Considering a sound card again

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Reinstalled OS & UT3 and I am hesitating on installing those hideous creative sound card drivers for my Xtreme Gamer - I've had enough of the BSOD error from them. The PAX drivers also suffer the same BSOD error. So I am considering a new gaming sound card. Tried and returned an HT Omega sound card. Didn't like the sound quality and the UI was high-school level childish.

Suggest me a low DPC latency sound card that won't break the bank, thanks

 

[Remobz]

Reinstalled OS & UT3 and I am hesitating on installing those hideous creative sound card drivers for my Xtreme Gamer - I've had enough of the BSOD error from them. The PAX drivers also suffer the same BSOD error. So I am considering a new gaming sound card. Tried and returned an HT Omega sound card. Didn't like the sound quality and the UI was high-school level childish.

Suggest me a low DPC latency sound card that won't break the bank, thanks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829132020

 

[kleinkinstein]

You get what you pay for, so get an HT Omega Claro. Your ears will thank you each and every day, both of them.

 

[NickelPlate]

Reinstalled OS & UT3 and I am hesitating on installing those hideous creative sound card drivers for my Xtreme Gamer - I've had enough of the BSOD error from them. The PAX drivers also suffer the same BSOD error. So I am considering a new gaming sound card. Tried and returned an HT Omega sound card. Didn't like the sound quality and the UI was high-school level childish.

Suggest me a low DPC latency sound card that won't break the bank, thanks

My recent experiences (new build) with my old Xfi Fatality Pro were similiar to yours. So I'm running on onboard MB audio right now but have been looking for alternatives. They (creative) haven't done anything creative at all in years and just keep repackaging their Xfi product into different form factors, giving them different names and providing the same old crappy drivers. This is where I get off the creative bus. What I want is a non creative brand card that supports EAX for the older titles that I still play that supported it and has standard front panel connectors that are supplied on most cases. There doesn't seem to be a really big push for new soundcards now for many years. I guess onboard audio killed the discrete soundcard star.

 

[NickelPlate]

Looks like you can pick up an Asus Xonar DG for about $16USD after $10 rebate both at Newegg and Amazon. I may just give this one a shot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...s%20xonar%20dg

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Channel-S...=asus+xonar+dg

 

[Remobz]

Looks like you can pick up an Asus Xonar DG for about $16USD after $10 rebate both at Newegg and Amazon. I may just give this one a shot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...s%20xonar%20dg

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Channel-S...=asus+xonar+dg

sweet

 

[thelastjuju]

You get what you pay for, so get an HT Omega Claro. Your ears will thank you each and every day, both of them.

Indeed this is the most phenomenal sounding consumer sound card on the market right now. But its not for everyone. Only assuming you a) have the speakers or headphones to fully take advantage of it and b) you care most about good ol' 2 channel analog stereo for music..

Perhaps the OP tried the Ht Omega STRYKER, which is very entry level in comparison. I also agree the interface is very outdated, but then again I'm not sure why you'd really ever need to open it once you've configured it the way you like.

But for gaming, I think most people would actually prefer the X-Fi cards because they are SO heavy on artificial/simulation effects like EAX which work my manipulating the sound in a number of different ways. I personally cannot stand this emulation approach, and prefer raw sound quality, but most gamers like it.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I returned this.

The Xonar DGX on the low DPC latency drivers, which disable any effect like 3d eax and all that other horsecrap, are suitable but at the cost of limited positional awareness ,,,and for some reason I get nausea from the sound but I'll take it over the horrible software for my previous particular sound card which would constantly crash with the ha20x2k.sys BSOD error if it used 32 sound channels or more.. i don't know the max it could do before conjuring up that error but i hacked my software to limit the channels thus the errors went away..

I'm going to stick with the DGX.. apparently the DX doesn't get enough electricity from the PCIe slot so it needs a separate power cord from the PSU

 

[RampantAndroid]

What breaks the bank? I recommend the ASUS Xonar Essence STX.

I'm going to stick with the DGX.. apparently the DX doesn't get enough electricity from the PCIe slot so it needs a separate power cord from the PSU

That's a GOOD thing. It means it is likely getting cleaner power and as such will have LESS noise.

 

[thelastjuju]

So you somehow weren't impressed by the sound quality of a Claro, and so you decided to step down to an even lower level C-Media sound processor?

The Claro had the C-Media CMI8788
The Xonar DGX has a C-Media CMI8786

I don't know why you are having so much trouble with various sound cards.. but getting the perfect driver installed can be tricky, sometimes its just a bit of trial and error.

You definitely have some sort of drivers issue here. Is doing a fresh install out of the question? Because its possible that would do the trick. There shouldn't be any noise unless you have the wrong drivers installed. Are you sure whatever hacking or tinkering you are doing isn't adding to the problems too?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

So you somehow weren't impressed by the sound quality of a Claro, and so you decided to step down to an even lower level C-Media sound processor?

The Claro purchase was a while while back.. since i returned it I did all the work-arounds to avoid the ha20x2k.sys BSOD errors. Those errors appeared at the very beginning of my UT3 adventure almost 4yrs ago; almost 2 platform builds ago and until i did the work around about 3 months ago they persisted.

The Claro had the C-Media CMI8788
The Xonar DGX has a C-Media CMI8786

I realized it was a similar processor but DPC latency is noticeable to the sensitive gamer which is most noticeable in very fast paced arena shooters e.g. UT3 hence my decision on the Asus Xonar + brainbit drivers. Did you also notice the price difference between the 2 cards? it's a strict gaming machine not an audiophile rig

I don't know why you are having so much trouble with various sound cards.. but getting the perfect driver installed can be tricky, sometimes its just a bit of trial and error.

The DGX is working fantastic

You definitely have some sort of drivers issue here. Is doing a fresh install out of the question? Because its possible that would do the trick. There shouldn't be any noise unless you have the wrong drivers installed. Are you sure whatever hacking or tinkering you are doing isn't adding to the problems too?

I think this has been covered above. New platforms would get fresh OS installs. This DGX purchase was installed on a fresh OS install but the OS install was sprung from other reasons.

Thanks for the questions. They help make a person re-think things

Cheers :beer:

 

[billyb0b]

I'm running an ASUS Xonar Essence STX and have been very happy with it.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Going to check out those brainbit drivers for sure.