PC soundcards in 2025, worth considering or should I look for something else?

[BadSound]

Hello everyone,
I have some pcie soundcards for my current computer but I can't decide which one to choose or if it is worth it at all to have one.
The models of the soundcards are:
1) Asus Xonar D2X
2) Asus Xonar Essence STX
3) Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium
Some background - I don't play or produce music, I just listen to various music genres but mostly electronic music. Currently I have a pair of Swissonic Asm7 studio monitors, a pair of Logitech z623 2.1 speakers and a pair of ATH-M50X headphones but I plan on maybe upgrading to a better pair of headphones (tho I have no clue what to get and I'm not looking to spend a ton of money). I am generally looking for a decent setup to listen and enjoy music casually both with headphones and speakers/monitors. Any suggestions are appreciated in regards to if I should keep any of them or sell them all (both soundcards and the speakers) and get something that's better/different or go in a different direction (DAC or dedicated external soundcard).
TIA

Edit: I live in Europe and I don't mind buying second hand.

 

[dunring]

I've had almost every sound card on the market for my business, there only two I buy these days. The Soundblaster AE-9 and AE-7 are excellent, with plenty of power. Direct mode is where they sound best, the surround degrades it, but gamers really go for it anyway. The AE-5 is pretty decent too if you can get one for $50 or less on eBay. The ones you're looking at have little power and you'll be in high gain mode a lot most likely for the worst sound quality.
The best price is usually at the Creative refurbished site. Stuff there I've gotten come with 30 day warranty, free shipping, and they didn't charge sales tax either.

https://us.creative.com/p/refurbished

Things go in and out of stock every couple of days, but they test everything and it always works when I get things there.

 

[BadSound]

I've had almost every sound card on the market for my business, there only two I buy these days. The Soundblaster AE-9 and AE-7 are excellent, with plenty of power. Direct mode is where they sound best, the surround degrades it, but gamers really go for it anyway. The AE-5 is pretty decent too if you can get one for $50 or less on eBay. The ones you're looking at have little power and you'll be in high gain mode a lot most likely for the worst sound quality.
The best price is usually at the Creative refurbished site. Stuff there I've gotten come with 30 day warranty, free shipping, and they didn't charge sales tax either.

https://us.creative.com/p/refurbished

Things go in and out of stock every couple of days, but they test everything and it always works when I get things there.

Thanks for the recommendation I'll look into them! The ones that I have I was told they are high end models but personally I don't really buy into that and I mostly go for best for value stuff without breaking the bank. Also I don't really play games, maybe once in a while but I enjoy watching series, videos and mainly listen to music.

 

[VNandor]

Is there a reason you don't want to use an external USB audio interface instead? I can't think of any drawbacks compared to a pcie soundcard.

 

[BadSound]

Is there a reason you don't want to use an external USB audio interface instead? I can't think of any drawbacks compared to a pcie soundcard.

There's absolutely no reason that I don't wanna use one, I just happen to have the pcie cards hence the question if I should keep one or sell them all and get and external audio interface. I looked into them but many have many channels and inputs for microphones, guitars or other music production extras that I don't need. I would just need one for speakers/monitors and headphones with headroom for upgrade in the future.

 

[VNandor]

IMO, external soundcards are more practical and versatile compared to pcie soundcards while having comparable sound quality. They are easier to setup/troubleshoot, easier to replace, easier to connect and disconnect other hardware to it, an audio input is often times handy even if you don't plan to produce and don't see an immediate benefit to it. More minimalistic USB DAC/amps do exist, such as the FiiO K11, although I never tried them (or looked for devices with less features specifically).

With that said, I used to have the asus xonar essence stx for while and was happy with it for the most part. Its headphone amp could output about 6.5V into my HD600 making it deafeningly loud. I wouldn't necessarily recommend to get rid of the soundcards you already have but if you end up buying a new source, I would recommend getting an external DAC/amp with connectors you end up needing instead.

 

[BadSound]

IMO, external soundcards are more practical and versatile compared to pcie soundcards while having comparable sound quality. They are easier to setup/troubleshoot, easier to replace, easier to connect and disconnect other hardware to it, an audio input is often times handy even if you don't plan to produce and don't see an immediate benefit to it. More minimalistic USB DAC/amps do exist, such as the FiiO K11, although I never tried them (or looked for devices with less features specifically).

With that said, I used to have the asus xonar essence stx for while and was happy with it for the most part. Its headphone amp could output about 6.5V into my HD600 making it deafeningly loud. I wouldn't necessarily recommend to get rid of the soundcards you already have but if you end up buying a new source, I would recommend getting an external DAC/amp with connectors you end up needing instead.

I've read that pcie cards are getting obsolete and that manufacturers put decent audio chips on their motherboards but some of them may still be relevant. I wanted to get an external dac/amp but I didn't find something tailored to my needs plus I'm not in a position to spend 400+ bucks for that (at least not yet).

 

[Ali-Pacha]

You could get an RME HDSPe AIO Pro, it's basically an ADI-2 Pro on a PCIe card, including the same design for headphones out. But it's not cheap (although cheaper than ADI-2) and a bit overkill as it's a full grown audio interface with lots of analog and digital I/O.

Ali

 

[BadSound]

You could get an RME HDSPe AIO Pro, it's basically an ADI-2 Pro on a PCIe card, including the same design for headphones out. But it's not cheap (although cheaper than ADI-2) and a bit overkill as it's a full grown audio interface with lots of analog and digital I/O.

Ali

Sadly it is overkill but I don't think I need such an advanced soundcard. Also it doesn't need to be a pcie card, I was only wondering if the ones I have are good in general or if I should buy something else. I'm leaning towards buying a usb interface because I've read it's really easy to control and drivers are better than integrated pcie sound cards. Thank you for the suggestion in any case!