways, I use an Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 (uses the CMI8788 Oxygen chipset and upgraded the OPAMPs) and I love it but you'll never find one so...anyways I also had an Auzentech Xi-Fi Forte in my slim case HTPC for a while and it was equal to the task.

Most claim the Auzen line hurt frame rates in games but with the amount of power most have with the CPU & GPU who really cares if you get good quality sound from the computer.

 

[AnAnalogSpirit]

It is marvelous. The C-Media Oxygen DSP... The 4 8-DIP sockets... for opamps... amazing. optical out that is either coax or toslkink...

You can PM if you chose to get one.

I have a spare. Ive been hiding and I just find it.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Yeah, the XM's are pretty good cards. I still have mine and check it out on occassion.

What you need in a soudncard is based on what features you want. EAX and OpenAL are still avilable in Vista and Win7 and hardware accelerated.

If you want a card that has gaming features, then look to the Auzentech cards as they have higher quality components then CL's cards meant for gaming.

 

[N0sferatu]

hah ROBSCIX you're here to...why am I not surprised?

You still kicking around the HD595's?

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by N0sferatu /img/forum/go_quote.gif hah ROBSCIX you're here to...why am I not surprised? You still kicking around the HD595's?

I am everywhere.
I still have the HD595's among a few others.

 

[N0sferatu]

what else do you have? I'm contemplating splurging on the Denon D7000 today

 

[ausjoker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBSCIX /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you want a card that has gaming features, then look to the Auzentech cards as they have higher quality components then CL's cards meant for gaming.

Cheers for the responses. Judging from what I can tell the Auzentech X-Fi Forte looks to be the go seeing as I really want it for gaming, unless anyone can suggest anything different (the X-Meridan sounds great but I'd prefer to get something locally here in Aus, and it sounds as if it's quite hard to find).

EDIT: Scratch that, a quick google makes it look like the X-Fi Forte doesn't have an optical port which I would prefer.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ausjoker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cheers for the responses. Judging from what I can tell the Auzentech X-Fi Forte looks to be the go seeing as I really want it for gaming, unless anyone can suggest anything different (the X-Meridan sounds great but I'd prefer to get something locally here in Aus, and it sounds as if it's quite hard to find). EDIT: Scratch that, a quick google makes it look like the X-Fi Forte doesn't have an optical port which I would prefer.

Not so fast, the Forte has a combo port so it comes with an adapter for optical. You just push in into the CoaX jack and you have optical.
Most of Auzens designs are like this. To note, the S/Pdif output is also transformer coupled which many prefer for signal quality.

 

[wudai_e]

if you are really shooting for a full experience, get a decent used receiver like the Pioneer SC-05 and just use the digital out from the motherboard and get a better set of speakers than your current one...

You'll be surprised... It's probably way out of the 200 budget but it's just a one time fire and forget

 

[ROBSCIX]

It depends on the card and receiver because many receivers use lower grade DAC's in their S/Pdif input sections. While using onboard to a receiver would probably soudn the best using digital. Many times using a modern soundcard, the card and receiver combo sounds better when using an analog connection. If you have a modern soundcard and a receiver, try it out. You may be surprised.

 

[N0sferatu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBSCIX /img/forum/go_quote.gif It depends on the card and receiver because many receivers use lower grade DAC's in their S/Pdif input sections. While using onboard to a receiver would probably soudn the best using digital. Many times using a modern soundcard, the card and receiver combo sounds better when using an analog connection. If you have a modern soundcard and a receiver, try it out. You may be surprised.

True in some cases but if you spend at least around $800+ I've found better sound can come from using the AV receiver's DACs. It's the reason I sold my Auzen Forte and just use onboard HDMI for all my audio/video needs

 

[ausjoker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBSCIX /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not so fast, the Forte has a combo port so it comes with an adapter for optical. You just push in into the CoaX jack and you have optical. Most of Auzens designs are like this. To note, the S/Pdif output is also transformer coupled which many prefer for signal quality.

Cheers for that. I've actually started looking at the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude - it's a little out of my original budget but the reviews seem to be very good... any thoughts? Would it provide much of a difference to me using it with Z5500's and something like the Audio Technica ATH-A900 or AD700 headphones? Also looking at future proofing a bit, don't want to get another sound card in a year or something if I can help it...

 

[muad]

Well the forte is cheaper and has a headphone amp... other than that the specs are quite similar. According to reviews the forte sounds great. I think another consideration between the two is that the forte is pci-e and the prelude is pci. Many motherboards place the pci-e slots close to the video card slot. So make sure you've got the room for it.

 

[wudai_e]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ausjoker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cheers for that. I've actually started looking at the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude - it's a little out of my original budget but the reviews seem to be very good... any thoughts? Would it provide much of a difference to me using it with Z5500's and something like the Audio Technica ATH-A900 or AD700 headphones? Also looking at future proofing a bit, don't want to get another sound card in a year or something if I can help it...

Thats the sound card I'm using, and if you look around they can be had for around 70 US dollars used, That's how I got mine. And as far as I know, that's the only way you can get that card now because it's no longer being produced, I could be wrong tho. however if you planning listening with headphone's connected to your sound card prelude probably won't be the best option because I found its build in DAC and amp a bit lacking... maybe you should look at ASUS's flagship sound cards for powering headphones.

If you don't planning on changing out your speakers, chances are you won't notice that much of a difference between sound cards aimed towards the "picky ears". dollar invested on sound cards can only go so much when you talk about only home entertainment. the most audible difference dollar for dollar is: room treament>speakers/headphones>all else