New Sound Card Advice upto £150

[Wile E]

The Auzentech X-Fi Forte is buggy as hell once I put in my headphones in the front panel it automatically disables CMSS-3D. Another gripe is that the volume panel in the taskbar does not have DTS NEOC but it has CMSS-3D. Typical creative they put their technology "CMSS-3D" where it is accessible but hide the DTS NEO: PC buried in the audio control panel so it can not be changed on the fly by the user.

I can't help you on the DSP effects front. I disable them all. They ruin the music, as far as I am concerned.

 

[Aevum]

thats the think, if you want a card for gaming, an X-Fi based Auzentech is the way to go, if you want it for movies, the asus xonar is probobly the best, for music, a audio interface like a Echo Audiofire 2 does wonders,

for me music was the most important thing, and i have a 2 KRK Rokit 5 bookshelf monitor speaker as my audio system, so the audiofire was the way to go (if you have firewire), but i think that for a gaming/video combo which is what most people today go for, a X-FI based auzentech would be best, unless you use linux, then avoide creative products like the plauge,

btw: Avoid creative built cards, they cant hold a candle to the auzentechs, the bravura looks awesome.

 

[fireblade77]

well if u look at my 1st post then u will see that this soundcard was for gaming as i use my setup in my front room for movies and music but i still play a little music on my pc with my headphones and it does sound good.
i think from all the reviews i read and everyones input i did buy the right soundcard (auzentech x-fi forte) for gaming 95% of the time and the more ive been using it over this weekend the more i notice how good it does sound in battlefield bad company 2 but i must also say there was'nt alot wrong with my 4yr old creative x-fi fatality tbh.
its a shame i dont have any friends who have an asus xonar to have a listen to and see how good they are but im sure they are very good to and it probably comes down to each person is different and everyone likes there own way things should sound so u wont please everyone but i am happy with what i have so many thx for all ur help

 

[Aevum]

yea, but as soon as you stop using logitech speakers and creative base sound cards, start using speakers from the like of KRK or Audioengine and Sound interfaces from companies like Echo, you start to take a different perspective,

 

[Wile E]

yea, but as soon as you stop using logitech speakers and creative base sound cards, start using speakers from the like of KRK or Audioengine and Sound interfaces from companies like Echo, you start to take a different perspective,

Not really. The Auzentech based X-Fi cards are a different animal altogether. They have all the output quality of any of the C-Media based cards. At our (my friends and I) project studio, we've tested thru numerous Behringer, M-Audio and Carvin monitors, not to mention numerous top end IEM's.

The verdict is, the Auzentech X-Fi's are equal in sound quality, especially if you swap out the opamps to higher quality units. We prefer the 637AU for the price.

 

[Dent1]

I can't help you on the DSP effects front. I disable them all. They ruin the music, as far as I am concerned.

The problem with turning the DSPs off (NEO/CMSS) is that on the Forte you lose a centre channel when listening to music, this is a turn off as it makes hearing the speech very difficult to hear when its spread across 5 channels opposed to 5.1.

Luckily, Creative/Auzentech were smart enough to incorporate on a driver level a method of disabling NEO/CMSS as soon as it detects a multi-channel source i.e. the Battlefield Bad Company game.

 

[Wile E]

I don't want 2 channel sound to come thru more than 2 channels, with maybe a crossover to the sub below 80hz. It's inaccurate to have it come thru the center.

 

[Dent1]

I don't want 2 channel sound to come thru more than 2 channels

Then the Forte's Dolby Digital Live and DTS Interactive is useless then, in your case. You may as well get a normal soundcard and except 2 channel audio in all your non-movie related sources and keep it natural.


Disabling Neo and CMSS on the Forte whilst having DD live or DTS Interactive still give you rear channel audio, are you ok with that? or is it just the center that annoys you in 2 channel sources

 

[Wile E]

Then the Forte's Dolby Digital Live and DTS Interactive is useless then, in your case. You may as well get a normal soundcard and except 2 channel audio in all your non-movie related sources and keep it natural.


Disabling Neo and CMSS on the Forte whilst having DD live or DTS Interactive still give you rear channel audio, are you ok with that? or is it just the center that annoys you in 2 channel sources

I play 2 channel audio thru the front pair, and that's it. I didn't buy it for it's upmixing or DSP features on music. I bought it for it's high quality output, headphone amp, and replaceable opamps, all while being better at gaming than the Cmedia alternatives. I'm a music purist. The furthest I usually go is a little EQ to compensate for the room or speakers.