Modern replacement for Creative X-Fi Titanium XtremeMusic

[imrazor]

I recently got a reward for being a good boy at work, a pair of Grado SR-325x cans. Connecting them up to a recent mac Mini was rather underwhelming, so I decided to hook them up to my old/backup PC. It sounds even better than my main gaming rig due to the presence of an ancient, but still very much functional, Creative X-Fi Titanium XtremeMusic. While it still sounds fantastic, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find drivers for it. And since it is PCI (not PCIe) it will not fit into a modern computer.

What recent audio cards can provide comparable quality yet fit in a modern PC?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Do you need the features of a sound card?
Or would an external USB DAC/amp do the job (guessing it would)?
Budget?

Your modern computer should already come with an on-board sound chip.
But an external DAC/amp would normally be better.

 

[dunring]

I've had every Creative card for the business. The Sound blaster AE-7 will be a big upgrade in every category from what you have now. The AE-9 is nice, but requires a molex 6 pin connector of its own and the amp in the audio control module draws 80 watts from your power supply. The AE-7 will have tons of power and sounds better than the AE-5 by a margin.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I recently got a reward for being a good boy at work, a pair of Grado SR-325x cans. Connecting them up to a recent mac Mini was rather underwhelming, so I decided to hook them up to my old/backup PC. It sounds even better than my main gaming rig due to the presence of an ancient, but still very much functional, Creative X-Fi Titanium XtremeMusic. While it still sounds fantastic, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find drivers for it. And since it is PCI (not PCIe) it will not fit into a modern computer.

What recent audio cards can provide comparable quality yet fit in a modern PC?

A Topping DX1 or Schiit Fulla (both around $100) would a start.

 

[Anticipator]

I recently got a reward for being a good boy at work, a pair of Grado SR-325x cans. Connecting them up to a recent mac Mini was rather underwhelming, so I decided to hook them up to my old/backup PC. It sounds even better than my main gaming rig due to the presence of an ancient, but still very much functional, Creative X-Fi Titanium XtremeMusic. While it still sounds fantastic, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find drivers for it. And since it is PCI (not PCIe) it will not fit into a modern computer.

What recent audio cards can provide comparable quality yet fit in a modern PC?

Just keep your old X-Fi it sounds darn good with anything. If you want to open up a full potential of your Grado then find a decent amp, preferably Grado amp. I recently got myself Creative AE-9 and I don't like it for music, I only use it with some videogames. Newer Creative products do not use X-Fi technology, yes it's more immersive gaming experience, but music is completely different story... The only few nice things about AE-9: swappable op amps; audio interface with phantom power for mic; gain switch and volume knob. Other than that it doesn't worth its price. And yeah, almost forgot to mention newer software sucks, older X-Fi software was made much more thoughtfully and user-friendly, with more features in mind.

 

[here7423]

Try ASUS STX II with PCIE interface. Although it is not the latest product, it sounds more modern, with a larger sound field and dynamics. It has a different style compared to the Creative card, and it goes well with ASUS's top-level ROG motherboard. If the op amp is replaced with a gold-sealed op amp, the effect will be better.