Which sound card should I get? - Overclock.net

Mjg1675 · 06-27-09

I have a set of HD555's without an amp, so I'm looking at the ASUS Xonar Essence STX but I have Creative Inspire T6100 5.1's that I also use, so what would be the best for both? Can you convert something from the Xonar to the T6100's?

Conley · 06-27-09

A 3.5mm to optical adapter ought to do the trick, if I'm not mistaken.

Since I have an X-Fi, I feel obligated to suggest it, by the way.

Kryten · 06-27-09

imho, gaming rig demands a gaming card. Grab an X-Fi!

.Sup · 06-27-09

sooner or late you will get a DAC and an amp so why not get that now and enjoy your cans like you have never before. I have 3 soundcards in my drawer

lowkickqop · 06-27-09

Creative Xtreme Music if you can find one.

xJumper · 06-27-09

You have yourself a good set of cans, good cans demand good soundcards.

The only brands you should be looking at are Creative & Asus.

SB X-FI Titanium is Creatives best soundcard the "Fatal1ty EXTREME" whatever series is just re branded X-FI Titanium w/ EMI shield and logos but does nothing different in terms of performance but if you really want the EMI shield which IMO does nothing you could get the Titanium Professional which is a bit more expensive than stock Titanium but still not grossly overpriced like the "Fatal1ty" ones are.

I have the SB X-FI Titanium and it's a very good card but if your going for maximum performance you should go with Asus Xonar series.

First of all w/ the Xonars you don't want the PCI cards as these will most probably block an SLI setup. You want to go for the PCI-E "Express" cards.

Now it's time to sort through the different cards they have.

Xonar Essence STX This is really a pure audiophile card and if your gaming this is really overkill and although HD555's are very good cans you need those really expensive ones too notice the difference.

Xonar HDAV1.3 & Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe These are both HTPC cards the Deluxe one having even more home theater connectivity, not going to help you for just PC use.

Xonar DX This card would be good but apparently it's just the old PCI card converted to PCI-E and people get plenty of problems with this one.

Now finally we have the Xonar D2X which is the only non BS Xonar card that works right from the start into PCI-E. Better sound than Creatives cards, no Creative driver issues and wont block SLI setups. The only problem you might face with Xonar cards is that they don't have EAX fully licensed as this is Creatives technology so in some games you might just get 3.0 or 4.0 EAX instead of the full 5.0 EAX that Creatives cards have but even then I still recommend this card.

$189 @ newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=Xonar%20D2X

D3TH.GRUNT · 06-27-09

yeah i'd recommend the sound card i have. I have the x-fi titanium pro (fatal1ty version), yeah i know, but i paid what the titanium goes for to get this card, so it was a great deal, plus the x-fi light looks epic in my case. Anyways, the x-fi titanium is an amazing sound card, games sound amazing, especially with a 5.1 setup.