quastar
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2011
- Posts
- 33
- Likes
- 0
I need some assistance in which direction I should take. Lately I've been having some annoying issues with my current soundcard, Auzentech X-fi Forte. Sometimes windows randomly says that it cannot detect it. I've found that a way around this issue is to go into the audio control panel and switch around to the 3 different modes (entertainment, gaming, ACM) and hope that one of them would work. I've had it when it was first released years ago and I've had my share of minor issues with it, but never anything major that would made me wanted to get rid of it. Reinstalling the drivers has always provided a short term fix, but sooner or later a problem would arise again. Although I am content with its performance and features, it has come to a point where I don't feel like dealing with it anymore.
I have loud pc speakers that I use, mainly during the day time and for conveniences, but most of my "serious" gaming and listening to music is done with headphones, and I'm not too critical with my music. I used my Forte as my source and I have a O2 amp. So, I have a two main options in mind.
1) I could look for a new sound card that's has decent DAC. I don't want to spend anymore than I have to and perhaps most importantly, it must not have many reported issues with windows 7. I haven't been keeping up with soundcards, so I'll need some suggestions.
2) Use my onboard audio for loud speakers, and purchase a external DAC (maybe odac) when using my headphones. I'll probably get the best headphone audio quality by going this route, but the major issue is that I have a budget motherboard with only 3 audio ports and no S/PDIF output so I'll lose out on any DSP functions and 5.1 capability. Enhancing the bass via creative software is a guilty pleasure of mine. It's been a while since I've used onboard audio, but the plus is that at least i won't have to worry about driver related issues.
Any advice on which I should consider?
I have loud pc speakers that I use, mainly during the day time and for conveniences, but most of my "serious" gaming and listening to music is done with headphones, and I'm not too critical with my music. I used my Forte as my source and I have a O2 amp. So, I have a two main options in mind.
1) I could look for a new sound card that's has decent DAC. I don't want to spend anymore than I have to and perhaps most importantly, it must not have many reported issues with windows 7. I haven't been keeping up with soundcards, so I'll need some suggestions.
2) Use my onboard audio for loud speakers, and purchase a external DAC (maybe odac) when using my headphones. I'll probably get the best headphone audio quality by going this route, but the major issue is that I have a budget motherboard with only 3 audio ports and no S/PDIF output so I'll lose out on any DSP functions and 5.1 capability. Enhancing the bass via creative software is a guilty pleasure of mine. It's been a while since I've used onboard audio, but the plus is that at least i won't have to worry about driver related issues.
Any advice on which I should consider?
