[ROBSCIX]

Soundcards are well beyond anything onboard audio can produce.

 

[neo-fi]

Well I hope I get similar WOW feeling, what I got when I upgraded from old on-board audio card to this new on-board audio.

 

[xHawky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by neo-fi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Exactly what I thought... Games come and go, but music is timeless. So it was my biggest reason why I took the Essence STX over Auzen cards. I also believe that stand alone sound card will be definite step up from on-board audio. I get concrete proof on this subject at Monday.

Yep, very true. I'd have to agree 100%, games come and go with new and old technology with various developers. I'm currently going for the ASUS Xonar Essence ST ver, whenever I can get a hold of the ST rather than the STX as I only have one available PCI slot. Not sure when Australia will get them, found one on a EU site however I doubt they'd ship overseas and I've never heard of them before. Currently using onboard audio, yea, big step indeed.

 

[Gainiz]

Hi guys. I've finally got my Forte and been quite happy with it. K601s rocks much better than with AVR´s headphone-port.

But, after some tests I've noticed that headphone-automute/autosettings wont work on rear hp-connector. Im using latest drivers on Windows7 RC 64bit. My friend has same card and he told its working fine.

When watching movies, I need to change 'SPDIF OUT' to Default device on Windows Sound-settings to get DTS/DD working with AVR. There is also some crackling/popping when stopping playback (on spdif @ default). 'Speakers' works fine.

Im not very familiar with Creative control panel yet, so if these can be fixed, halp

Edit: I just noticed that everytime I turn on/off rooms cooling fan from switch, music stops for a sec when using speakers. Seems like AVR is getting some electricity peak

 

[xHawky]

That's a CREATIVE chipset, for ya. Typical issues, no matter what third parties try with them.

 

[grantlp13]

guys i'm really confused about soundcard. don't know which one to choose. some say asus xonar is way better than creative x-fi others say auzentech is the best.

i need it for music purpose and i'm using akg k420. -->future upgrade will be the grado sr 125i. planning to use an amp also. my budget is no more than 150 usd

 

[Shike]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gainiz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Edit: I just noticed that everytime I turn on/off rooms cooling fan from switch, music stops for a sec when using speakers. Seems like AVR is getting some electricity peak

Inductance and a poor filtering stage . . . best thing to do is try to make sure your AVR is getting steady power. The best solution is to get the fan and AVR off the same circuit. Failing that you're going to need a good suppression stage. Certain APC products may work . . . I doubt you'd need a battery backup unless you experience sag in the line.

Also, what PC powersupply do you have? In-rush can cause issues there too . . . possibly hook it up to a battery backup if you can borrow or test one to see if that helps.

 

[xHawky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grantlp13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif guys i'm really confused about soundcard. don't know which one to choose. some say asus xonar is way better than creative x-fi others say auzentech is the best. i need it for music purpose and i'm using akg k420. -->future upgrade will be the grado sr 125i. planning to use an amp also. my budget is no more than 150 usd

ASUS Xonar Essence has an in built headphone amplifier.

Auzentech uses a few x-fi chipsets made by creative to better design the card & drivers.

Creative has bad driver support for vista, bloatware and I've read of many issues in sound such as static and pops in audio, etc. Blue screens of death is the signature of a creative card =p

If your very worried about EAX then choose creative or auzentech with x-fi chipsets. If your not too worried then get yourself an ASUS Xonar which has software to emulate EAX however is sometimes a hit and miss in games until it's been patched. Emulates well so I've read, but not 100% - obviously.

Besides, EAX is getting old and really should be dying at this moment to make way for OpenAL's EFX and so on which ASUS Supports just fine.

EAX = Enviromental audio extensions for games.

Then Creative allows you to hear 5.1/7.1 around you with CMSS-3D on headphones, I'm using that now. When in games, spin your character around and you can hear like the audio is going from one speaker to another in 5.1/7.1 rather than actually fully surround & around you.

