Cowboy10uk Posted April 21, 2013 Posted April 21, 2013 Hi guys, I've finally decided to leave my motherboard sound behind and go for a dedicated sound card. However since the last soundcard I bought was back in 96, thinks have moved on somewhat since then, I'm not too sure which one to go for. My budget is around the £150 mark, and I think I've narrowed it down to between the xonar essence stx or the Soundblaster Titanium HD. However I don't know which one would be best for my needs. I am no audiophile and will be using it for Gaming only. I use an Astro A40 2013 headphones and mix amp setup at mo, which connects to my PC via optical. I understand both cards use Dolby digital live and will output to 5.1 surround, and both use an adaptor to connect the optical lead. Apart from the £20 difference in the price, I can't seem to find which one would be more suited to my needs. So that's where I need your help guys, are there any of you who use these cards, and who could possibly recommend which direction to jump. Output to the buttkicker isn't a problem, as I've decided that I'm going to order a TFS3 instead, as its quieter and outputs via USB rather than through the sound card. That should mean I can get full surround on my headphones while still keeping the tactile feedback. Cowboy10uk [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Fighter pilots make movies, Attack pilots make history, Helicopter pilots make heros. :pilotfly: Corsair 570x Crystal Case, Intel 8700K O/clocked to 4.8ghz, 32GB Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3200 MHZ Ram, 2 x 1TB M2 drives, 2 x 4TB Hard Drives, Nvidia EVGA GTX 1080ti FTW, Maximus x Hero MB, H150i Cooler, 6 x Corsair LL120 RGB Fans And a bloody awful Pilot :doh:
Nopileus Posted April 21, 2013 Posted April 21, 2013 (edited) Neither of these Cards will be of any benefit if you are using the Optical output. If its just about dolby digital live support there has to be cheaper cards that support it. (Xonar DX?) The essence is what you want if you have high quality headphones, using it to feed your mixamp would almost be blasphemy *cough* PS: both the Creative and Asus drivers are rather shitty, i've had problems with both. Sadly there is no proper alternative. Edited April 21, 2013 by Nopileus
Cowboy10uk Posted April 21, 2013 Author Posted April 21, 2013 Mmmmm ok, so in that case I'm guessing shall I just stay as is and continue using the motherboard sound chip. I was under the impression that A sound card would be better. Don't want to spend £150 if I don't need to. Cowboy10uk [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Fighter pilots make movies, Attack pilots make history, Helicopter pilots make heros. :pilotfly: Corsair 570x Crystal Case, Intel 8700K O/clocked to 4.8ghz, 32GB Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3200 MHZ Ram, 2 x 1TB M2 drives, 2 x 4TB Hard Drives, Nvidia EVGA GTX 1080ti FTW, Maximus x Hero MB, H150i Cooler, 6 x Corsair LL120 RGB Fans And a bloody awful Pilot :doh:
SkateZilla Posted April 21, 2013 Posted April 21, 2013 Stay away from any Sound Blaster Card that Uses the Core3d Chip. That's putting it nicely. Windows 10 Pro, Ryzen 2700X @ 4.6Ghz, 32GB DDR4-3200 GSkill (F4-3200C16D-16GTZR x2), ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate, XFX RX6800XT Merc 310 (RX-68XTALFD9) 3x ASUS VS248HP + Oculus HMD, Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS + MFDs
MTFDarkEagle Posted April 21, 2013 Posted April 21, 2013 Stay away from any Sound Blaster Card that Uses the Core3d Chip. That's putting it nicely. Why? Lukas - "TIN TIN" - 9th Shrek Air Strike Squadron TIN TIN's Cockpit thread
SkateZilla Posted April 21, 2013 Posted April 21, 2013 Core3d takes what was normally Hardware and moves it into Software (Effects etc). Core3d doesnt output half the frequencies that Xfi Does. Lower Sampling Rates Higher Noise Ratios I can go on an on, An X-Fi Extreme Gamer Pro or XFi Platinum will stomp a Core 3d in Quality/Features./ Windows 10 Pro, Ryzen 2700X @ 4.6Ghz, 32GB DDR4-3200 GSkill (F4-3200C16D-16GTZR x2), ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate, XFX RX6800XT Merc 310 (RX-68XTALFD9) 3x ASUS VS248HP + Oculus HMD, Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS + MFDs
