sound card deal

[theminx]

so today i went searching around and found something interesting.
we all know what is the best to buy..
but for the price what do ya think of this card?
this thing litterly whops any on board card for that matter..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001

and im also partial to.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102006

and this guy.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132007

please discuss :)

[Skaggy]

Re: sound card deal

What are you going to be using it for?

Music? Games? or films?

[=98=]

Re: sound card deal

Music: Xonar by a long, long way

Games: X-Fi

Mix: Xonar (although be aware, BF2 has sound glitches with this card but it works fine on most other games).

[theminx]

Re: sound card deal

i think i found something here..let me read a bit on it before i post and put my foot in my mouth lol

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: sound card deal

i wudnt say xonar by a long way.. check out Auzentech they are very good cards.

[=98=]

Re: sound card deal

i wudnt say xonar by a long way.. check out Auzentech they are very good cards.

... apart from the Prelude, what else do they have?

They have nothing around the same price range.

[theminx]

Re: sound card deal

I think the on board for the p5k deluxe board I already have has the xfi dosent it???? What kind of diffrence can I expect from the creative fatility or the ausentech I mean there both around 200$ I do lots of bluray and games

Myself im still trying to figure out how much is the diffrence ???? Can you justify 200$ for it???? Really???

[[21CW]HIVictim]

Re: sound card deal

I think the on board for the p5k deluxe board I already have has the xfi dosent it???? What kind of diffrence can I expect from the creative fatility or the ausentech I mean there both around 200$ I do lots of bluray and games

Myself im still trying to figure out how much is the diffrence ???? Can you justify 200$ for it???? Really???

Some people can, some can't... If you are perfectly fine with your audio you have now, then don't spend the money. However if you are an audio freak (like me) and everything needs to sound perfect, get a decent X-Fi card. A decent soundcard in the $70-100 range is perfect.

You don't need a top of the line to enjoy perfect sound quality. Although with soundcards, generally as the price goes up so does the quality. However as the price goes up the quality increase is exponentially smaller anyway.

That said, most people say they cannot hear the difference anyway. I am happy to say there is a huge difference, but to the casual gamer, they would never notice.

[theminx]

Re: sound card deal

Then again some of those that can't hear it have 20$ of speakers


Myself I have the logitech z5500 I think LOL I don't rember which 1000 watts etc etc

[=98=]

Re: sound card deal

I think the on board for the p5k deluxe board I already have has the xfi dosent it???? What kind of diffrence can I expect from the creative fatility or the ausentech I mean there both around 200$ I do lots of bluray and games

No, i think it's a Realtek chip. Only some very high end boards have an X-Fi and even then it's the craptacular XtremeAudio

[theminx]

Re: sound card deal

Well I'll look into getting the auzentech or the fatility I'm not sure which to get yet....

[=98=]

Re: sound card deal

Both are good for gaming, but i wouldn't blow the Xonar completely out of the picture. It works very well and only has some audio bugs in BF2 (and that's BF2's fault!)

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: sound card deal

... apart from the Prelude, what else do they have?

They have nothing around the same price range.

And whats wrong with the prelude?

Below that they have the X-Plosion and Meridian. I think there is a couple of different varients now aswell like low profile and PCI-E

[theminx]

Re: sound card deal

the sound cards are funny price wise..you mi as well but the dam 200$ card and get the best of all worlds..other weise you tit for tat on on this and that..there is no 100$ card that will what a 200$ card can,
that is the conclusion i came up with..

now in the 200$ range, you should be able to weed out, what is good and whats really good...
and the ausentech i think pretty much crushes the sound blaster..
but im not sure, which of those high end cards are the best for the most part for that 200$ range?
asus xonar
ausentech
creative
which is your pick?
with a good buy link please
and why?

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: sound card deal

Definitely not the creative cards, they use cheap components, have dreadful customer support including their driver releases etc etc.

My Auzentech has been fantastic so far however i have a feeling the XFI-Prelude will be hindered by Creatives slow driver release process as they rely on Creative for liscencing reasons etc. I may be wrong though. That aside, from the people who i know who have bought them they are excelent cards with very good feature set. If im not mistaken you can also upgrade the op-amps on them too which whilst is a bit unnecissary, quite a cool feature.

I dont know a great deal about the Xonar cards but from what i have heard they are pretty darned impressive. I dont think i would go as far to say they are streets ahead of the the Auzen one, if anything its a toss up between the two and my decision would probs be based on my brand loyalty, nothing more.

Sorry i cant give you links i dont live in the US so i dont know the best places to look for these things.