[Counterstryeeek]

Hello, I am a semi competitive counterstrike player with a recently acquired pair of AD700's. I have been recommended Xonar DS's with replaced op-amps for the Dolby surround, as well as creative titaniums.
 
Are there any other competitive FPS gamer's who have experience in what i should get? Or any users with experience at all? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[PurpleAngel]

The Xonar DS & DSX does not come with Dolby, only DTS,
(Dolby verses DTS, may not make a difference for gaming).
 
A used Creative Labs Titanium (non-HD) sells on eBay for around $50-$60
Those older Titanium cards come with the most support for FPS gaming, more so if your into older FPS.

 

[soundsculpture]

Xonar DS is an advanced choice thats seems better to me. It has an c-media processor, two wolfson DAC's, high frequency response and upgradable 600ohm opamp on it.
 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Xonar DS is an advanced choice thats seems better to me. It has an c-media processor, two wolfson DAC's, high frequency response and upgradable 600ohm opamp on it.

Two Wolfson DACs?

 

[soundsculpture]

one DAC for speakers and one for headphones i thought..
 
http://techreport.com/review/23358/asus-budget-xonar-dgx-and-dsx-sound-cards-reviewed
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/soundcards/2010/04/08/sub-100-gaming-sound-card-reviews/2
 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

one DAC for speakers and one for headphones i thought..
http://techreport.com/review/23358/asus-budget-xonar-dgx-and-dsx-sound-cards-reviewed
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/soundcards/2010/04/08/sub-100-gaming-sound-card-reviews/2

Guess I'm learning something every day.

 

[stv014]

Quote:

It has an c-media processor, two wolfson DAC's, high frequency response and upgradable 600ohm opamp on it.
 

 
Well, the C-Media "processor" is not really a processor, as the C-Media Windows drivers do most of the processing in software. The X-Fi card has an EMU 20K2, which is a real DSP chip, and is better suited for hardware accelerated audio for gaming. The Wolfson DAC does not make much difference, and it is one of the lower end Wolfson DACs anyway, with slightly worse specs than the CS4382 on the X-Fi Titanium. Frequency response is unlikely to matter much, since it is usually flat enough in the audible range for most line outputs; advertising a very wide frequency range is more marketing than a real advantage. The "upgradeable op amp" is again mostly a gimmick, and the 600 Ω rating is actually the minimum it is recommended to drive - that is because it is, like the majority of op amps, not quite ideal for driving headphones directly, but it works fine as a line output buffer. If the X-Fi card uses an NJM4556 on its headphone output (I am not 100% sure about that), then that is actually one of the better chips for driving headphones.
 
To summarize, for games that can take advantage of the features of the Creative card, I would use that. Other than that, for use as a line output (with an external amplifier) playing simple 2 channel audio like music, I do not think there is much difference. Due to the lack of sufficient information, I do not know which one is better for driving headphones, but probably neither is quite perfect. However, upgrading the AD700 to something better that can be driven reasonably by these cards would likely still make the most improvement to the sound quality.

 

[soundsculpture]

hey NJM4556D is a dual dip-8 opamp that will fit my xonar ds and is has low decibell's.

 

[fragurass]

I've been using the x-fi titanium.
 
I've been playing cs for 9 years. If you are talking about global offensive I can tell you right now that you want to use 2 speaker mode with some senn pc360 or hd555. CSGO is vastly different sounding than 1.6 or source. I had to quit using my hd600 to play competitvely. If you have the money then go with the xonar.

 

[stv014]

Quote:

hey NJM4556D is a dual dip-8 opamp that will fit my xonar ds

 
That is true, but if the card was not designed to use it, then the headphone output might still not perform optimally. For example, my Xonar D1 has 100 Ω output resistors, and even if the NJM5532 op amp was swappable, replacing it would not fix the output impedance.
 
By the way, what do you mean by "low decibell's" exactly ?

 

[soundsculpture]

Quote:

 
That is true, but if the card was not designed to use it, then the headphone output might still not perform optimally. For example, my Xonar D1 has 100 Ω output resistors, and even if the NJM5532 op amp was swappable, replacing it would not fix the output impedance.
 
By the way, what do you mean by "low decibell's" exactly ?

i mean decibels, its min.70 typ.90 (85 decibels is safe). and that decibel pressure level is something else but if it dont fit(DAC:107db+opamp:120db) your ers will hurt in my experiense.
 
by the way beats audio is good for you ears!

 

[stv014]

Quote:

i mean decibels, its min.70 typ.90

 
That is the common mode rejection ratio of the chip, which has nothing to do with how loud your headphones will be driven.

 

[soundsculpture]

Quote:

 
That is the common mode rejection ratio of the chip, which has nothing to do with how loud your headphones will be driven.

Great! even more other db's. need to get to read the book about opamps.
 
I use my Xonar DS for 2.1 Speakers with an opamp otherwise there is no connection.
 
and i got Xonar DX(D1 pci-e) on my AMD System and sound on it is fantatic (dolby cinematic) with my sennheiser hd 449, i love watching movies and playing games with it.