Need a new sound card / amp / something. Please recommend

[erratik]

Ya i hear ya and appreciate the advice, but when i tried them out i lost the little bit of control i did have.  I'll just wait it out for a month til i get the essense
 
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To be perfectly honest, if you're no longer limited to Newegg, I'd suggest breaking away from Sound Cards, unless you need the higher quality mic-in, or you'll be using some kind of DSP.  (IE: If you wanted the Forte's hardware acceleration and CMSS3D and etc, you could get that card and feed a digital out from it to a DAC/Amp, and gain the better quality AND the digital processing.)
 
Usually, external DACs (such as the previously mentioned Sparrow, or it's big brother, the Audio-GD FUN) preform a lot better than sound cards...  I'd highly recommend looking into them, and once again turning your world upsidedown.
 
Some recommendations sub $300 that would beat the ST/STX:
 
Audio-GD Sparrow (DAC/Amp)
Audio-GD FUN (DAC/Amp)
Little Dot DAC-I  (With a paired, low end Little Dot amp?  BEAUTIFUL.)
Used/modded Zero DAC (DAC/Amp)
Audinst HUD-MX1 (DAC/Amp)

How would an external DAC affect ingame?  I do care marginally more about that than the music side

 

[Hybrys]

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Yes, if you have the budget, you can go with a DAC and amp system. 
 
@Hybrys, not to sure about some of those recommendation for surpassing the ST/STX.
The last three...not even close.

My Zero sounded a fair bit better to me than my buddies STX.  That said, mine did start up in smoke later on.  <_<  And I quite like the Little Dot DAC-I, it in combination with a budget (~200) Little Dot amp would blow it out of the water.
 
The last two are arguable, but the last three?  Nah.

 

[ROBSCIX]

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My Zero sounded a fair bit better to me than my buddies STX.  That said, mine did start up in smoke later on.  <_<  And I quite like the Little Dot DAC-I, it in combination with a budget (~200) Little Dot amp would blow it out of the water.
 
The last two are arguable, but the last three?  Nah.

Well others might disagree, you heard your buddies STX but not the ST which many around here suggest is noticably better.  There are many ways he can go if he has the budget but given such impressions of gear you have not compred directly does little to help anybody.  Anyway, nothing to argue about, I would also suggest that if he has to money to go external or perhaps a hybrid system using a ST for DAC and a external Amp for the headphones.
The Audio-GD gear has been getting great reviews around here also...

 

[erratik]

ST > STX ?
 
I was planning on using the STX -> CanAmp -> DT880s or STX -> Undecided tube amp -> k701s dependingon which i liked more when i get a chance to try em on
 
course the ST to STX swap doesnt relaly change anything as far as budget goes

 

[ROBSCIX]

Well the ST is PCI so some prefer the STX.  However, the ST also has the jitter correction chip that many say makes a difference.

 

[erratik]

Well I was originally looking at the ST because i wasnt aware i could put a PCI-E 1x in a 4x or 16x slot, and just kind of assumed the STX would be better from bus speeds and such

 

[ROBSCIX]

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Well I was originally looking at the ST because i wasnt aware i could put a PCI-E 1x in a 4x or 16x slot, and just kind of assumed the STX would be better from bus speeds and such

You can use PCI-E X1 cards in other PCI-E slots.  Nobody has mentioned any issues with speeds between the cards.
The STX is using a PCI based Chipset but it has a bridging chip so your basically using the same chipset on both cards.

 

[erratik]

oh.  well ill prolly go with the ST then so i dont have to try to fight moving stuff around in my case.  it has the built in amp also i assume?  in case i cant afford an amp right away

 

[ROBSCIX]

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oh.  well ill prolly go with the ST then so i dont have to try to fight moving stuff around in my case.  it has the built in amp also i assume?  in case i cant afford an amp right away

Yes, it has the same amp as the STX.  Similar cards aside from the ST having an improved timing section and the option to add an expansion card for 7.1
 

 

[erratik]

oh okay, neat

 

[falis]

Yeah, you do have to RTFM to get the best out of them, but I'm kind of surprised they didn't work out of the box.  Oh well.  Good luck!
 
- Ed
 
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ya definitely, I just was overly excited hoping that something would be less of a pain than creatives drivers :X