[dillon157]

I am looking to buy a new soundcard for my computer. Just like many of you, I like my music as perfect as my budget allows me to make it. I will be using my sound card for my Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speakers and my AKG K240s headphones. I really don't want to spend more than $150 but I want something good. Any suggestions?

I was looking at the M-Audio Revolution 5.1 and the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic but if you have any more suggestions please let me know.
Thanks

 

[db597]

Do you play any games? If so, the X-fi would be a good choice.

 

[dillon157]

I don't really play many games, every now and then I'll play SWAT but I usually just listen to music on my PC. I just know I need a better source than my motherboard's onboard sound provides. I don't think I'm doing my speakers and headphones justice without a good sound card. But yeah, I'll need it for music mainly.

Do you think the X-Fi would be a good choice just for listening to music or do you have any other suggestions?

 

[JaGWiRE]

Even if you don't play games, I'de recommend the x-fi. I had a revo before and I didn't really like it, the x-fi is much better control panel wise and more user friendly imho with more features. At the same time, the revolution 5.1 has an intergrated headphone amp (unlike the 7.1), which you might like.

I found the revolution absolutely horrible for games, it totally killed the sound from what I remember.

 

[dillon157]

Will the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic work with a 5.1/ 7.1 system?

 

[device manager]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dillon157 Will the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic work with a 5.1 or 7.1 system?

All of the above.

The X-Fi is pretty much the best card for gaming (DS3D, A3D, Open AL, EAX 5.0), but it also servers as an audiophile card. It offers built-in hardware AC3/DTS decoding, ASIO 2.0 support, digital out (coax), bit-perfect capability, mode switching, excellent driver support, and the ability to use a 44.1 kHz sample rate in Audio Creation mode. Normal price for the Xtreme Music is $125 shipped, and you can occasionally pick it up for under $100 after rebate. Even if you do not play a lot of games it's still a smart solution.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by device manager All of the above. The X-Fi is pretty much the best card for gaming (DS3D, A3D, Open AL, EAX 5.0), built-in hardware AC3/DTS decoding, ASIO 2.0 support, digital out (coax), bit-perfect capability, mode switching, excellent driver support, and the ability to use a 44.1 kHz sample rate in Audio Creation mode. Normal price for the Xtreme Music is $125 shipped, and you can occasionally pick it up for under $100 after rebate.

Pretty much sums it up. Like I've always said, I believe it is truly the best consumer card on the market. The professional cards such as the e-mu don't pass DTS/DD(AC3) signals, and have rather bad control panels from my experiences. The x-fi is a brease to use, and they resell easy. I think pyrophonez found the x-fi for like $80 on newegg a few weeks ago. I really love the inputs on my elite pro, it allows me so much flexibility on recording sateille radio and stuff, and the extra digital outputs are great for somebody like me who never can get enough components

.

 

[db597]

The X-fi, like many Sound Blasters before it, is a benchmark card that the industry is measured against. For this reason, it gets a lot of flak on this forum - people always want to stand out and be better than the benchmark. But the benchmark is already very good, and people end up sacrificing EAX, decoding features and headphone jacks in order to beat the X-fi sonically. To me that's not a balanced approach, but I guess some people feel it's worth it.

Another thing is the DAC. The X-fi Elite Pro has an upgraded AKM 5394AVS DAC, so if you're really into listening to CD on your PC, this may interest you too.

And finally, careful about some of the OEM X-Fi cards. I know the Dell version is missing some of the surround decoding features. Check that your OEM card has the same feature set as the retail version before buying it.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by db597 The X-fi, like many Sound Blasters before it, is a benchmark card that the industry is measured against. For this reason, it gets a lot of flak on this forum - people always want to stand out and be better than the benchmark. But the benchmark is already very good, and people end up sacrificing EAX, decoding features and headphone jacks in order to beat the X-fi sonically. To me that's not a balanced approach, but I guess some people feel it's worth it. Another thing is the DAC. The X-fi Elite Pro has an upgraded AKM 5394AVS DAC, so if you're really into listening to CD on your PC, this may interest you too. And finally, careful about some of the OEM X-Fi cards. I know the Dell version is missing some of the surround decoding features. Check that your OEM card has the same feature set as the retail version before buying it.

I believe OEM has some warranty problems too, right? And yeah, the elite pro has an upgraded dac, which I haven't compared to the xtreme musics, but it is a different card. Still, I love the elite pro, enough outputs for DD/DTS output, and for use as a transport.

 

[db597]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaGWiRE I believe OEM has some warranty problems too, right? And yeah, the elite pro has an upgraded dac, which I haven't compared to the xtreme musics, but it is a different card. Still, I love the elite pro, enough outputs for DD/DTS output, and for use as a transport.

Funny thing is that I always wished the Elite Pro came without the breakout box and remote control. I just want the card!

 

[Duggeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by db597 Funny thing is that I always wished the Elite Pro came without the breakout box and remote control. I just want the card!

Then buy the card ans sell the box. The box can be attatched to the other models as I understand.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggeh Then buy the card ans sell the box. The box can be attatched to the other models as I understand.

Yeah, you can probably get like $200-250 for it I'de think? The breakout box is why I love the elite pro personally though.

 

[gates_2]

LOL

I saw a used elite pro go for $225 the other day on ebay- what a good deal!!! Running foobar ASIO--->Xfi elite pro---> AKG501 sounds really good! As i've said before, the XFi is great if you do more than one thing, IE play games and listen critically to music. If you are only a headphile, the card probably isn't the best for you, but for those who like to "dabble"- the cost/performance ratio can not be beat, imho.

 

[daba]

ESI Juli@, E-MU 1212m, E-MU 0404 are all great choices.

 

[soloz2]

the X-Fi is the best all around card you can get for the money.

the Xtreme Music and Platinum are exactly the same card. the Platinum just has the drive bay which adds front in/out and I believe the headphone out is amped

the Fatality has more onboard RAM and the front bay drive. The extra RAM can be used in games, but the games have to be coded to use it. there are only a couple games out that use it (quake 4, BF2 are the only 2 that come to mind) also, early versions of the Fatality were prone to popping noises... I'm pretty sure they got this fixed though.

elite pro has the extra onboard RAM, breakout box and upgraded DAC So it has the most in/outs and will have slightly better analogue sound. Not sure if it is worth about 3x the price as the Xtreme Music though


and as for OEM cards. You should be perfectly fine buying an OEM, just buy it from a place like Newegg. Then you'll get the same exact card. I buy OEM drives all the time and have never had a problem