[Designopolis]

It's hard to shop for sound cards without reference because it seems this industry has a few support problems. The gist I seem to get is that a lot of cards either sound awesome or are inherently troublesome, limited to your specific luck of the draw. The card is to compliment an AD700, but not a speaker system due to residential issues.
 
To this end, I am looking for a card with these things, in order of most to least important (for headphones):
 
-Reliability. I'd rather get a card I know coming out of the box is not going to be inherently faulty due to poor quality control.
-Gaming. Nice sound stage for distinguishing direction and whatnot, and either Creative or Dolby's tech to accomplish that.
-Music. Obviously.
-Price. I have no more than 180 bucks to play with, including shipping and a 0.13% sales tax in my area.
 
For a while I was looking at the Auzentech Forte, because it meets all of these criteria well besides Reliability. The more I research, the less that notion swings. It's literally a one to one ratio of people saying the cards are great to people saying they have problems, usually in the vein of some sort of "chipping" or "thumping" effect. Demonstrations of this on Youtube make it sound similar to water coming to a simmer. There doesn't seem to be any inherent reason for this, just that those cards are faulty.
 
I was also looking at the Asus Xonar D1, which is apparently more reliable. As it stands it's my current choice, but it apparently has no better driver support than the Forte.
 
Finally, I have noticed that Auzentech has a new card out: The "X Meridian G2." this card sells itself as being far superior to the apparently award winning Meridian G1, but the issue is that I never used that card to be able to make the connection myself. It's too new to get any research done n it to see how it measures up. Any word from you guys?
 
Should I take the plunge an get the Xonar D1?

 

[HeadCaseSupreme]

For $180 and under my two top choices are...
 
Creative X-Fi Titanium HD ~$140 gets you a very competent all around performer and SQ close to the Asus Xonar Essence ST. My only gripe at this price the headphone jack is a1/8" . I would have never recommended a SB card in the past for music but this card is clearly a step in the right direction for creative.
 
Asus Xonar Essence ST(STX if no PCI slots free) best purchase under $200 I have made in a sound card, for gaming it is more than fine, for music it is a great budget card. In its price range it is a proven winner. Of course 1/4" headpjone jack(main gain ,durability), rock solid drivers ,simple interface.
 
 
 

 

[aleex]

I'm also choosing. I've mainly been looking at Xonar DX 'cause I hardly need a powerful amp with my current headphones. On the other hand, I could buy the ST and have it as an investment for the future since I'm probably buying new headphones once I feel my current ones are enough broken to excuse a buy =P. But once, if, or when I get more expensive stuff, I'd imagine it'll be better to get an external amp.
 
I've also heard of EMU 0404/0202 and ESI Juli@ but they both seem to be made mainly for music production and kind of unnecessary to buy unless the rest of your gear is fairly good, although they're not that expensive(I'm talking PCI-E here, obv USB costs much more. The 0202 USB costs the same as the 0404 PCI-E, at least in Europe). I did look at the comparision of 0404/0202 in this forum and they seemed decent for music listening, but I didn't see any perspective on gaming/overall use. In terms of gaming-sound, it's primarily 'direction-sound' in FPS that I prioritize, so maybe I shouldn't be that picky.
 
I'll probably end up with Xonar DX, but I can't get my eyes off 0404.

 

[Designopolis]

I'm looking into the ST and STX, and I have a few questions:
 
1. I assume the ST is the better card despite needing a full PCI slot to use? I'm finding reports that they sound different.
2. Do either card need a molex connection to the power supply?
3. How much power do the cards use?

 

[theeyealtering]

Quote:

1. I assume the ST is the better card despite needing a full PCI slot to use? I'm finding reports that they sound different.
2. Do either card need a molex connection to the power supply?
3. How much power do the cards use?

1. They sound exactly the same as far as I know. The only difference is the slot connection. And I'm not sure whether the STX is expandable to 7.1 (the ST is).
2. They both do.
3. That I don't know. I assume it would be less than powering an external DAC/Amp as well as your PC.

 

[AmonRaa]

Xonar ST(X) would be my choice factoring in your preferences.