[Anax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif its the same audio processor, which means it carries all of those limitations, meaning its gaming performance is going to be nearly identical to the x-meridian (which i think most would agree is a better card, but its been out of production for some time) the new xonar targets semi-professional users, or something of the like, not really sure on the specifics i really wasn't trying to say the claro is horrible for quality, i was trying to say that for gaming, theres more options with more power in that price range

Oh I agree 100% , I am actually kind of mad I have to do some sort of juggling act with cards . Not to mention I will be charged 15% restocking just to see what I like more .

In the end I have a feeling it is "what will fit better" . Not even sure at this point if I can get the d2x in my case as with the water block on the vid card squeezing the xonar in there is going to be a very close fit .

 

[obobskivich]

yeah, i went with the prelude, knowing that vista will be horrible if/when i decide to upgrade, although the prelude works fine under XP

granted, i know the x-meridian, claro plus, and a few other boards will provide better musical quality, and the xonar would provide better vista quality, and some creative boards give me more input/output flexability, etc etc

eventually you just gotta draw the line and say enough

 

[Anax]

HT Omega - Claro halo ( To bad i no longer use headphones )


Any how the cards came time to "play around" with them . And you couldnt be more right obo. Not just with the cards but in general . The constant "socket" changes which in some cases arent even needed . My q6600 which to be honest is fairly pointless .

A new video card everymonth for more and more money. It really doesnt stop. The only thing which I GET to only upgrade every 3 years as a treat anymore is screens.

I am replacing video cards left and right just so i can play current games on "decent" settings . All because programming is getting horrible ( Like crysis , a game which renders everything not even in the field of vision )

Heh Im trying to get this d2x in and I do not think its possible even though the water block on my 8800gts is even slimmer than how it came.

I could bitch all day.

 

[blessingx]

You also have the option of creating an optical link for $50, then spend the $150 on a nice vintage DAC on eBay. There are certainly great deals around $200 and if you wait you may be able to get it down from there. My three DACs were $250 and under and if I was willing to wait (and keep an eye on Audiogon) I'd probably be able to do better.

 

[Anax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx /img/forum/go_quote.gif You also have the option of creating an optical link for $50, then spend the $150 on a nice vintage DAC on eBay. There are certainly great deals around $200 and if you wait you may be able to get it down from there. My three DACs were $250 and under and if I was willing to wait (and keep an eye on Audiogon) I'd probably be able to do better.

Yeah my onboard already had an optical out ( opti and coax ) Unfortunately I wasnt sure if sound quality would be better on an aftermarket opti card or not . ( Had made a post but no responses so i shortened it ) .

 

[ernieball]

bump...

i got everythign installed on my xonar d2x and its all fancy. i have my 360 sound going into the card via 3.5mm plug. my cards output goes to my headphones. how do i get the sound to pass through? google didnt help me at all. i may have overlooked. a step by step process would be awesome!

 

[obobskivich]

go into s/pdif properties with the xbox 360 on, and set to output via optical (i dont know if you have to tell it, I know with PS2 you did)

and then enable it, and you should have sound in your headphones

 

[Nocturnal310]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, for Vista there isn't much to consider, X-Fi is amazing, except under Vista, where all of its advantages fall flat on their face, and the Xonar can really run neck and neck in all things And nothing from the prosumer market really will handle games with any "niceness" maybe the Onkyo SE-200, but thats over $200

Why do u think X-fi is not amazing under Vista?

i am using XMOD and its just fine ..the Speaker out has also got great Amping.

while headphone out powers earbuds & low imp headphones well.

 

[obobskivich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nocturnal310 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why do u think X-fi is not amazing under Vista? i am using XMOD and its just fine ..the Speaker out has also got great Amping. while headphone out powers earbuds & low imp headphones well.

compared to the experience under XP, X-Fi under vista is nothing special, compared to what else is available, such as Xonar D2

consider that under XP, the X-Fi can leverage DirectSound3D and EAX H/W acceleration, natively, which means it can leverage all of that processing power, under Vista its gotta run ALchemy for OpenAL which means you get basically the same end result, but it isn't the same "domination" that you get in XP (in XP, nothing really competes, is my point), while the Xonar series has solid drivers in Vista and XP, and since they run emulation anyways, its not a huge hit between either

my point is basically that X-Fi in Vista isn't as good as it could be, making something like Xonar D2X (which has similar, if not better output quality, from a music/audio perspective) much more attractive

 

[Behemot]

Xonars are marketing marvel, the lights in jacks and all but they
use software emulation where X-Fi use hardware acceleration, besides Xonars are not even PCI express cards - they use bridge and just look PCI express but in terms of bandwidth these cards are capped at PCI speed with all its legacy issues including sharing the bandwidth with all other devices.

To sum up:
- Xonars emulate EAX HD while X-Fi cards fully support EAX HD. That means with X-Fi cards you get all audio effects they way they were meant by the game developers, with Xonars you get them the way Asus folks think that these effects might have been. And this is as valid for Vista as for XP.

- Under Vista X-Fi cards run gaming audio in hardware (OpenAL games with no extra patch and directX games with ALchemy patch) Xonars offload the task to CPU.

- X-Fi Titanium cards use PCI express chip and not PCI bridge like the Xonar cards that are effectively capped at PCI bandwidth.

As for the problem ernieball has - can anyone solve it?
Can Xonar decode Dolby signal incoming via its SPDIF input? Well I do not think so.

Ernieball, can you use analog connection from the card and digital from the console both right to the receiver perhaps?

 

[Brando]

I understand the part about the xonar being capped at pci speeds, but how would it share bandwidth with pci devices if it's in a pcie slot?

 

[sgrossklass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brando /img/forum/go_quote.gif I understand the part about the xonar being capped at pci speeds, but how would it share bandwidth with pci devices if it's in a pcie slot?

It wouldn't.

BTW, "capped at PCI speeds" is a gross overstatement. It's only a friggin' sound card after all. PCI, if used halfway efficiently, would be fast enough for FIVE HUNDRED 48 kHz, 16 bit stereo streams. (Or still over a hundred 24/96 stereo streams.) Even ye olde ISA bus is perfectly fine for one audio stream or three... Terratec EWS64 users managed to squeeze about 5..7 streams over the bus, sometimes 8.

 

[Trepid!ty]

The Prelude XFi drivers that Auzentech have been putting out for Vista x64 have all be rock solid. All this "boo vista" talk is so annoying.