Not ALL ASUS Xonar's support this, but the ones that do have 5.1/7.1 technology with Dolby Headphone. This is supposedly more natural than CMSS-3D And sounds more realistic. According to ROBSCIX, Dolby HP sounds exactly like how his speakers are set up around him.

Also read that CMSS-3D loses some quality and detail whereas Dolby HP keeps all that.

 

[Gainiz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shike /img/forum/go_quote.gif Inductance and a poor filtering stage . . . best thing to do is try to make sure your AVR is getting steady power. The best solution is to get the fan and AVR off the same circuit. Failing that you're going to need a good suppression stage. Certain APC products may work . . . I doubt you'd need a battery backup unless you experience sag in the line. Also, what PC powersupply do you have? In-rush can cause issues there too . . . possibly hook it up to a battery backup if you can borrow or test one to see if that helps.

I'm on working in computer store and going to take some APC to try does it work

My PSU is Corsair HX520, which should do its job fine.

 

[grantlp13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xHawky /img/forum/go_quote.gif ASUS Xonar Essence has an in built headphone amplifier. Auzentech uses a few x-fi chipsets made by creative to better design the card & drivers. Creative has bad driver support for vista, bloatware and I've read of many issues in sound such as static and pops in audio, etc. Blue screens of death is the signature of a creative card =p If your very worried about EAX then choose creative or auzentech with x-fi chipsets. If your not too worried then get yourself an ASUS Xonar which has software to emulate EAX however is sometimes a hit and miss in games until it's been patched. Emulates well so I've read, but not 100% - obviously. Besides, EAX is getting old and really should be dying at this moment to make way for OpenAL's EFX and so on which ASUS Supports just fine. EAX = Enviromental audio extensions for games. Then Creative allows you to hear 5.1/7.1 around you with CMSS-3D on headphones, I'm using that now. When in games, spin your character around and you can hear like the audio is going from one speaker to another in 5.1/7.1 rather than actually fully surround & around you. Not ALL ASUS Xonar's support this, but the ones that do have 5.1/7.1 technology with Dolby Headphone. This is supposedly more natural than CMSS-3D And sounds more realistic. According to ROBSCIX, Dolby HP sounds exactly like how his speakers are set up around him. Also read that CMSS-3D loses some quality and detail whereas Dolby HP keeps all that.

thx for the deep explanation. do you have any suggestion of what asus sonar type i should get?

 

[xHawky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grantlp13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif thx for the deep explanation. do you have any suggestion of what asus sonar type i should get?

According to what I've read, all ASUS Xonar's have the GX 2.0/2.5 engine to emulate EAX. They all support Dolby headphone, too, except for the Xonar DS.

Just get whatever meets your needs I suppose. I was basing mine upon:
*I have EAX 2.0 now, it's just reverb, Since I've never experience x-fi fidelity EAX I'll just go to ASUS's emulated one as they are similar anyway

*Music is timeless, games come and go with new and old technology, they aren't always going to support some crappy EAX - which is deemed to be dying for things such as EFX.

*Dolby headphone works for both Dolby 5.1 DVD's, something my mother definitely wanted. Can switch to 7.1 for games. Right now I'm using CMSS-3D, apparently Dolby HP has better detail and sounds more natural.

*Versatile for all 3, Games - Music & Movies.

*A headphone amplifier with my current headphones apparently gives a bigger impact, richer, tighter bass response.

For me - I'm going for the ASUS Xonar Essence ST. Seems to be the BEST audio card for a long time and will be a great flagship for my system.

Now, ASUS - Ship the ST around the US & Aus faster! Can't wait forever, you got the rest of this year and maybe 3months at maximum next year then I'll get the D2 or something.

 

[Shizdan]

When I was deciding whether to get the Forte or the Essence STX a user over at Anandtech sent me these links

Link
Link

I decided that the Forte was the way to go, but keep in mind I also have a very high end Compass Dac/Amp.

 

[grantlp13]

I think I have decided on asus xonar stx. It seems it is the best sound card available for music use from PC. By the way do you think the built in headphone amp from xonar stx is as good as those graham slee one?