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Calling all audiophiles

post #1 of 12
8/23/10 at 12:26pm
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I want an awesome sound card for gaming. I have a $100 budget. I want the best card in the $100 range, but I mean best for gaming. I am thinking about getting the X-Fi Titanium by Creative Labs. Which card should I get. I by off Newegg, so you folks know where to look.
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post #2 of 12
8/23/10 at 12:44pm
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post #3 of 12
8/23/10 at 2:27pm
Xonar DX. Money would probably be better spent upgrading your speakers/headphones though.
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post #4 of 12
8/23/10 at 4:30pm
X-Fi Titanium is a good choice. Based on what I've experienced with my own X-Fi XtremeMusic and the Xonar D1 (PCI flavor of DX) in gaming (I have both cards in my computer), the X-Fi totally wins in gaming sound positioning. There is really no contest. On the other hand, the Xonar has better sound quality so pick your poison. You lose some, you gain some.

Tests were conducted using each sound card going into a Little Dot MKII amplifier and both the JVC HA-DX3 and the Sennheiser HD595 headphones.
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post #5 of 12
8/23/10 at 5:10pm
=
Quote:
Originally Posted by ljason8eg View Post
Xonar DX. Money would probably be better spent upgrading your speakers/headphones though.
I also recommend saving your money for headphones or speakers. I would look into some audio technicas or headphones in the $100+ range.
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post #6 of 12
8/24/10 at 2:52pm
First step is the soundcard, and 2nd...get some nice cans (AD700's/HD555)
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post #7 of 12
8/24/10 at 4:10pm
Get an Auzentech X-Fi.
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post #8 of 12
8/24/10 at 4:34pm
Sound card/dac is highly over rated, yes there will probably be a difference since onboard measures a bit poor, but at your headphone price point I wouldn't worry about it just yet.

All the fruitcakes over at head-fi think your headphones are crap, though I haven't heard that model, it certainly sounds like a huge gimmick to me.
Source : http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/...0#post_6193187
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post #9 of 12
8/24/10 at 6:53pm
Sound card improvements are incremental at best. I'm listening to a pair of Usher Be-718 speakers right now in my bedroom playing some sample tunes off Amazon on my laptop's AC97 onboard and I'm pretty sure your jaw would be dropping at the sound quality compared to what you are used to with your "high end" sound cards.
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post #10 of 12
8/24/10 at 7:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by astrallite View Post
Sound card improvements are incremental at best. I'm listening to a pair of Usher Be-718 speakers right now in my bedroom playing some sample tunes off Amazon on my laptop's AC97 onboard and I'm pretty sure your jaw would be dropping at the sound quality compared to what you are used to with your "high end" sound cards.
With speakers that expensive you might as well go the extra mile just for added bragging right, lol. Seems everyone else does that anyways.
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