Sound Card Recommendation

[Durvelle27]

I'm looking to get a new sound card as i want to be able to use 5.1 surround while gaming and with my onboard audio its not possible. I want it to be as cheap as possible. My mob has 2 open PCIe x1 slots and 2 PCI slots. I will be using (optical) to transfer sound to my receiver.

 

[NickelPlate]

I'd take a look at the Asus line of soundcards, specifically the Xonar. I used Creative for years but I'd stay away from them now. Overpriced, lousy driver support, bloatware installation, proprietary connectors that don't fit standard front panel audio cables that are on every single case made in the last decade or so and rehash/repackaging the Xfi hardware for years and years just left a bad taste in my mouth for Creative. I finally retired my old Xfi Fatality for MB audio and am much happier for it.

There are other good soundcard manufacturers too I'm sure others will chime in on.

 

[mv2devnull]

... with my onboard audio its not possible.

Why not?

 

[Durvelle27]

Why not?

Can only passthrough 5.1/7.1 but not encode

 

[Remobz]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ag=cupcre06-20

 

[Durvelle27]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ag=cupcre06-20

Thats nowhere near cheap

 

[avtar2008]

cheapest and best option are:
asus xonar dgx for $25 if you are using a headphone.
asus xonar dsx for ~$30, if you are using speakers. next best card is asus essence st for about $130.

 

[Durvelle27]

cheapest and best option are:
asus xonar dgx for $25 if you are using a headphone.
asus xonar dsx for ~$30, if you are using speakers. next best card is asus essence st for about $130.

using a home theater system 5.2 setup

 

[Tattoedsailor]

I'd take a look at the Asus line of soundcards, specifically the Xonar. I used Creative for years but I'd stay away from them now. Overpriced, lousy driver support, bloatware installation, proprietary connectors that don't fit standard front panel audio cables that are on every single case made in the last decade or so and rehash/repackaging the Xfi hardware for years and years just left a bad taste in my mouth for Creative. I finally retired my old Xfi Fatality for MB audio and am much happier for it.

There are other good soundcard manufacturers too I'm sure others will chime in on.

On the older creative cards I totally agree, but on newer Z series their excellent. I had horrible experiences with Xonar DGX and front audio port when using headphones. The headphone output from front panel jack is weak and low. The headphone amp doesn't work properly with the front audio port. Works great if using rear port. Defiantly a design flaw.. Sent it back and got Z couldn't be happier. Driver support has been excellent.

 

[bononos]

.....
Driver support has been excellent.

Excellent as in not bloated? what about all the bloatware installs?

 

[Tattoedsailor]

Excellent as in not bloated? what about all the bloatware installs?

I've had no problems with installs.. The only problem I've had is driver is little slow bringing it up from systray. Other then that it has been flawless. Do you own the card? Have you tried one out?

 

[_Rick_]

If you use analog outputs, you will be able to get 5.1 even from onboard sound. If you want to use digital output, you want a card with support for dts.connect/interactive or dolby live/dolby home theatre.

The cheapest card to offer AC3 encoding is the SoundBlaster Recon 3D, which you should be able to find around $50. If you require a DTS solution, the Xonar DSX has DTS Interactive support and costs only a little more. The DGX is not a good choice, if you want to use the digital output.

All things considered, you might want to save the money now, and just get a mainboard with an encoder the next time.
You can use the analog output until then.

 

[Durvelle27]

If you use analog outputs, you will be able to get 5.1 even from onboard sound. If you want to use digital output, you want a card with support for dts.connect/interactive or dolby live/dolby home theatre.

The cheapest card to offer AC3 encoding is the SoundBlaster Recon 3D, which you should be able to find around $50. If you require a DTS solution, the Xonar DSX has DTS Interactive support and costs only a little more. The DGX is not a good choice, if you want to use the digital output.

All things considered, you might want to save the money now, and just get a mainboard with an encoder the next time.
You can use the analog output until then.

