[subtle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by huba_99 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Furthermore I'd like to ask, whether it would be better to forget about head-fi's and instead buy a Logitech z-2300. Do you guys think that it'd be a better sound experience? If so, my roommates will just have to adjust themselves....

No, not at all. The positioning you will get in FPS's with headphones is far superior to any speaker setup.

 

[Skin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ear8dmg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Who says Xonar is at a £100 premium over X-Fi? D1 or DX will be fine, especially if you add an amp somewhere down the line. They start off at the same sort of price as an X-Fi Xtreme Music or Xtreme Gamer.

That may be and i agree the Xonars are very good for music, but when it comes to games they are garbage. The EAX emulation simply doesnt work, and i've noticed a number of bugs. Add to that the fact that ASUS hasnt done a decent driver update in almost a year and you get a good reason not to purchase their products.

 

[ear8dmg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skin /img/forum/go_quote.gif That may be and i agree the Xonars are very good for music, but when it comes to games they are garbage. The EAX emulation simply doesnt work, and i've noticed a number of bugs. Add to that the fact that ASUS hasnt done a decent driver update in almost a year and you get a good reason not to purchase their products.

Xonars are not garbage for gaming. They're the second best cards out there if you're using speakers and IMO the best if using headphones. The DS3D-GX implementation of higher level EAX4 and 5 isn't a 1:1 rendering but it beats plain old EAX 2 hands down. Plus I much prefer Dolby Headphone to CMSS-3D headphone. I'd easily take EAX2 or DS3D-GX and Dolby Headphone over EAX5 with CMSS-3D headphone. I've had 3 X-Fis, a Go! (which shouldn't really be called an X-Fi) an Xtreme Music and a Prelude. Conducted listening tests including gaming with the Xonar D2 and Prelude in the same machine. I was reluctant to get rid of it but the Prelude had to go. I concluded that I would miss the Xonar too much if I got rid of it.

Xonar drivers were updated this week, which was admittedly well overdue. Tried one issue (with Rome: Total War) that had been giving me problems and it was fixed. Not sure about others.

The main things that are big plus for X-Fi are Alchemy and EAX working practically all the time. It sure beats having to remember whether GX should be turned on or off.

 

[huba_99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by subtle /img/forum/go_quote.gif No, not at all. The positioning you will get in FPS's with headphones is far superior to any speaker setup.

Really? Wow, I can't wait to get the headphones then! They must sound good!

 

[deeplove]

Huba, I hope you enjoy your purchase. It's best to start off simple. You wouldn't want to spend a bunch of money at one time and then regret it.

Making the choice on getting a good card and a decent set of headphones is a great start. Once you get used to the headphones and if you feel that you need something more then you know what you really want in a headphone or other.

Let us know how it works out for you. I'm curious.

 

[Skin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ear8dmg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Xonars are not garbage for gaming. They're the second best cards out there if you're using speakers and IMO the best if using headphones. The DS3D-GX implementation of higher level EAX4 and 5 isn't a 1:1 rendering but it beats plain old EAX 2 hands down. Plus I much prefer Dolby Headphone to CMSS-3D headphone. I'd easily take EAX2 or DS3D-GX and Dolby Headphone over EAX5 with CMSS-3D headphone. I've had 3 X-Fis, a Go! (which shouldn't really be called an X-Fi) an Xtreme Music and a Prelude. Conducted listening tests including gaming with the Xonar D2 and Prelude in the same machine. I was reluctant to get rid of it but the Prelude had to go. I concluded that I would miss the Xonar too much if I got rid of it.

Auzentech is better for gaming, then Asus, only because there is practically nobody else who still manufactures sound cards, again thanks to Asus doing an exclusivity deal with C-Media.

And i never said the Emulation was bad, i said it doesnt work, which for me and prior to the new driver release [which i havent tested yet] was broken in essentially every single recently released title i tried it with. If the emulation worked fine then i wouldnt have a problem, and i hardly game at all. If i were purchasing a card for games, this would simply be unacceptable.

Quote:

Xonar drivers were updated this week, which was admittedly well overdue. Tried one issue (with Rome: Total War) that had been giving me problems and it was fixed. Not sure about others.

Thanks for the heads up. Hopefully they fixed all the issues but i wont hold my breath. At this rate maybe they'll solve the driver problems in 3-4 years.

I wouldnt mind having the ability to shut the card off remotely as well to solve stuck looping issues without a complete reboot.

Edit, and how very right i was. Installed the new drivers and now the audio in netflix streaming is completely broken. Driver uninstalls/reinstalls of various versions does nothing to fix it, probably because the uninstalls dont actually remove all of the files/changes. Superb job programming Asus /golf clap. How they can break silverlights streaming audio in a driver is really quite remarkable. I think i've had enough of their products. Again. I must be a glutton for punishment.

 

[obobskivich]

I love how just because everyone hates Creative, "second best" is a valid arguement (so who's first best there, chief?)

 

[huba_99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by deeplove /img/forum/go_quote.gif Huba, I hope you enjoy your purchase. It's best to start off simple. You wouldn't want to spend a bunch of money at one time and then regret it. Making the choice on getting a good card and a decent set of headphones is a great start. Once you get used to the headphones and if you feel that you need something more then you know what you really want in a headphone or other. Let us know how it works out for you. I'm curious.

That sounds very reasonable. Thank you for your help. I'll get back to you guys on the purchase....