[422561]

I am looking at getting a USB sound card for my PC. This will be used for movies and games with a pair of DT770 Pro 80Ohm headphones and modmic 4 microphone. The sound quality and virtual sound are what I am most interested in.
 
How do these two compare? They are about the same price on amazon.co.uk. The Omni seems to be a newer model with software DSP and the X-Fi HD is an older model with hardware DSP.
 
Also, would there be any point in saving up instead for the Sound Blaster E5?

 

[PurpleAngel]

The X-Fi HD has higher SNR, so should offer better audio quality.

 

[422561]

Is the snr the only factor though in determining sound quality?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Is the SNR the only factor though in determining sound quality?

 
I'm guessing there are other factors beside the DAC chips SNR rating, for audio quality.
But I'm guessing those other factors are beyond my understanding.

 

[Sam21]

                                ADC[SNR]          DAC[SNR]

Omni Surround 5.1       CS5345-[104]     CS4361-[105]          
 
X-Fi HD                     CS5361-[114]     AKM4396-[120]
 
 
I would definitely go for X-FI HD for music, now here is a problem:
 
the X-FI HD doesn't let you choose 5.1 in Playback Devices/Configure, it is stereo in only, but Omni does let you choose 5.1 channels as input.
 
My theory is that SBX can create surround sound out of only two channels and that the 5.1 input on Omni is for 5.1 channel speaker output...
 
 
There are still many discussions about why this is, your money, your judgement and your decision!

 

[422561]

I'm a bit confused by the last post. So the X-Fi HD only takes stereo? So how can it do virtual surround through headphones?

 

[Sam21]

I'm a bit confused by the last post. So the X-Fi HD only takes stereo? So how can it do virtual surround through headphones?

 
whether it can or not is unclear, the new creative E5's and the X-fi go pros are also like that.