[dacari]

Hi!!

I continue searching my soundcard, I ruled out X-fi.
Now I'm focusing on:

- Bluegears b-Enspirer.
- M-Audio audiophile 2496.
- M-Audio Revolution 5.1

Audiotrack HIFI will be nice but I'm affraid about his poor support

Which has the best sound with headphones (at the moment without external amp or DAC) to put my Grado SR80?
Most important is music, I'm gamer too, but with EAX 2 support it's all I need.
Dolby Headphone will be an interesting option.
Any other option?

Thanks in advance

 

[oqvist]

Auzentech X-Meridian because it´s better analogue out and switchable OPAMPs

 

[Cid]

Just a warning from a Revo 5.1 owner. The drivers are VERY old, but do the job. (2004) I also didn't notice much if any of a difference between my onboard sound and my Revo 5.1, but maybe if I went back to onboard I'd notice.

 

[oqvist]

Well onboard have improved lately with the latest mainboards. But from using mainboard on my previous mainboards and my current Nforce 3 the X-Fi totally stomps it. Can´t comment about the x-Meridian yet but I have seen noone that preferrs X-Fi over X-Meridian.

Revolution I remember was compared to Audigy 2 in term of sound quality. Maybe a little better.... X-Fi for me was a noticeable step over the Audigy 2. I could tell it straight away even with the 60$ headphones I had back then.

 

[dacari]

Yes, I've seen poor suport for the Revo 5.1

X-Meridian is perfect, but a little out of my budget... but maybe I'll get if really it's one of the best.

 

[oqvist]

Yeah 150$ through ebay or newegg seems to be about what you can get... I bought mine from Sweden for more because of warranty...

 

[Gatticus]

I don't know why people rule out the X-Fi. It's seems like a pretty good card to me for headphones and I have an EMU 0404 USB to compare it to also. Some songs really need crossfeed and I can get that effect with my X-Fi by turning on CMSS 3D virtual. Can't do that with my EMU 0404 USB. Some songs have too much stereo seperation and sound discomforting on headphones. I can get my HD595's playing louder on my X-Fi than the EMU 0404 USB too so the headphone amp on the X-fi isn't crap either.

 

[pompon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dacari /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi!! I continue searching my soundcard, I ruled out X-fi. Now I'm focusing on: - Bluegears b-Enspirer. - M-Audio audiophile 2496. - M-Audio Revolution 5.1 Any other option? Thanks in advance

I own X-Meridian 7.1 Auzentech.

I have done somes tests on 2 hi-fi system 12 000$ range.

IMO,this soundcard play as good as 2000-2500$ US cd player wihout problem.
Comparing soundcard to my 5500$ Audioresearch CD player ... CD player was better on somes recording (bass, dynamics and depth). Often, I was not able to really tell wich one was playing.

I use stock OpAmp btw. I will probably try to change them .. it's ridicusly cheap to try .. 5$ each and need 4 total.

It's a kick ass soundcard.

I never heard X-FI .. I can't comment ...

 

[spacemanspliff]

only issue is that the x-fi is much easier on your cpu wheras every other soundcard puts a larger load on the cpu and creates lag in many instances. this has been often discussed and is bloody unfortunate but true. it only really matters for fps games and other really taxing games.

 

[Ahriman4891]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pompon /img/forum/go_quote.gif I own X-Meridian 7.1 Auzentech. I have done somes tests on 2 hi-fi system 12 000$ range. IMO,this soundcard play as good as 2000-2500$ US cd player wihout problem. Comparing soundcard to my 5500$ Audioresearch CD player ... CD player was better on somes recording (bass, dynamics and depth). Often, I was not able to really tell wich one was playing. I use stock OpAmp btw. I will probably try to change them .. it's ridicusly cheap to try .. 5$ each and need 4 total. It's a kick ass soundcard. I never heard X-FI .. I can't comment ...

You know, I applaud your honesty. We need more comments like this one. I'm growing more and more interested in this X-meridian animal.

 

[unkno]

I have the revo 5.1 and it has quite a big leap from onboard sound. It's headphone amp is fairly good too. I also use it to play games and it does the job well

i agree that the drivers are old, but they're programed solidly with no problems at all. They can't update something that is already near perfect (aside from adding more features).

 

[Azultra]

...

 

[dacari]

Gatticus, thank you for your opinions about x-fi.
Yesterday I contacted with Spanish distribuitor of X-Meridian to see where I can find one, no anwer yet.
X-Enpirer impossible to find in Europe.

If I can't find X-Meridian at reasonable price, I'm thinking to return X-fi maybe with Gamer.

 

[lini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dacari /img/forum/go_quote.gif Audiotrack HIFI will be nice but I'm affraid about his poor support

Poor support? Why would that be? So far I've only once read a comment in that direction here - and that was concluding to poor support merely due to the fact that there weren't any driver updates for XP yet. A bit silly, in my opinion: The Prodigy 7.1 HiFi is just another Envy24-based soundcard, of which Audiotrak has already produced quite a few proper ones before, and there haven't been any recent changes to the audio architecture of WinXP either - so I'd rather expect a stable driver right from the start than conclude to poor support from the lack of updates, especially when the card has only been on the market for a few of months yet...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[oqvist]

yeah it don´t necessarily input lagg but it can in say battlefield 2 if you run 128 voices or what ultra is...

but most games is GPU not CPU dependent and then it don´t matter that much that the X-Fi has better hardware acceleration.

If you are sitting on an 8800 GTX especially if you sit on an AMD 64 or X2 then you will be cpu limited more often then not if you play at say 1280x1024. But then you won´t have that much trouble with fps anyway

.