Sound blaster zxr or?

MaximusE · May 4, 2016

Hey guys

I need your advice on this

I own a z5500 system and i got like a year ago the sound blaster z as many suggested that going analog on 5.1 is better.

Since i upgraded my vga and the sound z is too short and my friend needed the card am out in the market for a new one.

I want the card mostly for music and second gaming.

The zxr seems to be the same card but with diff connections and the small pod but theres no analog.

Any better advices for longer sound cards?

I was satisfied with the z performance tbh

Thanks

Mussels · May 4, 2016

i dont know the sound cards you speak of, but as an owner of the Z5500's just make sure you stay with analogue 5.1 - the bass gets really messed up over digital connections, even if you use DTS/DDL encoding.

i dont know what you mean by a longer sound card.

MaximusE · May 4, 2016

Z is tiny i want something wider

Mussels said:
i dont know the sound cards you speak of, but as an owner of the Z5500's just make sure you stay with analogue 5.1 - the bass gets really messed up over digital connections, even if you use DTS/DDL encoding.

i dont know what you mean by a longer sound card.

Dent1 · May 4, 2016

MaximusE said:
Hey guys

I need your advice on this

I own a z5500 system and i got like a year ago the sound blaster z as many suggested that going analog on 5.1 is better.

Since i upgraded my vga and the sound z is too short and my friend needed the card am out in the market for a new one.

I want the card mostly for music and second gaming.

The zxr seems to be the same card but with diff connections and the small pod but theres no analog.

Any better advices for longer sound cards?

I was satisfied with the z performance tbh

Thanks

Analogue better on 5.1 is subjective..Everyone has their own opinion on what's better.

Generally speaking digital would be better under DTS or DD encoding whilst gaming or watching movies which already have 5 audio channels.. Analogue would be better for listen to music in 2 channels.

The Sound blaster zxr is almost £200, the gain will be minimal because of the speakers. Spend £200 on some bookshelf speakers and an amp.

RejZoR · May 4, 2016

Bigger doesn't mean better. SB Z's are using the same components except certain key ones, meaning they'll be sized exactly the same. And these are very good soundcards, not sure why you'd want to change it for a "bigger" one. Besides, the smaller soundcards are below graphic card, the better airflow you'll have. So, using smaller soundcard is in fact a better thing.

Ferrum Master · May 4, 2016

Take a used X-Fi Titanium on fleabay.

If you still have a PCI go for auzen x-fi or elite pro, they are superb cards for the price.

Drivers are fine now, no issues so far, thus I cannot reccomend any xonar ones atm. One xonar dx gathers dust in my shelf because of buggy drivers.

RejZoR · May 4, 2016

Auzentech went bust so I wouldn't pick their cards either. If you want the least issues, stay with Sound Blaster Z. After long time, this is a soundcard that literally doesn't have a single issue with drivers.

Mussels · May 4, 2016

Dent1 said:
Analogue better on 5.1 is subjective..Everyone has their own opinion on what's better.

Generally speaking digital would be better under DTS or DD encoding whilst gaming or watching movies which already have 5 audio channels.. Analogue would be better for listen to music in 2 channels.

The Sound blaster zxr is almost £200, the gain will be minimal because of the speakers. Spend £200 on some bookshelf speakers and an amp.

the Z5500 receiver requires a dedicated bass channel over its digital inputs, so unless you're dealing with proper 5.1 audio sources things like stereo MP3 music sound pretty crap. You can take my word on that as they were my primary speakers for years.
Personally i think analogue or HDMI are the only ways to go (Edit: for PC use), SPDIF over COAX or optical are only viable for DVD/BD/Pre-encoded 5.1 sources.

Ferrum Master · May 4, 2016

RejZoR said:
Auzentech went bust so I wouldn't pick their cards either. If you want the least issues, stay with Sound Blaster Z. After long time, this is a soundcard that literally doesn't have a single issue with drivers.

I was referring to them just because of analog quality. They are utilizing same drivers from creative and still often seen in ebay. SB-Z isn't the best there. So a used card from fleabay... experiment with it and make your conclusions.

