[Kosmatik]

Hi, I'm an avid viewer of the forum that finally committed to letting go of the on board sound. Since that's out of the way I need something to start at, around $1000 budget that includes everything, phones and speakers too.

1) 80% of time I will be playing games so I was primarily looking at the prelude. I don't know if it's worth dropping the EAX for the SQ of the new asus card. 20% will be listening to trance 320kb or flac and watching movies.
2)Zero DAC? Would I even need one?
3) Amp - once again, do I even need one with the prelude or xonar essense stx?
4) For speakers I am 99% positive I want A2's but suggestions are still welcome.
5) For headphones I was thinking d2000's or ad900.

I would rather put alot more money into the sound card and speakers then into amps and the dac.

I am really looking for criticism and suggestions, those are really welcome and much appreciated.

 

[Kosmatik]

So, with more time spent on these forums I changed my mind a bit. The Prelude is in the mail already so that's taken care of. I'm wondering how the K701's combined with a CanAmp will do with trance music and gaming or should I still stick to the AD900? I also stepped up to the Audioengine A5s, if there's a non-powered loudspeaker combo that's better then the A5s please post it, I have a good amount of room on my desk.

 

[43st]

Greetings Kosmatik..

Just to share my recent experience.. the Prelude will not output any of the control panel functions to a DAC. So Vista gaming is a no go, due to Alchemy not functioning as well as CMSS or any of the other panel functions. It's just music then it works amazingly well, IMO.

 

[twhtpclover]

Xonar's GX driver can emulate EAX5 in VISTA, so if you still need it and also want good audio, Xonar is maby a better option....

 

[Kosmatik]

Wish I knew this before I already bought the card. Anything on A5s vs non-powered loudspeakers for gaming?