Soundcard suggestions

[Mestofiles]

So. I've just got a pair of Roccat Kave 5.1 surround headset. It's equiped with three 40mm speakers in each cup, and uses three 3.5 mm jacks for the speakers. There's no build-in soundcard in the headset like the Logitech G35/G930 that runs on USB. After spending 3½ hours to get my on-board soundcard to work properly, I've realised that the quality of said soundcard isS***. I've been looking ath the Creative Souondblaster X-Fi Titanium Pro (http://www.trustedreviews.com/Creati...ipheral_review) and it's what i've decided for so far. However, my knowledge on soundcards is little to no existant, so I figured i'd check if anyone knows something that could be helpfull, or has a better suggestion. If you do have a suggestion for something else (price can not be much higher. I'm stretching my budget really far already), please elaborate WHY you think it's a better choice

[Keller]

Eh... I'd get an USB DAC or a Xonar, they're better then the x-fi .

[lockblock]

as much as i would like to hate on creative, all the products i owned from them died when i happened to have a faulty psu so I can only blame myself

[Mestofiles]

Eh... I'd get an USB DAC or a Xonar, they're better then the x-fi .

You're not exactly helpful. Instead of just claiming something is better, try to explain. Saying "x is better than y" is extremely biased and pretty much useless. It might work on someone sho's not that interested in what he/she buys, but to anyone with just a bit common sense, you need to explain why you think x is better, and what makes y a bad choice.

On another note. I've just ordered the X-fi Titanium Pro after a few hours research. My decision was mostly based on the fact that the only competitor I was considering was out of stock and wouldn't be in stock again for a while. The X-fi Titanium Pro was in stock and with 2 days delivery time and after talking with a salesman for a while, I also got a nice little discount.

[ispano]

You also never stated what your purpose for the card was. Music? Games? Listening to yourself breathe? For most purposes Keller is right, Xonar or a good USB card would do better. The X-Fi is only "better" for games that actually use EAX and then it's marginally better. The actual output quality is better on the Xonar line straight up regardless of the application.

So yeah, they are "better" just like he said. And i've owned and used both the X-Fi Titanium and the Xonar DX.

[Mestofiles]

You also never stated what your purpose for the card was. Music? Games? Listening to yourself breathe? For most purposes Keller is right, Xonar or a good USB card would do better. The X-Fi is only "better" for games that actually use EAX and then it's marginally better. The actual output quality is better on the Xonar line straight up regardless of the application.

So yeah, they are "better" just like he said. And i've owned and used both the X-Fi Titanium and the Xonar DX.

You're right, I should have stated that I'm mostly gaming and listening to music. I've recently gotten hold of the software I need to connect my guitar to my computer and use it as amp, so I'll be venturing that way soon. The alternative I was considering was the Xonar DX, but the only place I found who had it in stock was on a 7 day delivery. I'm however really desperate for a soundcard. I need to recieve it yesterday, so I can determine if I want to keep the Roccat Kave (I can only return it within 14 days of recieving it, got it yesterday). The Roccat Kave is on paper a great surround headset, but since it doesn't have build-in soundcard (which somehow pleases me as that type of soundcard usually is crap). I should have thought of that before buying, but I was stupid enough to believe the my onbaord was enough (durr, clever me)

From what I've read so far, the Xonar DX and the Titanium are roughly equal, but since the Xonar is cheaper, it usually wins the tests. What I also read though, was that Asus are slacking with the drivers, where as the drivers and software for the Titanium has got some great reviews (once you finally get them installed)

And please don't bring up the fact that Gaming headsets are bad for audiophiles, I know that, but I'm not dishing 150€ out for something that doesn't have a mic when I'll be using it for gaming. If I were to buy a quality headset, it'd be a 300€ + headset, but unfortunately, my budget doesn't support that (I'm a student)

[Keller]

I suggest you check out this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-...olby-headphone , in that case.

[ispano]

You're right, I should have stated that I'm mostly gaming and listening to music. I've recently gotten hold of the software I need to connect my guitar to my computer and use it as amp, so I'll be venturing that way soon. The alternative I was considering was the Xonar DX, but the only place I found who had it in stock was on a 7 day delivery. I'm however really desperate for a soundcard. I need to recieve it yesterday, so I can determine if I want to keep the Roccat Kave (I can only return it within 14 days of recieving it, got it yesterday). The Roccat Kave is on paper a great surround headset, but since it doesn't have build-in soundcard (which somehow pleases me as that type of soundcard usually is crap). I should have thought of that before buying, but I was stupid enough to believe the my onbaord was enough (durr, clever me)

From what I've read so far, the Xonar DX and the Titanium are roughly equal, but since the Xonar is cheaper, it usually wins the tests. What I also read though, was that Asus are slacking with the drivers, where as the drivers and software for the Titanium has got some great reviews (once you finally get them installed)

And please don't bring up the fact that Gaming headsets are bad for audiophiles, I know that, but I'm not dishing 150€ out for something that doesn't have a mic when I'll be using it for gaming. If I were to buy a quality headset, it'd be a 300€ + headset, but unfortunately, my budget doesn't support that (I'm a student)

The Xonar has a better SNR straight up. Also here's something I only recently found out about the X-Fi.

"The X-Fi chipset uses an internal resampling algorithm that was designed to work around the audio limitations of Windows XP (kmixer). The Windows XP architecture by default resampled all signals to 48KHz. Because such a resampling is lossy, and kmixer is a low quality integer resampler, the X-Fi was designed to alleviate the quality loss by overriding it with its own, higher quality resampler.

For Windows Vista and 7, the audio architecture was rebuilt (now using high quality floating point calculations and capable of versatile sample rates and bit-for-bit playback) and now the X-Fi algorithms are to the detriment of sound quality, rather than beneficial.

The X-Fi is a fossil, but if you are still using Windows XP, no doubt it's among the best."

From: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/28...-xonar-essence

Also from personal experience, Creative has used "meh" parts on their cards. While Auzentech, who can also use the X-Fi chips tends to use much better stuff.

Now yes, the Xonar is cheaper so that plays a part, but i'd still say regardless of that it's the better card for most applications, especially since EAX is hardly ever used anymore.

[vesseblah]

especially since EAX is hardly ever used anymore.

Microsoft killed some legacy parts of the DirectAudio in favor of new improved and open APIs, and when gaming on DX11 mode EAX will not work without some fairly unstable driver hacks from Creative (ie. Alchemy drivers).