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Upgrade for a Creative Elite Pro?

GeezerMan

GeezerMan

Platinum Member
What do you guys think is an upgrade to a Elite Pro sound card? I have not used a sound card in a long time, and I want to install one that has a good quality 5.1 analog output, better than the Elite Pro, which is the card I used awhile back.

I suppose if one wants to use digital out, you don't really need a sound card..

Thanks
 
The most important components for good sound quality are the speakers. Upgrading the sound card to the same speakers will not usually change what your ears perceive. But, keeping the old sound card and upgrading the speakers can produce very noticeable results.
 
corkyg said:
The most important components for good sound quality are the speakers. Upgrading the sound card to the same speakers will not usually change what your ears perceive. But, keeping the old sound card and upgrading the speakers can produce very noticeable results.
Click to expand...


sure, I know that. I'll be upgrading the speakers shortly. I'm kinda on the fence about using a sound card, or just sending digital out to a good quality receiver. I imagine the DACs on a good quality sound card are probably better than most DACs in receivers.
 
OK - I haven't used a sound card in over 8 years. simply link my on board sound to a good external amp, and it in turn feeds good speakers. The sound is very good. If I were in your shoes, I would do the speaker upgrade first, and then decide. On board sound has been getting very good over the past few years.
 
I was just reading a bit about the Asus cards today. That will take some time to study all of the different models. I did see an older test report from Feb 2008 over at iXBT labs between the Xonar D2 and Creative X-Fi Elite Pro , it was basically a draw. The Asus Xonar D2 is no longer made. Anyway, interesting that the Elite Pro did as well as it did against the Xonar D2.

What's the replacement for the Xonar D2?
 
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corkyg said:
OK - I haven't used a sound card in over 8 years. simply link my on board sound to a good external amp, and it in turn feeds good speakers. The sound is very good. If I were in your shoes, I would do the speaker upgrade first, and then decide. On board sound has been getting very good over the past few years.
Click to expand...



Yeah, I had thought about that.
the older I get the less likely I can hear any differences...
That reminds me of the dude that posted in here a while back how great his HD audio in bluray movies sounded using PowerDVD. At the time, PowerDVD downsampled all HD Audio to regular DVD bit rates...ha...

Awhile back, I had the Elite Pro hooked up via analog to three Sonic Impact T Amps and a sub for surround sound. It was pretty darn good. .
 
The Elite Pro already has solid analog output. It will be darn near impossible to hear any difference by switching cards. Only reason to switch it out is driver problems or you just dont like the Creative software or you need a pci-e card. Sound cards arent like other PC components, they dont need to be replaced often. Put that coin towards speakers
 
GeezerMan said:
That reminds me of the dude that posted in here a while back how great his HD audio in bluray movies sounded using PowerDVD. At the time, PowerDVD downsampled all HD Audio to regular DVD bit rates...ha...
Click to expand...
It probably did. I have a hard time differentiating between 44.1 kHz bitperfect and (properly) downsampled to 32 kHz 16-bit. (For normal content at least.) I still want 44.1 KHz of course, but yeah.
 
Well, one annoying thing about the Elite Pro (I have it too) is that you have to manually set its master (internal) sampling rate in the driver. And it's only possible in the Audio Creation mode. Even WASAPI Exclusive mode won't help with that (you will hear a "click" when it changes master rate, through the Audio Creation mode console).

I just leave it 44.1 kHz all the time and output 48 kHz via HDMI.

Gaming mode is 48 kHz I think, Entertainment is 96 kHz?
 
I have an P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 with onboard ALC892.

One reason for switching is that I wanted to get away from a PCI card. I have one PCI slot used, and the other is very close to a very hot video card. I had a lot of driver problems with the Xfi and XP . I'm reading that the hacked PAX drivers are good in Win 7. After reading some yesterday, I might just install the elite pro and try the Pax drivers

Here's some truth from that Xbit article from 2008..

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/multimedia/asus-d2.html

"Both cards demonstrate the highest audio quality, it's very difficult to choose the best card. We haven't heard any differences in some test fragments. Others demonstrated a hardly noticeable difference in playback personality. The X-Fi demonstrates a tad more distinct attack, while the Xonar D2 provides a tad wider stereo base. I repeat, the differences are so measly that we had to switch between the devices many times to hear them. It's even more difficult to understand which card sounds closer to the original.
However, this situation is typical of modern High-End devices - it's very hard to hear the difference even with a high quality audio section. Manufacturers of popular devices have come close to reaching full potential of High-End converters. So you cannot expect a break-through in this field - the quality margin of audio components is disappearing. On the other hand, we can certainly recommend such cards as Xonar D2 and X-Fi Elite Pro for owners of high quality audio equipment, to say nothing of top active speakers."
 
