So - if not a Creative, then what soundcards are recommended?

[8bit]

Hi all,

I just upgraded to Vista Home Premium x64 and as we all know, Creative's drivers are appaling. I've lost various bits of functionality from my original Audigy which I'm still using. I had been thinking about getting an X-Fi before I discovered how much Creative's drivers suck but I don't want them getting any more of my money now.

I run a 5.1 speaker setup but the connectors are analog (this may get upgraded later) so it will need to support both of those. I do play some games so EAX support would be nice. I also use Media Center. I will need a line input. If possible, I'd like to be able to set "profiles" in the software so I can easily set up the front/rear balance depending on whether I'm sitting right at the machine to play games, or on the sofa watching TV/movies.

Any recommendations?

Cheers in advance,
8

[dangel]

I'm interested in trying the Asus Xonar..

[SiM]

auzuntech...
but spelt properly

[peterb]

It looks as if Creative have reacted to the backlash against the action they took against daniel_k, so his vista drivers might be available again. (But I haven't looked)

[nichomach]

It looks as if Creative have reacted to the backlash against the action they took against daniel_k, so his vista drivers might be available again. (But I haven't looked)

The phrase "too little, too late" leaps all unbidden to mind. Along with "**** 'em anyway", naturally... Terratec have a reasonably good rep from what I've seen, and M-audio are supposed to be good for the money.

[DataMatrix]

Go for Auzentech, though I don't recommend the X-Fi Prelude as it uses Creative drivers

[peterb]

The phrase "too little, too late" leaps all unbidden to mind. Along with "**** 'em anyway", naturally... Terratec have a reasonably good rep from what I've seen, and M-audio are supposed to be good for the money.

True - but it might help 8bit who says he is having problems with a creative card and Vista (so it might save him from buying a new card)

[shaithis]

The phrase "too little, too late" leaps all unbidden to mind. Along with "**** 'em anyway", naturally... Terratec have a reasonably good rep from what I've seen, and M-audio are supposed to be good for the money.

If you think creative are bad for supporting older models, then you most certainly want to stay well clear of terratec.

Still got a perfectly good DMX 6Fire gathering dust because of driver support.

[Spud1]

auzentech every time these days

The fact that consumer creative cards like the XFI cant do very simple things like upmix stereo to 5.1/7.1 just totally takes them out of the running in my mind. That and that they are way overpriced for what they can do, due to their brand name.

There was a time when I would only buy creative sound cards as they really were best bang for buck when it came to audio, but XFi was a huge let down, and I bought an auzentech for my last card..which was awesome as far as sound cards go. Proper DTS output, and the ability to upmix stereo signals to a 5.1 DTs signal was pretty cool, made MP3s and movies sound better

If only you could put PCI sound cards in Mac Pros Need to wait for a decent PCI-E set of sound cards.

[nichomach]

If you think creative are bad for supporting older models, then you most certainly want to stay well clear of terratec.
Still got a perfectly good DMX 6Fire gathering dust because of driver support.

Don't know if you're interested, but there's what looks like a beta Vista driver for the DMX 6Fire 24/96 up on Terratec's FTP server at ftp://ftp.terratec.net/Audio/DMX6fire2496/Update/Beta . Point taken, however, that's slow. Damn slow.