Sound card? - Page 2

Intel17 · 03-12-11, 02:21 PM

So lady luck was smiling my way today -- a local electronics store happened to be going out of business, and I scored a Sound Blaster Titanium X-Fi for $60. And holy ****. I cannot believe how much..."crisper"...everything sounds. I am so incredibly blown away.

Redeemed · 03-12-11, 02:41 PM

I had an X-Fi... Gamer I believe it was? Maybe the eXtreme one, forget now. Anyhow I had it hooked up to my 5.1 A/V receiver and honestly *much* preferred the optical out on the onboard. I could see the massive improvements when using my headset but when using my speakers... just sounds better with the on-board's optical out.

Like I said if you primarily use headphones definitely worth it IMO, if you're using good external speakers on a decent receiver, not worth it.

**bob saget** · 03-12-11, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob saget

thread jack: should i disable the onboard audio in bios? i didn't, and maybe once every couple weeks i get a BSOD in BFBC2, and i think it may be audio related...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob saget

is that what azalia audio is? i couldnt find any integrated audio option....

bumpety bump

Redeemed · 03-12-11, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob saget

bumpety bump

Yes, that is what azalia audio is.

**bob saget** · 03-12-11, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redeemed

Yes, that is what azalia audio is.

gracias cowboy.

**K007** · 03-12-11, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Intel17

So lady luck was smiling my way today -- a local electronics store happened to be going out of business, and I scored a Sound Blaster Titanium X-Fi for $60. And holy ****. I cannot believe how much..."crisper"...everything sounds. I am so incredibly blown away.

same, i am on the asus version but onboard is so crap!...i am glad some of those high end motherboards like i saw of the gb assassin have x-fi onboard.

**fasedww** · 03-13-11, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Intel17

So lady luck was smiling my way today -- a local electronics store happened to be going out of business, and I scored a Sound Blaster Titanium X-Fi for $60. And holy ****. I cannot believe how much..."crisper"...everything sounds. I am so incredibly blown away.

Your so Lucky, I just ordered one from Newegg 179.99.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102033

03-13-11, 05:58 PM

Sound card is good, I'd stay away from creative though - there are numerous problems with them. Just for a few examples:

- Their drivers are awful
- They internally remix all sound sources to 48/16, so bit perfect audio is impossible
- Infamous popping sounds
- More expensive than better cards (e.g. asus xonar series)
- They have poorly shielded PCB's so EMI from other devices in your PC will distort audio.

**ATOJAR** · 03-13-11, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rakeesh

Sound card is good, I'd stay away from creative though - there are numerous problems with them. Just for a few examples:

- Their drivers are awful
- They internally remix all sound sources to 48/16, so bit perfect audio is impossible
- Infamous popping sounds
- More expensive than better cards (e.g. asus xonar series)
- They have poorly shielded PCB's so EMI from other devices in your PC will distort audio.

Sure there are better cards out there but i can honestly say in the three years+ i had this card i haven't had one single issue .... So far.

**crainger** · 03-13-11, 06:10 PM

Xonars are usually more expensive than comparative Creative and Azentech cards here in AU anyway

New Creative cards have shielding also. They also offer the best performance in games. Asus cards can randomly drop 15FPS in some games like Bioshock, if it's a driver issue, then clearly ASUS drivers need work also.

I myself have had no issues with Creative or Azentech cards. Then again, I've been using PCs since 1987 so I was here when sound cards came in with DOS and early Windows. If you've been through that anything these days is a walk in the park.

03-13-11, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crainger

I myself have had no issues with Creative or Azentech cards. Then again, I've been using PCs since 1987 so I was here when sound cards came in with DOS and early Windows. If you've been through that anything these days is a walk in the park.

I used to use creative cards until SB Live (which was my last one) After that I didn't care anymore because DirectSound pretty much meant an end to compatibility problems. (remember in the dos days if you didn't have a creative sound card or an ad-lib it was pretty much hit or miss for which games supported your setup)

Personally I use the HDMI port on my Radeon. End to end 8-channel bit-perfect audio. WASAPI support works perfect too so I listen to music using MPC-HC/reclock. It's quite impossible to get better audio than that

Literally it just can't happen.

**crainger** · 03-14-11, 02:34 AM

Well it can, but it's well out of the realms of gaming.

Remember Gravis Ultrasound? LOL The Disney Sound cards? Oh man. I remember even Tandy/Radioshack had one.

03-12-11, 02:21 PM	#13
Intel17 Is not an Intel fanboi Join Date: May 2004 Location: Burlington, VT Posts: 1,368	Re: Sound card? So lady luck was smiling my way today -- a local electronics store happened to be going out of business, and I scored a Sound Blaster Titanium X-Fi for $60. And holy ****. I cannot believe how much..."crisper"...everything sounds. I am so incredibly blown away. __________________ Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Edition @ 4.00GHz, 2.94GHz uncore\| Corsair H60 \| ASUS P6X58D-E \| Zotac GTX 580 @ 872/1744/2145\|Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB (Games/Steam)\| Seagate 1.5TB (media/misc.) \|Seagate 1 TB (OS/Main) \| 24 GB G.Skill RipJaws X 1.5V DDR3-1333 \| Creative X-Fi Titanium \| Sennheiser HD 202 Headset \| Dual Gigabit Realtek LAN \| Antec True Power Quattro 1200W \| Acer G235Hbmbd 23" LCD Display \| Logitech K320 Wireless Keyboard \| Logitech Performance MX Mouse

03-12-11, 02:41 PM	#14
Redeemed Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 17,986	Re: Sound card? I had an X-Fi... Gamer I believe it was? Maybe the eXtreme one, forget now. Anyhow I had it hooked up to my 5.1 A/V receiver and honestly much preferred the optical out on the onboard. I could see the massive improvements when using my headset but when using my speakers... just sounds better with the on-board's optical out. Like I said if you primarily use headphones definitely worth it IMO, if you're using good external speakers on a decent receiver, not worth it.

03-13-11, 05:58 PM	#20
Rakeesh Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Sound card? Sound card is good, I'd stay away from creative though - there are numerous problems with them. Just for a few examples: - Their drivers are awful - They internally remix all sound sources to 48/16, so bit perfect audio is impossible - Infamous popping sounds - More expensive than better cards (e.g. asus xonar series) - They have poorly shielded PCB's so EMI from other devices in your PC will distort audio.

03-13-11, 06:10 PM	#22
crainger Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia Posts: 29,535	Re: Sound card? Xonars are usually more expensive than comparative Creative and Azentech cards here in AU anyway New Creative cards have shielding also. They also offer the best performance in games. Asus cards can randomly drop 15FPS in some games like Bioshock, if it's a driver issue, then clearly ASUS drivers need work also. I myself have had no issues with Creative or Azentech cards. Then again, I've been using PCs since 1987 so I was here when sound cards came in with DOS and early Windows. If you've been through that anything these days is a walk in the park.

03-14-11, 02:34 AM	#24
crainger Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia Posts: 29,535	Re: Sound card? Well it can, but it's well out of the realms of gaming. Remember Gravis Ultrasound? LOL The Disney Sound cards? Oh man. I remember even Tandy/Radioshack had one.