[fidai]

Want to buy this Board but was wondering about its Audio if its better than the creative X7.
 
Asus Board:https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-RAMPAGE-V-EDITION-10/
 

Audio

External — ROG SupremeFX Hi-Fi with: - 1 x ESS® ES9018K2M DAC - 2 x Texas Instruments LM4562 op-amps - 1 x TPA6120A2 headphone amp - 1 x Cirrus Logic CS5361 DAC - 5 x RC4580 op-amps   Onboard — SupremeFX 8-Channel high-definition audio codec: - SupremeFX shielding technology - Dual op-amps - Jack-detection, multi-streaming, and front-panel jack-retasking - Optical S/PDIF-out port on back panel

 
Creative X7: http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-x7-limited-edition
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/756102/creative-sound-blaster-x7-detailed-review-impressions

 

[PurpleAngel]

I'm going to guess a $70 Sound Blaster Z sound card would easily equal the Rampage V Edition 10's on-board audio.
 
Might sure this ($130) used Schiit Modi/Magni stack would easily equal or even slightly best the audio quality of the on-board audio.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/812691/schiit-magni-modi-optical-stack
 
Not sure why the choice is between on-board and the Creative X7?

 

[fidai]

  I'm going to guess a $70 Sound Blaster Z sound card would easily equal the Rampage V Edition 10's on-board audio.
 
Might sure this ($130) used Schiit Modi/Magni stack would easily equal or even slightly best the audio quality of the on-board audio.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/812691/schiit-magni-modi-optical-stack
 
Not sure why the choice is between on-board and the Creative X7?

The motherboard comes with a separate DAC that has "1 x ESS® ES9018K2M DAC".

 

[PurpleAngel]

The Asus V 10 Edition motherboard is so new it really hard to judge the audio quality.
Usually year after year motherboard on-board audio improves, over the previous year.
The V Edition on-board audio does look nice, it's just too early to know how much improvement the board audio might offer, over previous years
I personally would not get the Creative X7, for trying to improve headphone or studio monitor (speaker), over on-board audio.

 

[fidai]

  The Asus V 10 Edition motherboard is so new it really hard to judge the audio quality.
Usually year after year motherboard on-board audio improves, over the previous year.
The V Edition on-board audio does look nice, it's just too easily to know how much improvement the board audio might offer, over previous years
I personally would not get the Creative X7, for trying to improve headphone or studio monitor (speaker), over on-board audio.

I use Beyerdynamic MMX300 Headphone for gaming and music, Logitech Z906 5.1 with direct analog connection for watching movies.

 

[fidai]

I want to know if the dac chip included with the motherboard better that the chip in the X7, anyone plz?

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I want to know if the DAC chip included with the motherboard better that the chip in the X7, anyone plz?

 
I would guess the X7's DAC chip and op-amps are better (at least slightly better) then the ones on the motherboard.

 

[halcyon]

  I want to know if the dac chip included with the motherboard better that the chip in the X7, anyone plz?

 
The question is not whether the DAC chip is better or worse.
 
On motherboard, integrated audio is usually underpowered. On Rampage V Edition 10, it has a nice, exeternal breakout box for headphone connections providing 6VRMS output power to 600Ohm headphone support (high gain). Comparatively X7 does 6.52 Vrms for 600Ohm (difference is neglible). You can drive almost all dynamic headphones with these (orthos , electrostats and planar magnetics may require a separate amp. The DAC chips on the Asus and on X7 are more than good enough for what they are.
 
The difference come in software and support.
 
X7 does 5.1 -> headphone virtualization. Your 5.1 game sounds will be played back to virtual surround (using Creative SBX Pro Studio) through your headphones. You have a slider to change the amount of this effect in the control panel. You can also output the virtual surround out to SPDIF output so you can use an external DAC and headphone amp, if you so desire. More options.
 
on Asus I don't know the options, as the software / settings have not been properly reviewed yet (that I know of). Asus uses Sonic Radar II / Studio II for headphone surround. Some like it better than Creative surround, some like it less.
 
As you will be getting the motherboard anyway, just buy it and try it first by itself.
 
Then, if you are unhappy with it, consider getting the X7 via mail-order to try out.

Unless you are a HC competitive gamer or want every single inch of performance out of positional audio, I doubt the Rampage V Ed 10 will disappoint you.

 

[xthx]

Any update on this since it's been a few months?? My ROG STRIX X99 motherboard died today and fried my 6900k along with it, so I was looking very closely at this Rampage V 10 Edition.

I have a Xonar DX (And love it, thanks to the recommendation of Angel ) and I was curious as to how it holds up against the dac specs of this motherboard? Would it be better to use the Rampage V 10 Edition's external dac rather than the Xonar DX?

 

[selvakumar]

im haivng the board and the dac sounds good and i have replaced some opamps also check the pic
https://www.bursonaudio.com/asus-supreme-fx-hi-fi-dac-with-burson-v5i-opamp/