[r1sh]

Hi there!

I'm looking for pci-e soundcard for games with headphones hd 598 \ DT770 \ ad700x

I'm choosing between:

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 5\Rx 75$
Creative X-Fi Titanium HD 50$
Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatality 50$
Asus Essence STX 100$
Asus ROG Xonar Phoebus Solo 75$

Or maybe something other?

Prices are actual for my country.

Which of them is better and why?

Thanks.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Me, I would go for the Essence STX
Phoebus Solo, second choice.
Titanium-HD third choice, good card, but no longer made, so driver updates might(?) take awhile.
Ti-HD (Titanium-HD) and Titanium Fatality very close to same features, but the Ti-HD offers better audio quality.
Audigy uses an older designed DSP chip, older the Titanium series.

 

[r1sh]

Me, I would go for the Essence STX
Phoebus Solo, second choice.
Titanium-HD third choice, good card, but no longer made, so driver updates might(?) take awhile.
Ti-HD (Titanium-HD) and Titanium Fatality very close to same features, but the Ti-HD offers better audio quality.
Audigy uses an older designed DSP chip, older the Titanium series.

Thank so for your answer!

About drivers I've searched for titanium hd drivers on creative's site and there are drivers for windows 10 and thats good, but I fall sad because of unusual equalizer ...

I've friend to find on YouTube record of sound from STX but there was only Xonar dx but it disappointed me, all sounds were really strange to hear...
And does STX worth its price against Titanium HD?

 

[r1sh]

will I need amplifyer for headphones like hd 598 or dt 770 with Titanium sound cards?

 

[r1sh]

okay, what I've found over the internet is that Xonar is better for music because it gives true, monitor sound and creative is better for gaming beacuse of juicy sounds. Exception is ASUS Phoebus which is quite fresh and well-done.

Titnium HD which I found was sold

So I've got two options:

1.buy Phoebus of Titnium Fatal1ty
2.wait for Titanium HD

But the main Phoebus's advantage is built-in amplifyer which can burn most headphones as DT 770 or DT 990....

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Or maybe something other?

SoundBlaster X AE-5. It has low output impedance. Better compatibility with low impedance headphones.

 

[r1sh]

SoundBlaster X AE-5. It has low output impedance. Better compatibility with low impedance headphones.

thank you but it's too expensive

 

[bgbdbstrd]

i used to sport the hd598 for gaming, can run w/o an amp but the bass is anemic (amping it gives a boost to the low end)

i used to have the stx and it can drive even high impedance headphones fine. it's pretty decent in gaming as well (i just used the default gaming mode using the asus driver/sw), though it excels on music. Using the RCA stereo out works better for me on the STX than a simulated surround using the headphone out.

ended up selling it as the quality of the onboard sound on my new mobo (maximus ix) this year is no longer a night and day difference vs the STX . I also use an external DAC/AMP for music nowadays.

 

[selvakumar]

Go with Asus xonar Phoebus

 

[PurpleAngel]

Thank so for your answer!
About drivers I've searched for Titanium-HD drivers on creative's site and there are drivers for windows 10 and that's good, but I fall sad because of unusual equalizer ...
I've friend to find on YouTube record of sound from STX but there was only Xonar DX but it disappointed me, all sounds were really strange to hear...
And does STX worth its price against Titanium HD?

I prefer Asus sound cards over Creative sound card and there are those that prefer Creative cards over Asus cards.
Technically the Titanium-HD has a slight advantage for audio quality (when it comes to the RCA line-output port), other wise the card are basically match (like same class of DAC chips used),
audio quality wise one might have the sound slightly tuned differently from the other.
The STX does come with a better built in headphone amplifier, but the Titanium-HD has no problem driving 250-Ohm headphones (Beyer DT770)

 

[PurpleAngel]

will I need amplifier for headphones like HD 598 or DT 770 with Titanium sound cards?

The Ti-HD, on it's own, can easily drive the 50-Ohm HD598 and fairly decently 250-Ohm headphones.
A Schiit Magi or O2 (Objective 2) headphone amplifier, connected to the Ti-HD's RCA port, would be better then plugging headphone directly into the Ti-HD card.
So if you had plans to get a headphone amplifier, the Ti-HD makes a great choice.

 

[PurpleAngel]

The Ti-HD, on it's own, can easily drive the 50-Ohm HD598 and fairly decently 250-Ohm headphones.
The Ti-HD's headphone jack has a 35-Ohm output impedance, not the best for driving low Ohm headphones (AD700X), but it's not that big a deal.
A Schiit Magi or O2 (Objective 2) headphone amplifier, connected to the Ti-HD's RCA port, would be better then plugging headphone directly into the Ti-HD card.
So if you had plans to get a headphone amplifier, the Ti-HD makes a great choice.

 

[r1sh]

The Ti-HD, on it's own, can easily drive the 50-Ohm HD598 and fairly decently 250-Ohm headphones.
A Schiit Magi or O2 (Objective 2) headphone amplifier, connected to the Ti-HD's RCA port, would be better then plugging headphone directly into the Ti-HD card.
So if you had plans to get a headphone amplifier, the Ti-HD makes a great choice.

so as I understand, if I go with DT 770 \DT 990 I should use amplifier?

as I understand from specs that I found over the internet, asus phoebus has better pre-amp then ti-hd and it can burn dt 770 \ dt 990 without external amp?

 

[bgbdbstrd]

so as I understand, if I go with DT 770 \DT 990 I should use amplifier?

as I understand from specs that I found over the internet, asus phoebus has better pre-amp then ti-hd and it can burn dt 770 \ dt 990 without external amp?

the dt990/dt770 comes in different impedance models (32, 250 and 600)


if you have the 32ohm model, you wont need an amp

for 250 ohm, you may need one, or a soundcard w a decent headphone amp (Ti HD)

the STX on its own can drive up to 600Ohm, quality is comparable with budget external amps

 

[PurpleAngel]

so as I understand, if I go with DT 770 \DT 990 I should use amplifier?
As I understand from specs that I found over the internet, Asus Phoebus has better pre-amp then Ti-HD and it can burn dt 770 \ dt 990 without external amp?

Not 100% sure what you might mean by "pre-amp" on the sound cards, assuming you mean the line-output (RCA) jacks, as they do function like a pre-amp.
"it can burn the DT770/DT990 without external amp"?