I am thinking about buying a dedicated soud card, now I am using the integrated one from Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 . My sound system is a Logitech X-530 .
I have around 50 euros available.
Until now this one is one of the options:http://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Xonar_DS/#support_Download_30
Well, first of all - what do you need it for? Do you want to have better sound quality for music listening, watching movies or playing games? Do you need hardware EAX for older games? Current dedicated soundcards are quite different, and each has own specific strengths and quirks.
Do you want soundcard just for your 5.1 speaker system or do you plan to purchase high quality headphones later?
For your current setup Xonar DS is alright. For internal dedicated soundcard the choice today is mainly between Asus Xonar/Essence series and Creative Labs Sound Blaster. So far I've used Xonar D2X, Essence STX and Titanium X-Fi HD (current). If you can push your budget a little higher my personal recommendation would be Xonar D2X and I would avoid using mostly-software garbage like Creative Recon3D.
I need it especially for gaming and music. And yes, I will use it only for 5.1 (maybe a 7:1 in the future) systems, headphones make my ears hurt.
About Xonar D2X..it's a bit too expensive, almost 200 euros.
I think I will order an Xonar DS, but I will wait for more opinions.
(03-15-2013, 12:59 PM)Sirius Wrote: About Xonar D2X..it's a bit too expensive, almost 200 euros.
Oh damn, I thouht they'd slash the price down by now, the card ain't new at all. Hmm... Well, there is Creative X-Fi Titanium as alternative, a little old but it's alright hardware-wise and sure beats some of their newer stuff, SB0880/0882 model, ~$80.
They have been around for a LONG time, in fact a creative sound card was the first sound card I remember having in my very first PC and many, many games had the settings for creative sound cards as default settings.
They have been around for a LONG time, in fact a creative sound card was the first sound card I remember having in my very first PC and many, many games had the settings for creative sound cards as default settings.
Awww hell, I still have that monstrous sized SoundBlaster 16 w/SCSI cd-rom port and WaveBlaster daughterboard attached to! It's ISA slot card.
Old Creative cards were really amazing, but then they started making cheap and crappy stuff, offload as much into software, I mean look at this - what the hell?! I would say only few cards they produce today are worthwhile. Previous generation X-Fi cards (like one I suggested a post above).
p.s. A little off-topic but damn it's the nostalgia rush.
