[Gil80]

My audio setup:
SoundBlaster Z series PCI card
AudioEngine 5+ speakers
AudioTechnica ATH-900X headphones

My PC is quite old (2012). Today I won a new PC in some competition and the motherboard is a mini-ITX which has only 1 PCI-E slot for the GPU. That's the motherboard and that's the onboard sound card details. What options are available for me to get something similar to the SoundBlaster Z card if I don't have PCI-E slot to spare?

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

First beautiful m/b.

Try the onboard sound card if it works for you.

If not to your liking, need to go to an external DAC (USB). Since that PCI-E will be populated by your graphics card.

What's your budget? Do you have stereo or surround setup?

For surround this might be a direct replacement: https://www.amazon.com.au/Creative-...ds=surround+audio+card&qid=1619471651&sr=8-24

For 2 channel setups you can go Schiit, Ifi Audio or Fiio (these are the popular ones): https://addictedtoaudio.com.au/collections/desktop-headphone-amps-and-dacs?sort_by=price-ascending

 

[Gil80]

Hi.
Thanks for the reply and thanks for providing links for the Australian market!!
It's all stereo setup. I prefer good quality cans and speakers over gaming gimmick headphones

What I like about the SoundBlaster card is the option to toggle between headphones and speakers from the SB control panel. So convenient.

The mobo soundcard doesn't have 2 dedicated audio outputs, so I'm losing on that convenience.

Budget-wise, $150AUD is what I can afford. But I say that with caution. I wouldn't spend that money just for the sake of convenience only. I'd want the money to also provide better amplification and sound quality, at least on paper (based on specs).
Out of the products listed in the 2 channel setup - what would you recommend?

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

This is more popular but a bit over to your budget:
https://addictedtoaudio.com.au/coll.../ifi-audio-zen-dac-v2-headphone-amplifier-dac

This one will do the job.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Fosi-Audi...&qid=1619505269&sprefix=fosi+a,aps,327&sr=8-4

If you want to stick with Creative, X3 mentioned above is ok. Just a pain to install (software wise) and has a plastic feel.

 

[Gil80]

thank you!