Dent1 · May 4, 2016

RejZoR said:
Auzentech went bust so I wouldn't pick their cards either. If you want the least issues, stay with Sound Blaster Z. After long time, this is a soundcard that literally doesn't have a single issue with drivers.

I wouldnt' let drivers deter you. The X-Fi Auzen driver's are built and maintained by Creative not Auzentech.

The other Auzentech cards should have compatible c-media drivers.

Saying that I agree the OP should stay with his Sound Blaster Z.

RejZoR · May 4, 2016

Dent1 said:
I wouldnt' let drivers deter you. The X-Fi Auzen driver's are built and maintained by Creative not Auzentech.

The other Auzentech cards should have compatible c-media drivers.

Saying that I agree the OP should stay with his Sound Blaster Z.

But you cannot install stock Creative drivers on Auzentech, meaning company is bust and there is no real driver support for it anymore. Trust me, I had Auzentech X-Fi Forte and I couldn't get Creative drives installed on it no matter what.

Ferrum Master · May 4, 2016

RejZoR said:
But you cannot install stock Creative drivers on Auzentech, meaning company is bust and there is no real driver support for it anymore. Trust me, I had Auzentech X-Fi Forte and I couldn't get Creative drives installed on it no matter what.

If you poked in creative forums. Daniel K added X-Fi pack with that card supported.

Dent1 · May 4, 2016

RejZoR said:
But you cannot install stock Creative drivers on Auzentech, meaning company is bust and there is no real driver support for it anymore. Trust me, I had Auzentech X-Fi Forte and I couldn't get Creative drives installed on it no matter what.

You have misunderstood what I meant.

The Auzen X-Fi card's (Prelude, Forte, Home Theater HD) have always had their drivers built and maintained by Creative. The fact Auzentech has gone bust doesn't effect those products. I had the Auzentech Forte too and downloaded directly from support.creative.com. Saying that I was running Window's Vista and Windows 7 at the time, never tried it on a Windows 8 or 10 environment, if there is no new official drivers its because Creative couldn't be bothered rather than Auzentech going bankrupt.

Auzentech was only responsible for the drivers of their non X-Fi cards. i.e. Auzentech X-Meridian, X-Plosion, X-Raider, X-Mystique which were edited C-Media Drivers. Even today you can get those old cards working using the latest C-media drivers.

RejZoR · May 4, 2016

I've tried installing Creative drivers and they always refused to install.

Ferrum Master · May 4, 2016

Dent1 said:
working using the latest C-media drivers.

I have the X-Plosion still alive too... well it works... but as all cmedia stuff that also plagues Xonar, it acts really weird sometimes.

Our point is valid though... X-Fi based cards have no problems lately... I actually never thought of admitting that Creative has done their job well supporting WIN10 really fast. So I can recommend an older generation cheaper card without regrets. Actually DAC part on my mentioned cards is really much better than the SB-Z has.

RejZoR said:
I've tried installing Creative drivers and they always refused to install.

Try these, Take the card out of the shelf and give her a ride.

MaximusE · May 4, 2016

Asus strix 7.1 have the same performance as the z or better?

INSTG8R · May 4, 2016

Well I replaced my X-Fi Fatality(PCI) with a SB ZX it at least feels like an upgrade.

Kanan · May 5, 2016

I still use a 1st gen X-Fi Xtreme Music (PCI) and it works great under Win 8.1. I think its 10-12 years old now. Good value I guess.

FreedomEclipse · May 5, 2016

MaximusE said:
Asus strix 7.1 have the same performance as the z or better?

Im one of a handful of people on these forums who have problems with Asus Soundcards when it comes to gaming. Asus also releases official drivers for their soundcards once a year, twice if we're lucky. I ended up selling my Asus Xonar cards. Went SB-Z and never looked back

OneMoar · May 5, 2016

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Sound blaster zxr or?

MaximusE

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

MaximusE

Dent1

RejZoR

Ferrum Master

RejZoR

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

Ferrum Master

Dent1

RejZoR

Ferrum Master

Dent1

RejZoR

Ferrum Master

MaximusE

INSTG8R

Vanguard Beta Tester

Kanan

Tech Enthusiast & Gamer

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~

OneMoar

There is Always Moar

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