Asus Xonar DGX 5.1 or Creative SB Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional

[georgew91]

hello was just wondering what would be the better sound card to get.

[GoNz0]

what do you want it for, gaming, headphones ? music ?

[georgew91]

mostly gaming with my headphones but listen to music as well through speakers

[GoNz0]

i would say the creative card then. amazons got it for <£50 at the mo.

[georgew91]

ok cheers mate scan has it for under £45

[GoNz0]

i would pay the extra £4 just for the customer support

[georgew91]

well im getting my speakers on scan too so as its over £50 for them both i get free delivery so scan it has to be

[kalniel]

Xonar definitely, the recon3d is a terrible card. A different SB might be better if you do a lot of gaming, just avoid the recon3d.

[georgew91]

well kalniel if you can recommend me a decent sound card for under £50 that would be great

[kalniel]

Xonar DS if you have PCI:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...o-presentation

DSX if you have PCI-E (same kind of price, but scan don't stock):
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/c.../xonardsx.html

You could try the cheap X-fi xtreme audio as well, but it's not as good as the true X-Fi chips:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/creat...x1-new-version

Oh just spotted you're using headphones. DGX then as it has a headphone amp:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...ess-sound-card

[georgew91]

okay looks like dgx it is then just hope it better than the more expensive creative card, but i have looked at reviews and i must say your not the only one to say it's rubbish

[Kerch]

I have the cheaper Xonar DG, and it has a problem with latency on the mic input. It's a fraction of a second, but very noticeable if you want to monitor your input. I'd check the DGX doesn't have the same problem.

[Am*]

Xonar definitely, the recon3d is a terrible card. A different SB might be better if you do a lot of gaming, just avoid the recon3d.

Do you have it? Have you actually used it? Nope. As such, your opinion is worth zilch.

I happen to own a DG, the Recon3D (which I bought off Amazon about 2 weeks ago) and an XtremeGamer. It is not even a close contest.

DG -- fine for music, slightly overpowering bass, needs a lot of custom EQs to sound right with various genres. Useless for gaming -- washed out audio positioning, worst drivers I've ever used -- delayed sound response due to high DPC latency from the terrible drivers, muddled audio positioning, GX wastes CPU resources and makes it sound even worse. DanielK's "low latency" drivers made no difference. My friend with the expensive Essence STX had very similar problems before he returned his, as it was terrible for gaming.

The XtremeGamer was a fine all-round card on XP -- for 7, again the drivers really let it down thanks to Creative's crap short-term support. Sound is muddled compared to XP (echoed), poor game support (throws out BSODs every once in a while) and poor EAX support thanks to Creative crippling ALchemy.

With the Recon3D, I've yet to have a single BSOD or system crash. It has the best in-game audio positioning of any sound card I've ever heard on W7 (especially on BF3 with THX), it HAS lowered CPU usage vs my crappy Realtek on-board chip as well as the DPC latency, and it FULLY supports EAX hardware acceleration in W7 through ALchemy, which is the one thing I was most worried about. I've bought it 2 weeks ago and have been testing it with every EAX game I've had installed on Steam, from Painkiller, Hitman Contracts and Battlefield 2 to Unreal Tournament 3 and it worked flawlessly with every single one thus far, sounding EASILY as good as my XtremeGamer in XP. Music also still sounds great, as you still have the custom EQ, variable bass, Crystalizer as well as the new THX TruStudio Surround (ignore the moronic reviews saying it is "poor for music", I've read multiple reviews that used nothing but the preset EQs to judge it, without even TRYING it with Crystalizer and changing EQ settings, which I didn't even know it had until I used it). The ONLY downfall is movies -- it only supports up to 5.1 output and Dolby Digital Live. But this isn't a HTPC card built for movies, if you're looking for best sound in films, ONLY IN THAT CASE go with the superior Xonar cards like the D2X.

At £119 pound price that the Recon3D launched at, it was a ripoff -- A HUGE one at that, no question as far as hardware goes. At under £50 though, it is a steal for having a hassle-free gaming sound card.

Since you even recommend an XtremeAudio, I'm going to take a guess and say you clearly have no idea about sound cards and have probably never used one, or at least any of the ones you mentioned, as it was terrible in XP, let alone W7 -- forget running it on Vista or 7 where it is completely unusable. And don't bother quoting me SNRs or any other technical specs -- they are all worthless without decent drivers for the card, that's what I learned with my Titanium HD.

okay looks like dgx it is then just hope it better than the more expensive creative card, but i have looked at reviews and i must say your not the only one to say it's rubbish

If gaming is your primary use, I'd strongly suggest avoiding the Xonars altogether, especially the DGX, which is my very same DG with a PCI-E bridge chip. I'd suggest either a Recon3D (USB or PCI-E version, both seem pretty much the same minus a few features off the USB version) or an Auzentech, if you can find one that is (I was looking for those everywhere before I settled with Creative). If your main use is music and movies, then the Xonar will do fine but I would go with something higher-end like a D2X if you have an expensive speaker setup.