JeanLucD
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2007
- Posts
- 23
- Likes
- 0
So currently I've got DT990s (2005 250ohm I think - got them shipped by mistake instead of DT880s in a DT880 box and couldn't be bothered messing about with it so just kept them but that's besides the point
) and I've only got onboard sound (Realtek AC97) with no amp or anything. I'm liking the sound so far, but it definitely feels a bit muffled or something - I guess due to the fact that my crappy onboard sound isn't good enough, so I want to upgrade and get myself something that will improve the sound. I've also just recently connected up a TV-tuner card but didn't realise that I needed a sound card for it to work properly (either that or I'm so useless I can't get it to work with the onboard sound
, I'm not very handy)
I'm running XP and do about 60% gaming and listen to music the other 40% of the time - I basically never watch movies and only watch podcasts so surround sound is not really a priority to say the least. Whilst I do more gaming than music listening it's mainly Oblivion and occasionally COD4 so I don't feel like all this EAX5.0 stuff that I've read about will be a problem for me and I mainly want something that will give me quality sound, but at the same time be able to manage gaming well. I'm sure almost anything will give an improvement in FPS compared to what I have currently.
I don't want to spend too much, like 400NZD (~270USD) is my max, which would be fine if that was purely for the components, but shipping tends to be super super expensive to New Zealand so I'm trying to find stuff that's already available over here but then it's all much more expensive anyway. After much reading through these forums, especially the sound card consensus thread which I had to read over about 3 times to understand it all and otherwise lurking; it seems like I've come down to tossing up between either:
-Asus Xonar D2 (299NZD)
-Auzentech X-FI Prelude (also 299NZD)
-Asus Xonar DX (169NZD) + an Amp or DAC/amp eg a Zero? they seem ok
I'm leaning towards buying the DX now and then maybe waiting a little while and getting an amp or an amp with a DAC but since I live in NZ and with my budget it pretty much limits me to the cheapest amps/DACs, and since I'm bloody useless at anything DIY and I wouldn't have a clue how to solder or do anything like that I don't think that a DIY amp would be an option.
This makes me wonder whether it would be better to just get a slightly higher quality soundcard like a prelude or the D2, and maybe just get one of those cheap FIIO amps from China which would cost me the same as it would cost you guys - $8.50US. Although it seems like from what I've read that the DX is really awesome value for money considering I don't really need any extra features like cool flashy lights at the back a la D2.
I've thought about the Prelude mainly because it seems to be the go to card when it comes to gaming and it also has good quality sound. Although I wonder if this is more for hardcore gamers that play a lot of online games and such which is not really what I play and so would the advantages not really be relevant for me?
Do you guys have any suggestions or advice? And if I should get the DX what a good and cheap amp I could get?
Thanks in advance.
I'm running XP and do about 60% gaming and listen to music the other 40% of the time - I basically never watch movies and only watch podcasts so surround sound is not really a priority to say the least. Whilst I do more gaming than music listening it's mainly Oblivion and occasionally COD4 so I don't feel like all this EAX5.0 stuff that I've read about will be a problem for me and I mainly want something that will give me quality sound, but at the same time be able to manage gaming well. I'm sure almost anything will give an improvement in FPS compared to what I have currently.
I don't want to spend too much, like 400NZD (~270USD) is my max, which would be fine if that was purely for the components, but shipping tends to be super super expensive to New Zealand so I'm trying to find stuff that's already available over here but then it's all much more expensive anyway. After much reading through these forums, especially the sound card consensus thread which I had to read over about 3 times to understand it all and otherwise lurking; it seems like I've come down to tossing up between either:
-Asus Xonar D2 (299NZD)
-Auzentech X-FI Prelude (also 299NZD)
-Asus Xonar DX (169NZD) + an Amp or DAC/amp eg a Zero? they seem ok
I'm leaning towards buying the DX now and then maybe waiting a little while and getting an amp or an amp with a DAC but since I live in NZ and with my budget it pretty much limits me to the cheapest amps/DACs, and since I'm bloody useless at anything DIY and I wouldn't have a clue how to solder or do anything like that I don't think that a DIY amp would be an option.
This makes me wonder whether it would be better to just get a slightly higher quality soundcard like a prelude or the D2, and maybe just get one of those cheap FIIO amps from China which would cost me the same as it would cost you guys - $8.50US. Although it seems like from what I've read that the DX is really awesome value for money considering I don't really need any extra features like cool flashy lights at the back a la D2.
I've thought about the Prelude mainly because it seems to be the go to card when it comes to gaming and it also has good quality sound. Although I wonder if this is more for hardcore gamers that play a lot of online games and such which is not really what I play and so would the advantages not really be relevant for me?
Do you guys have any suggestions or advice? And if I should get the DX what a good and cheap amp I could get?
Thanks in advance.