pacotito Posted April 21, 2013 Posted April 21, 2013 I've also heard very bad reviews of the core3d. With windows vista Microsoft removed the DirectSound Hal so since vista all sound is done in software anyways. With the exception of openal which most developers don't use. Creative alchemy does a pretty good job from my experience to convert direct sound to openal to restore hardware acceleration. I picked up a refurbished xfi titanium with a free extended warranty for $50 from newegg. Pacotito I7-5820k@4.5 Z99 extreme4 16gb ddr4 520gb ssd. Gigabyte ssc GTX960 SSC 4gb
Nopileus Posted April 21, 2013 Posted April 21, 2013 (edited) The only benefit a soundcard will have for you is DDL, since it would deliver 5.1 via the digital out when playing games. (without DDL you should just get stereo) The sound quality will not change since the device that does the digital->analog conversion stays the same. I can't say if its worth it since i hate those 5/7.1 headsets with a burning passion, if you really want to try a Xonar DX for ~50€ (does DDL according to asus). Edited April 21, 2013 by Nopileus
Cowboy10uk Posted April 21, 2013 Author Posted April 21, 2013 (edited) Ok, I've ordered the titanium HD. As far as I can see, it's not Core 3D, not sure what that means, but as both Skatezilla and Pacotito have warned against it, I have taken their advice. While I appreciate that I won't see a huge difference, if I go back to a speaker setup it will hopefully be worth while. I can also plug the headphones direct to the soundcard using normal cables instead of Optical, so I will try that as well, which may give me better use of the cards capabilities. Also I found it for £100 which wasn't a bad deal. Thankyou for the advice guys Cowboy10uk Edited April 21, 2013 by Cowboy10uk [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Fighter pilots make movies, Attack pilots make history, Helicopter pilots make heros. :pilotfly: Corsair 570x Crystal Case, Intel 8700K O/clocked to 4.8ghz, 32GB Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3200 MHZ Ram, 2 x 1TB M2 drives, 2 x 4TB Hard Drives, Nvidia EVGA GTX 1080ti FTW, Maximus x Hero MB, H150i Cooler, 6 x Corsair LL120 RGB Fans And a bloody awful Pilot :doh:
SkateZilla Posted April 22, 2013 Posted April 22, 2013 Xfi also does a better job faking surround sound w/ headphones, ie BF3 with Stereo Headset and 5.1 Emulation on, is about 75% accurate. I heat footsteps behind me etc etc... Windows 10 Pro, Ryzen 2700X @ 4.6Ghz, 32GB DDR4-3200 GSkill (F4-3200C16D-16GTZR x2), ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate, XFX RX6800XT Merc 310 (RX-68XTALFD9) 3x ASUS VS248HP + Oculus HMD, Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS + MFDs
RepoMan Posted April 23, 2013 Posted April 23, 2013 You made a wise decision. It even has ok sound for an entry level audiophile card. No comparison between top of the line on board mobo sound and that card. Get a decent pair of stereo audio headset and you're good 2 go. My favorite brand is the Samson line. - Coffee Lake i7k @ 5.1GHz (delidded, custom loop) - EVGA 1060 6GB (video card crisis purchase) - 32GB DDR4 @ 3333 15 CAS
Cowboy10uk Posted April 23, 2013 Author Posted April 23, 2013 You made a wise decision. It even has ok sound for an entry level audiophile card. No comparison between top of the line on board mobo sound and that card. Get a decent pair of stereo audio headset and you're good 2 go. My favorite brand is the Samson line. Well just spent £250 on the Astro A40s. So I'm hoping they are a good headset. Certainly I'm enjoying them at the mo. Cowboy10uk [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Fighter pilots make movies, Attack pilots make history, Helicopter pilots make heros. :pilotfly: Corsair 570x Crystal Case, Intel 8700K O/clocked to 4.8ghz, 32GB Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3200 MHZ Ram, 2 x 1TB M2 drives, 2 x 4TB Hard Drives, Nvidia EVGA GTX 1080ti FTW, Maximus x Hero MB, H150i Cooler, 6 x Corsair LL120 RGB Fans And a bloody awful Pilot :doh:
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