High-end sound card recommendations? (XFi or..?)

[Trajan]

I recently posted pleading for advice on headphones, and now I'm doing it again for sound cards.. I can't say enough how grateful I am for the free advice folks have been giving me!

I'm going to be purchasing a high-end PC headset (or, low end Hi-Fi set, more exactly) - probably the Sennhesier PC350s. I know I need an amp to make these sound good. I also hope to further improve by upgrading to dedicated sound (from onboard).

Researching soundcards, only the higher end cards have built in amps, which is a requirement, but I'm having trouble choosing a brand/chip. One of my big questions revolves around X-Fi; there was a thread awhile back about this, although the focus was more on X-Fi vs. onboard, rather than X-Fi vs. competitors.

All of this is to say.. I'm loaded down again with questions and grateful for any more help.


Is it true that the only real advantage of X-Fi over other chips is support for EAX5.0?

Is it true that I can get EAX5.0 via software, anyway?

Is it true that EAX5.0 is hardly even supported anymore?

The options I'm looking at right now are:

* Auzentech Forte ($140) - X-Fi chip, highly recommended hardware but uses Creative drivers, which I've heard are awful

* X-Fi Fatal1ty Titanium ($165) - X-Fi.. Same driver issue. Better sound than the Forte? Bundled with a front panel controller, which could be nice. I couldn't determine whether this has a headphone amp or not, though.

* HT Omega Claro ($175) - not X-Fi, but gets rave reviews from the audiophiles. Am I really going to miss the EAX? Some reviewers say that even for games this is incredible. Definitely has the headphone amp.

* ASUS Xonar series - pricey, not X-Fi/EAX but like the Omega Claro, highly recommended, and the highend models definitely have amps.

One point I defensively feel the need to make is that I know these are very high end cards and probably overkill for gaming. But I've gotten it into my head that I want the hi-fi headphones, and that means and amp, and an amp means a high end sound card. I'm really good at rationalization...

 

[LOUISSSSS]

I got the xonar Dx and the sound quality is much better than my onboard crap

 

[SkuLLyRT]

So I was recently in this predicament as well. I had been running some old school Altec Lansing ADA890 (these things have lasted since '01 - through college dorm techno / CS marathons, ghetto blasting the frat house, etc lol) through various iterations of Creative cards, most recently the X-Fi Xtrememusic.

Life slowed down a bit, and speakers were no longer really a usable option (though I do plug them in for the occasional movie) so I picked up a set of Audio-Technica AD700s per forum advice. They sounded amazing through my Xtrememusic. I could finally tell the difference between various sound file formats.

I picked up an Asus Xonar Essense STX on the cheap through a forum member just to see what sort of effect an amp would have on these cans, and wtf the difference is night and day. Everything has a much fuller sound now. One of the complaints for the AD700s are their lack of bass, but an amp certainly helps give them a bit more punch (it's still not on the same level as my friends DT880s, but I'm not a bass head like him so it's ok).

At any rate, the Xonar series gets a :thumbsup: from me. EAX has gone the way of the dodo, has it not? BFBC2 sounds amazing through my Asus/Audio-Technica setup. Music and movies sound amazing through this setup as well. Driver support is a concern, but Asus couldn't be any worse than Creative in this regard lol.

 

[Trajan]

Hey, Thanks Skully! That's extremely helpful. I'm really torn right now between the options.. I still haven't found anything conclusive, but I think the Fatal1ty does NOT have a headphone amp. So that narrows the choices to:

* Auzentech Forte (X-Fi). For some reason the fact that this is low profile is a turn-off because it makes me think its wimpy - very silly, I know. But it has a headphone amp and it's $140..

* HT Omega Claro is highly recommended although people rave just as much or more about the Xonars. I've seen scattered complaints that the Claro has some pop/crackle issues caused by no shielding/poor shielding (same for Auzentech) but this seems to be only with some set ups, not all set ups.

* The Xonars are really pricey but I haven't seen a single negative with them, at all. The only downside is not getting EAX 5.0. . (also claims that X-Fi, in general, is better at 3D positioning in stereo applications).

