[McCol]

I know this probably gets asked a lot, and I did search before posting but still couldnt come to a decision.

I want to buy a soundcard for my PC, will be using mainly to drive Sennheiser 555 and every so often maybe my IE8's. Will never have speakers connected.

Music and games are the main things I need from the soundcard.

I think I've narrowed it down to these - Asus Xonar D2X, Auzen X-Fi Forte and the Asus Essence STX.

Reason for these is that they all seem to get glowing reviews for their audio but looking to hear from anybody with experience of either 2 or 3 of these cards.

The STX is probably outside of my budget which is approx £130.

 

[JMT391]

I know you are looking for someone with experience, but this is all FWIR. The Forte is a great compromise between gaming and music, and being that the STX is out of your budget, I think that is what you should get. The STX is a great card aimed at audiophiles, but does not have true 7.1 audio for gaming. If music is your main priority, I would go with the STX for a bit more money (save up a bit) because of the headphone amp.