X-Fi SB0770
http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Creati...&keywords=x-fi


with the creative dolby digital live connect pack
http://software.store.creative.com/s...106-18034.aspx
~$5 for the software encoder

Might just get this

 

[bononos]

I've had no problems with installs.. The only problem I've had is driver is little slow bringing it up from systray. Other then that it has been flawless. Do you own the card? Have you tried one out?

No, I think I had enough of creative. They seem to have more issues and even their x-fi's can die prematurely.

 

[vbuggy]

^ Sure that the problem doesn't lie in the PCI slots not getting enough airflow?

I look at many DIY's from supposedly seasoned builders and think "eff, this guy has no idea what he's doing"

I like Creative's solutions despite the driver shens. They offer cleaner audio in a variety of slot configs than Asus's flagship cards - especially in SLI configs smushed against a GPU - and their 3D audio is more effective - though this can vary from person to person. Asus' Dolby Headphone implementation is genuinely messed up though.

 

[Plan.B]

Asus Xonar DS. I have one of these. It is excellent. It replaced a Creative SB Recon. Gaming surround sound is similar between the two. Music on the Asus is much better. Xonar utilities are more functional, better layout. Easy Asus driver install. So tired of Creative driver non-support.

 

[NickelPlate]

On the older creative cards I totally agree, but on newer Z series their excellent. I had horrible experiences with Xonar DGX and front audio port when using headphones. The headphone output from front panel jack is weak and low. The headphone amp doesn't work properly with the front audio port. Works great if using rear port. Defiantly a design flaw.. Sent it back and got Z couldn't be happier. Driver support has been excellent.

I don't doubt driver support for their "new" line of cards to be good. But give it some time and then let us know especially with future operating systems. In the past, and with the X-fi cards, they just kept repackaging the same hardware into different form factors with slight revisions and slapping another X-fi fatality super pro awesome kickarse edition name on it and then stopped supplying driver updates for the older Xfi cards. In other words, go buy a new one please if you want decent support for your newer OS. I'm not sure why they even had to be different.

Another thing that turned me off of the Creative experience was all the non standard proprietary connectors for standard case audio panel hookups. Remember the overpriced Live Drive? I'm not sure if Creative has curtailed this nonsense but if they have then good for them. However, my Xfi fatality Pro can't be hooked up to a standard front panel audio header =/.

As far as the install bloat, it's hard to believe Creative would streamline this as everything dating back to the Audigy series has been bloated beyond belief.

No doubt the new Z series cards are good and sound great I'm sure, but they seem way overpriced for what they are IMHO.

 

[Tattoedsailor]

Live drive your talking about product that came out 12 years ago.. Price wise its priced competitively with Asus DX. You can get OEM version for $89. And its better card to boot. It uses similar components that are found on the ST/STX. Its got built in headphone amp which makes huge difference in sound quality. The directional audio is excellent. For gaming its pretty hard beat. Reviews so far have been positive for most part.

 

[Nebor]

I've had every creative card for a decade, and they've all been marginal products with terrible software. The Z card seems to be a good product with good software.

 

[Sazuzaki]

glad gigabyte's UD series of motherboard got built in Dolby Digital sound, I've used Asrock and Asus boards and they got crappy on board sound, Gigabyte's UD series of boards got great on board sound that's why they are always my first choice on boards right now.

but if you need to get a sound card, creative labs is what I see people really liked. researched sound cards before and creative labs are pretty much always on top.

 

[z28dreams]

Why not just consider an external USB DAC? The inside of a desktop is a terrible place to put audio equipment.

 

[spat55]

I have a Asus Xonar. It cost £25 and stopped me hearing the electronic interference through my headphones.

 

[hackerballs]

you should switch to onboard for cheap and that MB has 8 channel (offers good sound)...........why are you throwing your money away for? Probably cheaper to buy some PC speakers instead of a new sound card