In some ways it comes down again to the question of, "Is EAX/X-Fi negligible for gaming applications, or worth it?"

 

[Chapbass]

My old roommate has the HT Omega Claros, I've used em a bit with some HD595's, they sound killer, they get my vote, although I havent used the other sound cards in question.

 

[ss284]

Xonar drivers are pretty horrible as far as functionality. The xonar control panel is more or less worthless aside from setting number of speakers. Sound quality is acceptable, but the EAX implementation is useless.

This coming from a Xonar-DX on windows 7 Pro x64.

 

[Rifter]

I like my ASUS Xonar STX.

 

[Ultralight]

HT Omega offerings such as their Claro and Stricker series. Solid high-end offerings.

 

[Anarchist420]

I would get a good receiver and use it with Onboard and X-Fi MB SW. That's what I'm about to do. I ordered an HK-3490.

 

[Anarchist420]

I've heard a lot of EMI issues with HT Omega and Auzentech cards. I'd recommend, if you're going to go the sound card route, to get an STX, or ST if you want more than 2 channel. I was about to get an STX, but I decided I'd just get an HK-3490 and the X-Fi MB SW.

 

[nipplefish]

I've heard it thrown around quite a bit for years how much Creative's drivers suck, but I've been using an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum for nearly 6 years now, through multiple systems and OS's, and the drivers have never been an issue. I use Sony MDR-V6 headphones.

 

[ss284]

Honestly Creative drivers over the past few years, especially with the help of danielK have been quite decent, especially compared to the crap asus puts out.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Auzentech imo. I'm pretty sure their drivers are a little bit different than the Creative ones.

That said, since you're using headphones skip the sound card and just go some USB DAC route. Seems like games are just going for a purely software 3d positioning solution now anyway (I'm sure multi core procs encouraged them to go this route). No Valve games use EAX, BFBC2 has it's own purely software solution... Something like an EMU0404 would be okay and not too expensive (esp used).

I also think all of this is overkill for PC350's. Don't feel limited in your headset because you think you need a mic attached to it, you can always get a clip on.

 

[nipplefish]

I also think all of this is overkill for PC350's. Don't feel limited in your headset because you think you need a mic attached to it, you can always get a clip on.

This, I've always been a proponent of using a good set of studio headphones with a separate mic. I use a Logitech desktop USB mic, it works pretty well.

 

[Maximilian]

Cant go wrong with the xonar essence STX! Great sound on my HD555's and the drivers have been flawless, no trouble here on windows 7 x64. Creative on the other hand has a reputation for poor drivers, even if they work correctly the software is bloated, the xonar stuff is much quicker and more lightweight.

Also the PC350's hardware is a closed design of the HD595's, the pc 350s really need to be modded to have remotely decent bass otherwise they just sound tinny. Check out the pc350 "hero mod" its called.

 

[alcoholbob]

The only problem some people have with Creative is it's inaccurate sound output--it molests every audio signal and resamples it to 48KHz.

 

[imaheadcase]

Onboard or USB 2.0 soundcard is as good as anything. Creative or whatever does not make a lick of difference in actual music you listen to. Good pair or speakers and headphones, and better bit rate sound files is what makes the most impact.

 

[velis]

I bought an Auzentech X.Fi Prelude to improve my sound experience. The onboard chip simply has too much interference so noise will always be an issue IMHO.

Drivers: Bloat, yes, but stable. It has never died on me, not while using XP and not now that I'm using Win 7 64 bit. Consider EAX pretty much gone if you go for Vista and above. Creating stupid game profiles and such will be something you'll have to do every time you install something new that would use EAX.
I do miss some more advanced settings for audio like speaker delay / surround setup wizard, etc. I would certainly expect them from a €200 card.
Also be warned that the drivers contain setup for some Creative apps, which are only trialware which is hard to remove after installing. It also doesn't do much...

Sound quality: perfect. No noise, no distortions. Handles anything I throw at it with ease. Real time HW 5.1 encoding so I can finally play my games on my Logitech Z-5500 speakers. Onboard chips only output stereo over SP/DIF unless you already have a pre-encoded stream (movies)

Hope this helps a bit