Which Sound Card to get?

Wile E · Nov 18, 2010

deathmore said:
idk that's just the standard hookup that was shown in the manual it uses the optical to connect to a dolby digital box thing, it also came with a analog adapter i assume its got 4 plugs on it( black, green, red, pink)

Yeah, that's analog.

deathmore · Nov 18, 2010

Wile E said:
Yeah, that's analog.

Can it be used with the receiver, the analog adapter tho also has a pink connector for the mic on the headphones with optical i just use the usb.

Wile E · Nov 18, 2010

No, won't work with the receiver that way. Those headphone aren't going to play nice with the receiver that way. But the Z5500's aren't going to either. You need to hook the headphones directly to the playback source (whether it's the PC, or PS3/360/BD player or whatever with optical out), no matter how you look at it.

roast · Nov 18, 2010

I'd go with the Xonar. personally, I want to pick up a D2X. I would never ever go with a Creative soundcard ever again.

motasim · Nov 18, 2010

travva said:
OP: i just got an XFI titanium HD today and i can confirm it is FANTASTIC. my onboard sounds like complete shit in hindsight and I am only using some HD-595's. the positional accuracy of cmss is something i missed dearly!! also i got my card at best buy for only 149.99, which i think was a steal. i'm loving the amp for the headphones too. this card seriously kicks ass.

... so Creative finally worked out their sound card's driver issues? The Sennheiser PC360 headset that I intend to get is quite similar to your HD 595, how is it pairing with the Titanium HD? To be honest; I wanted to go for Auzentech Forte 7.1, but since it is no where to be found; I'm inclined to go for Creative X-Fi Titanium HD but I'm a little worried because of what I repeatedly heard concerning the driver problems ... and as of now; all of the voting is in favor of Asus Essence ST/X, so I'm really puzzled now :wtf:

...

Edit: at $150, that's great value! can you please confirm the model number (reading it off the card or box)? it should be something like 70SB127000002, but best-buy only says 70SB1270000, could it be a older revision, although I seriously doubt that.

NinkobEi · Nov 18, 2010

sooner or later you'll just have to make a choice. Is there a wrong answer here? Probably not. I'm sure you'd be happy with any of them. Go with what you think is best, the info is out there for ya!

motasim · Nov 18, 2010

Ninkobwi said:
sooner or later you'll just have to make a choice. Is there a wrong answer here? Probably not. I'm sure you'd be happy with any of them. Go with what you think is best, the info is out there for ya!

You're right, on Black Friday's Sale I'll just decide on and get the best sound card for me.
I'll keep you posted

FreedomEclipse · Nov 18, 2010

I say the ST/STX still comes out tops. creative have sorted out most of their bad driver issues but theyve already left a lingering bad aftertaste in their customers mouths. so even though their one of the more popular names Asus cards still offer better sound quality for less.

jasper1605 · Nov 18, 2010

Wile E said:
Don't get z-5500's if you get that card. Do yourself a favor and get a surround receiver and speaker starter kit from somebody like Onkyo. Leagues better sounding than the Logitech POS speakers, and upgradeable as well. ONKYO HT-S3300 Home Theater in a Box

In addition to that since he's in Canada is a company called Fluance. They're tiny, but they've got some really nice speakers for not a lot of price. http://www.fluance.com/
300 gets a great set of 5 speakers that fill a room with sound very easily.

micropage7 · Nov 19, 2010

mad1394 said:
I want to vote on that poll soooo bad... but I can't decide between the asus and the titanium hd...

yeah thats true, thats kinda hard but since my audigy got no right driver on windows 7 :cry:

so my audigy is dead by now :banghead:

i prefer taking asus :laugh:

Wile E · Nov 19, 2010

motasim said:
... so Creative finally worked out their sound card's driver issues? The Sennheiser PC360 headset that I intend to get is quite similar to your HD 595, how is it pairing with the Titanium HD? To be honest; I wanted to go for Auzentech Forte 7.1, but since it is no where to be found; I'm inclined to go for Creative X-Fi Titanium HD but I'm a little worried because of what I repeatedly heard concerning the driver problems ... and as of now; all of the voting is in favor of Asus Essence ST/X, so I'm really puzzled now ...

Edit: at $150, that's great value! can you please confirm the model number (reading it off the card or box)? it should be something like 70SB127000002, but best-buy only says 70SB1270000, could it be a older revision, although I seriously doubt that.

Asus and Creative are now equal on the driver front. Neither have had any serious problems for a while now.

It's a shame the Forte is nowhere to be found. I love mine. Best bang for the buck going.

Claro Halo is my choice if you can afford the extra.

FreedomEclipse · Nov 19, 2010

micropage7 said:
yeah thats true, thats kinda hard but since my audigy got no right driver on windows 7 so my audigy is dead by now i prefer taking asus

google 'Daniel K - Audigy Support Pack' - this guy modded some drivers to work on W7 for Audigy cards when M$/Creative dropped support for it.

SabreWulf69 · Nov 19, 2010

motasim said:
You're right, on Black Friday's Sale I'll just decide on and get the best sound card for me.
I'll keep you posted

Sounds good, I provided as much information as I possibly could on my choice, but in the end try and get to be able to listen to them all yourself and then make the decision on what you personally prefer.

RejZoR · Nov 19, 2010

Personally i think Auzentech X-Fi Forte is the best all around high end soundcard, be it music, movies or games. It can handle all of them with excellence.

SabreWulf69 · Nov 25, 2010

Sort of a bump. What did ya end up deciding to go with?

motasim · Nov 25, 2010

Although I was really set on getting the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, I followed the advice of the majority of you guys and went with Asus, but instead of the Xonar Essence STX I went for the newer Xonar Xense bundled with Sennheiser PC350 Headset ($280 at newegg including free Op-amp upgrade kit), I think that I've done what's right!

Thank you everybody for the valuable advice. :rockout:

SabreWulf69 · Nov 25, 2010

Anytime and such a good choice. I really hope it fulfills your needs for years to come

motasim · Nov 25, 2010

... SabreWulf69 FTW ...

jasper1605 · Nov 25, 2010

motasim said:
Xonar Xense bundled with Sennheiser PC350 Headset ($280 at newegg including free Op-amp upgrade kit

sick deal right there. Good choice, sir!

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Processor	980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
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Video Card(s)	Evga GTX 580
Storage	Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s)	HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
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Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply	ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
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System Name	Micro Mule
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Display(s)	LG 42LD650 42" LCD HDTV
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Audio Device(s)	Creative SB X-Fi Titanium HD + Sennheiser PC360 Headset
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Which Sound Card to get?

Which Sound Card to get?

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD

Auzentech Forte 7.1

ASUS Xonar Essence ST

HT OMEGA Claro Halo

Other

Wile E

Power User

deathmore

Wile E

Power User

roast

motasim

NinkobEi

motasim

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

jasper1605

micropage7

Wile E

Power User

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

SabreWulf69

New Member

RejZoR

SabreWulf69

New Member

motasim

SabreWulf69

New Member

motasim

jasper1605

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