Asus Xonar DX PCI-E Sound Card - $79.99 or $69.99 w/ GCO

[Slick5150]

Buy.com has a good price on the Asus Xonar DX sound card. Most places want $89.99. Newegg even has it at $99 + shipping.

Link

Free shipping. Use the Google Checkout new account discount to knock another $10 off to make it $69.99.

Review 1
Review 2

 

[Raider1284]

How does this card compare to the razer ac-1?

 

[ss284]

Thats a pretty decent deal on just about the only alternative to the xifi for gaming. It uses a software tweaked version of the razer ac1's cmedia audio chip. It also has much better EAX emulation through software. Other than that, its roughly the same card.

 

[Schadenfroh]

What version of EAX does this card support with full hardware acceleration (in XP and Vista via OpenAL) and does Asus have something similar to Creative's Alchemy to allow DirectSound games to use EAX in Vista?

 

[Slick5150]

Yes, that's the trick of this card is that is uses an Alchemy like wrapper to more or less trick a game into thinking you have full EAX support in Vista, which it that processes in software. Its probably not quite as good, but good enough to avoid dealing with Creative. Otherwise, it just offers hardware EAX 1.0 & 2.0 like every other non-Creative card (save the Auzentech X-fi)

As far as whether its better than the Razer AC-1, I've had problems with Razer's drivers and whatnot, though the Razer can do DTS-Interactive while the DX can only do Dolby Digital Live (the D2X can do DTS, but its $100+ more). Its debatable I suppose, though reviews seem to indicate Asus comes out on top of just about everything for gaming.

 

[ourfpshero]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
What version of EAX does this card support with full hardware acceleration (in XP and Vista via OpenAL) and does Asus have something similar to Creative's Alchemy to allow DirectSound games to use EAX in Vista?

this chipset is software acceleration only. NO hardware acceleration. the only cards that still have hardware acceleration are (most) x-fi's and audigys. of course it doesnt matter as much as it used to

 

[dr150]

The length of this card is a deal breaker.

Are they serious?!

 

[proroc]

I just bought this card and love it!

I can set the sample rate to 44.1Khz or 48Khz. Which is better for gaming?

Thanks!!

 

[strend]

Thanks for posting this, ordered. I was planning on getting an X-Fi to replace my Audigy 2 until I read this review.

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: dr150
The length of this card is a deal breaker.

Are they serious?!

Uh. What? It isn't any longer than most other sound cards.

And its low profile.

 

[proroc]

So... which sample rate would you guys use for gaming, 44.1 or 48KHz?

 

[ir0nw0lf]

Down to $64.99 after GCO!

 

[ss284]

I would snap this up, but that stupid floppy power requirement is retarded. Does anyone know if the card comes with an adapter?

 

[TheLizardMan]

A better review of the card.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/14500

For the money its a great deal!!!

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: ss284
I would snap this up, but that stupid floppy power requirement is retarded. Does anyone know if the card comes with an adapter?

Yes, it comes with a molex -> floppy adapter.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: proroc
So... which sample rate would you guys use for gaming, 44.1 or 48KHz?

Considering most game sounds are sampled at 22KHz and maybe 44.1KHz if they have high-def options, the regular end-user does not need 48KHz capability.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: dr150
The length of this card is a deal breaker.

Are they serious?!

lol, its called pci-e
not pci!

are you serious?

 

[shingletingle]

OP, not a bad post but I already have an X-Fi XtremeMusic. Not worth it to upgrade at this point.

 

[proroc]

Maybe not worth it to you, but to us X-Fi owners with the popping and crackling nightmares, this card is a very "worth it" upgrade...

 

[shingletingle]

Originally posted by: proroc
Maybe not worth it to you, but to us X-Fi owners with the popping and crackling nightmares, this card is a very "worth it" upgrade...

Not really because I'm using my X-Fi in Vista with no issues. You probably need to uninstall/reinstall the drivers or check your configuration.

 

[takeru]

considering there aren't that many alternatives to a "creative" card, this is a good candidate. i have an x-fi xtremegamer pro. i bought the digital i/o dongle too. stupid thing can't do all channels to my onkyo receiver over digital. and analog sound balance is way off for multi-channel. front L/R is at 5% volume, back L/R is at 100%, just to balance out the volume level out on the receiver. how stupid....