Sound Card ~20-40 euros

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

I'm thinking of getting a sound card.


I don't want to spend more than 30-40 euros. I mainly listen to rock and classical music (piano/orchestra) - either internet radio or MP3s encoded up to 192kbps, watch movies (.mp4) and play games like WoW, D3 etc. My headset is nothing special (I needed one quickly and I had 20 euros to spare) although I'm going to ask for a pair of ATH-AD700s (or similar in that price range) for my birthday. I'm looking at the Xonar DGX and DSX cards - the Sabertooth does not have any legacy PCI slots.

What are the differences between the two cards (and, possibly more important, would I notice them)?

http://www.mindfactory.de/product_in...-5-1-PCIe.html
http://www.mindfactory.de/product_in...-DSX-PCIe.html

I am aware that amazon.de has the DGX for 4 euros cheaper, the DSX is ten euros more expensive on amazon.

[Deleted]

the 5.1 got a slightly (2 db lower SNR) but does come with an headphone amp if im reading this correctly.
also i thought soundcards only started making a differance in the +$50 region. (/lights deltrus/xuvial signal for better audiophile know how )

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

One thing that annoys me right now is that when there is a lot going on (20 players AoEing the shit out of bats at Tortos 25 that I am tanking or when 100 players are shooting stuff at Oondasta) the game audio sometimes cuts out for a second (teamspeak and music player continue normally). Would be nice to not have that happen.

[Nitrax]

Afaik you won't get rid of sound cut-outs because I don't think sound mixing will be affected. The only thing you get out of a soundcard nowadays is better sound clarity because of shielded (and better) components.

The days of EAX are (thankfully) behind us. If you think about it, it doesn't take todays CPUs a lot of cycles to mix even hundreds of sound channels together.

[BruceG87]

The DSX offers home-theater users the ability to swap opamps to change the tonal sound.

The DGX offers a built-in headphone amp for low impedance headphones (up to 150 ohm) and dolby headphone. Might be worth considering if you ever pickup different headphones in the future that need an amp to be driven.

[Deleted]

perhaps your best bet it to wait and see what headphones you end up getting and finding the right matching soundcard then? (this might also provide the option for acces to a higher budget?)

[Doylez]

What about the SoundBlaster Recon 3d?

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

What about the SoundBlaster Recon 3d?

20 odd euros over budget. I also read somewhere (think it was on overclockers) that creativelabs drivers aren't exactly great.

[BruceG87]

Steer clear of the Recon 3D.

Pickup the DGX. It is cheaper, it will provide you with what you need and give you a headphone amp which could be beneficial if you want higher impedance headphones.
The DSX is just the wrong card for you unless you plan on a home theater system in the future.

On headphones, if you end up getting a pair of AD700's you will absolutely love them in comparison to cheap headphones/headsets you have used in the past. I just got my AD900X and I am love. The design is amazingly comfortable and they sound great even though I still need to burn them in.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Newbie question: Will the headphone amplifier make the sound coming out of my current headset (no-name brand piece of shite simple headset that is OK with an MP3 player/mobile phone's audio output) louder?

I feel a little embarrassed by my almost non-existent knowledge of sound equipment :/

[BruceG87]

Newbie question: Will the headphone amplifier make the sound coming out of my current headset (no-name brand piece of shite simple headset that is OK with an MP3 player/mobile phone's audio output) louder?

To keep it short and simple, yes.

Quite a few people turn to headphone amps for "louder sound output" but that is not what they are necessarily intended to do. Some headphones simply require amplification to work as intended. This is where we look at headphone impedance. The headphones you mentioned, ATH-AD700's, are low impedance cans that do not require any amplification. Higher impedance headphones require amplification. The DGX amp will drive up to 150 ohm cans. If I plugged my Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro's(250 ohm) into a DGX, they would not be properly driven. Sound would be extremely low(even at max volume) and distorted.

Where as my Xonar STX has the amp to properly drive them as well as higher impedance cans. However, higher impedance does not always mean better sound quality. That is probably the most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to shopping for quality headphones.