holy balls, my sound rocks now.

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Homer Simpson

Senior member
Oct 10, 1999
584
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so on a whim today i decided to get a new sound card. ive been using an xfi titanium fatility something or other (pci, xram, IODrive). i though it was decent and was better than the on-board crap. only thing i didnt like was it didnt have a front panel audio connector so i had to use the IODrive thing with its big ribbon cable and both the card and IODrive required power. so i got a new case yesterday and im wiring it up and it just finally bugged me too much. went over to microcenter after work today and grabbed an Auzentech Bravura 7.1. its based around an xfi chip but supposedly uses better components, better drivers, etc. this card has a headphone pre-amp to which is kinda cool. its also pci-e not that it really matters i dont think.

the sound quality knocked my socks off. first thing i noticed is my klipsch 4.1's dont hiss any more when no sound is playing and they sound fantastic. my headphones are razer carcharias, nothing special but decent. they sound great too. i really didnt think i would see such a huge difference. plus i got rid of the whole iodrive thing and just have a simple front panel connector. no power hookups required. case cleaned up nicely and the card sounds great! music was phenominal, games were great. dont watch movies on the computer so cant say if dvd/bluray is good or not but i dont see why it wouldnt be with the great music and games. anyways, auzentech is a great alternative to creative. glad i finally got away from them.
 
RockinZ28

RockinZ28

Platinum Member
Mar 5, 2008
2,171
49
101
Good to hear. I was about to pull the trigger on the X-fi fatality titanium to put in my main pc. It was at Fry's today for $60 after rebate, but then decided against it.

Just figured I wanted to try another brand since I've heard good things, currently using the x-fi fatal1ty pro version, and does have that annoying hiss out of speakers when no sound is playing.
 
B

borisvodofsky

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2010
3,606
0
0
RockinZ28 said:
Good to hear. I was about to pull the trigger on the X-fi fatality titanium to put in my main pc. It was at Fry's today for $60 after rebate, but then decided against it.

Just figured I wanted to try another brand since I've heard good things, currently using the x-fi fatal1ty pro version, and does have that annoying hiss out of speakers when no sound is playing.
Click to expand...

Hey bro, I know what you mean, the hiss is due to broken or damaged muting transistors on that card.

You can actually remove "short" those transistors to BOTH fix your problem, AND improve sound quality.

They're only use in the DESIGN of the card is to mute the speakers (outputs) during windows boot up and shutdown, they have NO OTHER function whatsoever.. :eek:

I believe that these transistors is a poor design choice. They affect sound quality dramatically, and are easily broken due static discharge. Example, if you use earbuds, and have gotten a minor shock in your ear,, That's actually enough static electricity grounded THROUGH your X-fi card to break the muting transistor.
 
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konakona

konakona

Diamond Member
May 6, 2004
6,285
1
0
Example, if you use earbuds, and have gotten a minor shock in your ear,, That's actually enough static electricity grounded THROUGH your X-fi card to break the muting transistor.
Click to expand...

Man, that's kinda scary :eek:
Not that I would ever use an earbud or any headphone directly out of a soundcards headphone out/line out but still..
 
R

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
Thats pretty much how i felt when i went from on board realtek to a Asus Xonar STX.
 
f4phantom2500

f4phantom2500

Platinum Member
Dec 3, 2006
2,284
1
0
artvscommerce said:
I wasn't aware of such mods! Thank you for posting this, i'm going to try this asap so I can stop using my E-MU 0404 USB as my sound card.
Click to expand...

cool, i had someone do it on mine, since i don't trust my skill with a soldering iron. i would tell you my impression but it took literally months for me to get it back (he was going through a lot of shit at the time) so i can't really comment on the differences...but it does sound great post-mod lol. post how it goes, most people that try it go on about how much better it sounds, but it'd be nice to get feedback from someone not on head-fi; someone who's not a self-proclaimed audiophile.
 
KGB

KGB

Diamond Member
May 11, 2000
3,042
0
0
I can vouch that this X-Fi mod works.
Replace the op-amps and input capacitor only. The rest is unnecessary.
 
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