[Kingcarcas]

Hello, i'm looking for a sound card to go with my new rig. The most i'm looking to spend is $120 (X-fi, X-plosion). I should be getting a new job soon so there's a slight chance i'll get the Logitech Z-5500's, but for now most likely i'll be getting the Z-2300's or the X-530's if i prefer a 5.1 setup. I game and listen to alot of Heavy Metal so keep that in mind

Later i'll eventually look into some headphones as well and a better mp3 player, but that's in a while from now

Thanks alot.

 

[ChaseD13]

i have the xplosion and it kicks ass.

owns onboard sound (not just for surround but music quality improves as well)

if you ever are going to use a digital conenction you need ddl/dts encoding for games. so...there are like 3 cards that do this (mystique nad turtle bay montego) the xplosion is the best of these 3

not sure how it compaires to the xfi but for a digital connection xfi isnt in the picture for gaming

 

[Kingcarcas]

Nice, thanks dude, that's good to know for the future when i get into all this audiophile stuff

Now do you think the Z-2300s are better than the X-530s even though they're just 2.1s??