[apatN]

is there any kind of thing (plugin or something) to increase sound quality in gaming?

im using a xfi extreme music card in gaming mode for gaming and in, i hope, 3 days i have my hd595..

 

[spacemanspliff]

yes it's called a DAC or an amp. my suggestion is to pick up a used Zhalou 2 with the upgraded amp and a digital coaxial cable from Ram.

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/RCA-mini-spdif.html

It will cost around $190 or so for everything. You can also get a cheaper dac if it's too much $$$.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Might want an amp too, so you have an analogue attenuator

 

[apatN]

any chance of something around 50 USD?

 

[spacemanspliff]

look on the fs for a used amp. I saw a few for around $50.

 

[Ahriman4891]

USB audio devices slow down the computer (or is it just my 0404usb?) So they are a no-no for serious gaming (unless you are severely GPU-bottlenecked, which hardly complies with "serious gaming"). Plus most games used low-bitrate .ogg files. X-fi is more than enough, or if you don't like its sound for some reason, look into Auzentech X-meridian or maybe ESI Juli@ and EMU 1212M. (none of these have the latest EAX).

 

[EnOYiN]

I am using a USB device while gaming. No problems at all. You will need a pretty good computer though.

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EnOYiN /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am using a USB device while gaming. No problems at all. You will need a pretty good computer though.

take a look at my sweet rig

p4 dnno what..
1280 mb ram
geforce 4 series

sweet eiyh

 

[Nicker]

Got the modded xfi-elite pro here... for gaming it has 64megs of x-ram (basically has its own ram to use for gaming so the computer doesnt eat the needed ram for audio).

Works great... and EAX 5.0 I believe.

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Got the modded xfi-elite pro here... for gaming it has 64megs of x-ram (basically has its own ram to use for gaming so the computer doesnt eat the needed ram for audio). Works great... and EAX 5.0 I believe.

x-ram is useless.. sure it is nice, but there are only a few games supporting x-ram.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Unless you want to upgrade to the Elite Pro, you're pretty much at the pinnacle of the gaming vs. sound quality compromise. Or, get a better DAC, which will probably cost well over $200.

Considering you probably paid more than $50 for the XtremeMusic, no, there's almost no possible way to upgrade for that amount.

 

[kanamin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif take a look at my sweet rig p4 dnno what.. 1280 mb ram geforce 4 series sweet eiyh

lol, you do realize they're on the 8 series now, right? Eh, I don't have any right to diss, my card's two gens behind anyway (X800).

You could just mod your X-Fi

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=229350

Wait, OH you're talking about software, yeah I'd stick with the creative software if you're gaming, esp if the game supports EAX.

 

[apatN]

i sure realise we (/some people) are on the 8 series..

unfortunetly (thats not the way you write that?) my dad doesnt think it's necessary to buy a new computer...

 

[ROBSCIX]

There is a method that a few of us are using now, where we use TWO soundcard. The first is a Creative Labs cards and the Second is a X-Meridian. We then use a new appliction to link the two cards internally. Using this setup you have all the DSP features of the Creative card such as EAX, OpenAL but the output is handled by the X-Meridian 7.1 The sound quality is significantly better. In fact it is said this is the BEST sounding audio setup possible for gaming.
Latley I have been playing COD2 with EAX 3 and Dolby Headphone

sounds better to me then CMSS for headphones

 

[infinitesymphony]

ROBSCIX, that's an interesting idea... Some people have been slaving the E-MU 1212M to X-Fi cards, but that's only two channels. Do you still retain all of the surround information when you send the digital audio to the X-Meridian 7.1?