Need a new sound card to replace X-FI Xtreme Music

[V_R]

As Title, i have a Creative X-FI Xtreme Music sound card. Been great for a few years but now its starting to cut in and out randomly... I fear its only a matter of time before it dies completely....

As you know, I play games and listen to music, both with headphones and through my speakers (AE Ageo M's)

What are peoples thoughts?

Looking at the following so far but i'm not to up on what is good and what isn't.


Asus Xonar Essence ST
Asus Xonar Essence STX
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium


Liked my Creative, and have had no issues so far so am tempted to go with the Titanium.. But i hear good things about the Xonar cards.

Help and advice please!

 

[bootneck02]

Personaly I would go for a Auzen they use the creative chips but write their own drivers and design their own cards, I belive they use the same chips as the Titanium. They have UK dealers which are on their site.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I have an Auzentech Prelude sound card which uses a Creative X-Fi chip and is quite simply the best sound card I've ever owned, fabulous sound.

Prior to the Auzentech I briefly used a Creative Fatality and it was almost as good as the Auzentech. However, the Fatality died after four days and I got my money back from Scan.

I had an Asus Xonar for a while (can't remember which model) and I wasn't impressed with it at all. It did sound quite ok but driver support was flakey and it wouldn't work with about four of the games I had at the time, I can remember the two Bethesda offerings, Oblivion and Fallout 3, wouldn't work with it but there were others that also wouldn't work with the Xonar.

The only sound cards I'll consider buying now will be Auzentech.

But OCUK don't stock Auzentech cards which may make you not consider them.

Were I buying now here's a link to what would be my choice (there is a more expensive offering but it's aimed more at home media setups):Bravura

That card has a dedicated headphone amp output and headphone jack socket.

 

[V_R]

Thats a nice looking card Flops.

Been doing lots of reading and researching the last couple of days....

I think i'm almost settled on the X-FI Titanium HD

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...tid=11&subcat=


Still a little undecided, but its seems its the best for games and music/movies.

Which is what i'm after.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Best sound for games, music & movies. Right. Ok, what else is there you need sound for?

I had a feeling you'd go for the Creative, can't teach an old dog new tricks eh?

I expect you'll be happy with it, as I mentioned, the Fatality I used briefly before it went belly-up did sound very good indeed. It was the model with the breakout front case panel as well so a bit of a shame it failed.

That was the reason I got a refund, btw, Scan didn't have any more in stock with the front panel, otherwise I would have settled for an rma.

But it wasn't as good as my Auzentech Prelude.....

 

[V_R]

lol, What i mean is that most do one or the other better and something suffers a little.

Like games can lack that positional audio (i hate surround headphones) But it will sound fantastic with Music and Films.

My card at the mo in 'Game Mode' the audio is superb. I can almost play an FPS with my eyes closed and still tell just where the enemy is. While in Entertainment mode Music sounds fantastic, especially through the Ageo M's.

I wont deny i an a fan of Creative sound cards, i mean this Xtreme Music has been absolutely awesome all the time i have had it, its never let me down and the drivers have been good as gold. Admittedly i do use the Daniel K, modded version for it though.

Hmmmm, i'm still undecided though tbh.....

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ah, I take your point about being a good all-rounder.

I don't think you'll go far wrong with a Creative or an Auzentech tbh, same chipset, after all.

My Prelude uses Creative drivers btw and has the Creative console where I can switch modes between gaming, media, etc and it works well.

 

[V_R]

Ah it does have the mode switcher? For some reason i didn't think it did...

I have been reading that the Asus drivers for the Xoner can be a little flakey, which puts me off slightly.

I like that the Titanium HD has be made just for Win 7 and Vista and the new Audio stack that is used and not the way XP used to do it.

 

[Alf]

I have the Titanium.

Exactly like my old 'Gamer' XFI except with optical out (which I wanted).

Not gonna lie, it took awhile before I could get the damn thing up and running due to drivers not working, boxed and downloaded. But they installed correctly after the 6th time.

 

[Reefsmoka]

Onboard sound all the way >>

 

[Alf]

You really should do something about that.

 

[V_R]

Titanium or Titanium HD Alf?

Me want s the later.

 

[Alf]

Just the Titanium. Dont think I would be able to hear a difference between them anyway.