Sound quality is very hard to determine in a review. One person's ears are not the same as another's. What you can compare is the specs of the sound chip itself and the ALC892 is on the lower end of mid range in terms of specs. The Asus Xonar would be much better on paper, but honestly a high quality external receiver will have better quality than any PC soundcard based on specs. I'm not talking about the low end sony or Pioneer receivers that go on sale at the local electronics store. I mean something high end that will inevitably cost more in the end.
 
GeezerMan said:
I have an P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 with onboard ALC892.
Click to expand...

If you plan on using a receiver and using the optical out then onboard will work great. Ive used higher end sound cards from Creative for 10+ years and I cant tell a difference in Analog out (creative) vs digital out (mobos). But I can tell a difference in analog out (creative) vs analog out (mobos). The mobos Ive used over the last 10+ years all have inferior analog output compared to dedicated sound cards

GeezerMan said:
One reason for switching is that I wanted to get away from a PCI card. I have one PCI slot used, and the other is very close to a very hot video card. I had a lot of driver problems with the Xfi and XP . I'm reading that the hacked PAX drivers are good in Win 7. After reading some yesterday, I might just install the elite pro and try the Pax drivers
Click to expand...

Thats good reasons for switching cards. If you dont have any luck with those win7 drivers and dont plan on using the optical out on the mobo, Look into the Asus Xonar line.

GeezerMan said:
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/multimedia/asus-d2.html

"Both cards demonstrate the highest audio quality, it's very difficult to choose the best card. We haven't heard any differences in some test fragments. Others demonstrated a hardly noticeable difference in playback personality. The X-Fi demonstrates a tad more distinct attack, while the Xonar D2 provides a tad wider stereo base. I repeat, the differences are so measly that we had to switch between the devices many times to hear them. It's even more difficult to understand which card sounds closer to the original.
However, this situation is typical of modern High-End devices - it's very hard to hear the difference even with a high quality audio section. Manufacturers of popular devices have come close to reaching full potential of High-End converters. So you cannot expect a break-through in this field - the quality margin of audio components is disappearing. On the other hand, we can certainly recommend such cards as Xonar D2 and X-Fi Elite Pro for owners of high quality audio equipment, to say nothing of top active speakers."
Click to expand...

This is what I was getting at in my first post. Sound cards are so close to each other that it's darn near impossible to hear any difference.. It really comes down to what features you need.

Gaming support (Dolby Digital Live, Dolby Headphone, EAX, cmss-3d)
Home Theater connectivity support like, 5.1 analog out
Headphone support (built in headphone amp, Dolby Headphone)
Audiophile support (op-amp swapping, Superior analog output, analog output connectivity options like RCA out)

Thats most of it but there is more.
 
Get a DAC. Run SPDIF to it and that's it. Don't use any PCIe crap. It's still inside the case. It'll pick up some noise. The super expensive PCIe sound cards that are shielded are nice but it's cheaper to pick up an external DAC... I'm running the Schiit Bifrost but many are a lot cheaper.
 
I have had the Xfi Elite Pro since it was released. It was a great card. I even had it working using Windows 7. However, I updated to a new motherboard (Gigabytes GA-Z77-D3H). The sound card is fine. However, if you want to use the I/O console for the Xfi, you need a 4 pin power receptacle on your mobo - which the above Gigabyte model does not have.

So, do I now have a $400 piece of trash or is there a work-around or fix for obtaining power for the I/O console (such as an adapter for the power connection)?

Any input on this matter is greatly appreciated.
 
Typically the 4-pin connector is the floppy connector from the PSU, not the motherboard. Can you link a picture?
 
yeah, it should just be a standard floppy power connector off of the power supply. You can get a molex to floppy power if needed
 
going from memory here...

there is no power connector on the card. your pic is of the CD Aux port on the card. data only. Usually not needed
1. power connector is on the front I/O panel. Power cord is only needed with the front I/O panel
2. sound power cable is not a sound power cable. it's a CD AUX data cable that connects to CD AUX on the card and mobo, but is usually not needed, is not a power cable, data only
3. this port on your mobo is the CD AUX port, and not a power connection, data only, usually not needed
 
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