Need help choosing a Sound card!

[Georgio1990]

Hi, I have been looking around for a cheap sound card ranging from £20-30 and I am torn between these two cards:

-Asus Xonar DG.5.1
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=SC-011-AS

-Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Sound Card
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=SC-040-CL

Just will appreciate if anyone could suggest a few pointers :S I kinda like the Asus Xonar as it mentions a built in headphone amp L)

[kalniel]

Both are okay. I've a feeling the audigy can be improved with custom software to unlock features and/or better fidelity, but the Asus is better from the start and won't need it (and the headphone amp is a nice feature if you have okay headphones).

If you're on XP then the creative gives you better effects in games, but from Vista onwards they're the same.

[Georgio1990]

i see, well atm im using creative faital1ty headset just wondering if it will be better if i stick with the creative as its same make? Sorry but i dont know anything about sound cards lol

[kalniel]

i see, well atm im using creative faital1ty headset just wondering if it will be better if i stick with the creative as its same make?

No, there's no vendor specific integration between headset and soundcard.

[Nelsaidi]

I have the Asus Xonar DG.5.1, its a good card - I'm trying to write a technical description but I'm struggiling, so, cutting it down short - if you need a sound card then the xonar is a good card, I cant compare it to other cards, but to my onboard sound it is slightly better, headphone amp delivers more powerful sound (personally clarity is better) - still though. good purchase, and cant regret it at that price.

[krazy_olie]

I would choose the asus against the audigy. If you want creative an x-fi titanium or x-fixtreme gamer is more competitive as you'll get a good suite of software. The cmss 3d for headphones works very well to produce pseudo surround sound. I don't know how good asus' equivalent is.

Also for hardware sound in direct x in vista/windows 7 creative has a utility called alchemy which works well, what it does is convert direct x sound calls in to openAL. I know asus has an equivalent but not sure if it's as good. It works well for me on my x-fi. It's only really relevant for games pre 2009 or so.

in summary at that price point i'd go asus, but for not a great deal more it gets more interesting and I think the creative cards might edge the asus as a gaming card, especially as cmss headphones will give you good virtual 3d sound though can be a bit irritable to set up in some games.

Hope that helps

Are those headphones USB or jack connected? If they are usb i think it bypasses the soundcard anyway!

the original base x-fi is only available as oem but can be had from this guy on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Creative-Sound...36c4e6ffb3d99c


(it's the one I have)

[Georgio1990]

Thanks for the reply guys!

My headset is not USB connectors but crazy Olllie that link u sent how much is that usually to buy? And isit much better than the ones I was looking at? Sorry I'm a complete noob at sound cards














(it's the one I have)[/QUOTE]

[krazy_olie]

There isn't really a going rate as it's technically a discontinued card only used by system builders these days.I got mine for 50 or 60 back in 2006 though...

I can't compare it to the asus as I've never used one. In terms of pure sound quality you would probably not tell the difference unless you are using hi-end speakers and such. The gaming support on the creative support I think will be better especially for gaming with headphones because of the cmss -3d virtual headphone functionality. AFAIK asus' technology is dolby based which means it is geared at music and films etc, and I know it supports dolby headphone which makes music on headphones have a much better soundstage. Creative's is homebrew it works ok for music haedphone listening and well for films I've found, very well in games. Feature wise it is much better than the audigy

[Georgio1990]

There isn't really a going rate as it's technically a discontinued card only used by system builders these days.I got mine for 50 or 60 back in 2006 though...

I can't compare it to the asus as I've never used one. In terms of pure sound quality you would probably not tell the difference unless you are using hi-end speakers and such. The gaming support on the creative support I think will be better especially for gaming with headphones because of the cmss -3d virtual headphone functionality. AFAIK asus' technology is dolby based which means it is geared at music and films etc, and I know it supports dolby headphone which makes music on headphones have a much better soundstage. Creative's is homebrew it works ok for music haedphone listening and well for films I've found, very well in games. Feature wise it is much better than the audigy

Very interesting :S 100% of the time i will be using it for games and nothing else but games and 100% of the time with headphones

[EvanJackPenn]

Would you say that sound cards of this cost are an improvement over integrated audio? I'm curious for my build.

Thanks.