Sound Cards: Creative or Asus?

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rlakhani11

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Aug 8, 2013
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Hi,

I haven't had a sound card and preferred on-board audio for about 8 years now.

As I'm building a custom gaming rig I'll require a good sound card+headphones pair for sure. So their primary purpose will be gaming and secondary will be movies (and may be a bit of music too).

I don't want to enhance my audio experience 1000% right away. Just 100% level-up (over on-board audio) shall be more than enough for now, which I believe should be achievable with 10th or 8th most popular sound card and headphones currently. Know what I mean? As the title suggests, after all the research so far, I've found most number of positive reviews for Creative and Asus sound cards. And I too wanna go with one of these two.

So please all my dear friends out there, please help and share your invaluable expertise with me as this decision, with the number of choices/variety available, has become like scaling mount everest for me.

Thanks and appreciate your time and help.
 
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gamerk316
Most headphones will run fine on the DX; most high impedance headphones are explicitly listed as such. Anything under 80 Ohms should be driven fine.
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SNA3

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Depends on how much you want to pay for the sound card ,

Asus is not the best allways , nor Creative ...

the lowest respectable card you can get is the Creative Soundblaster Z

then comes the Asus Xonar Phobious solo

then Comes the Creative Soundblaster ZXR

those 3 IMO are the ones worth getting.. all are good.

Avoid non shielded Soundcards.
 
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rlakhani11

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Isn't ZxR counted among the higher-end ones?

And yes I too find myself a bit inclined towards Z. But I'll be using the sound card primarily for gaming so I need to make sure that it does have good support for headphones (headphone amp etc.) as I won't be using speakers at all; it should have all the desired 5.1/7.1/surround bla bla bla bla support only for headphones :)...

So based on this, could you please recommend any mid-level sound card and headphones that fulfill all my gaming needs. I've read a lot here and there about "GAMING" headphones not being up to the mark. So I'm interested in Sennheiser (PC/HD series) and Audio-Technica (ATH series) but flexible to consider other options too like Skullcandy or SteelSeries etc.

I've also been unable to choose an Asus sound card due to the myriad of their similarly named sound cards, like DX, DG(X), DS(X), D2(X), ST(X). What I've been able to observe so far (may be incorrectly) is that X means better optimized for gaming. Is that correct?

Kindly help me make a better decision as I don't have too big a budget to afford a hiccup/loss.

Thanks very much.

 
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SNA3

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I started from down to up

the ZXR is the best card in the market.
 
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rlakhani11

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Oh yes definitely it could be. And I believe it's the same 1000% improvement-over-on-board-audio thing I was talking about. But it doesn't cut it for me. What I need is just a 100-200% enhanced experience over on-board audio which should be gettable even if I avoid the top of the line top-notch monster equipment.

For headphones, this guide (http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide) helped me come up with the below low-to-mid level/range ones:
1. Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO, 250 ohms
2. Audio Technica ATH-AD700
3. Audio-Technica ATH-AD500
4. Sennheiser PC 333D G4ME 7.1 USB Gaming Headset
5. Creative Aurvana Live!

What do u think? Should I choose one of them or u'd like to suggest other similar/better ones?
 
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gamerk316

gamerk316

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For ASUS: The (X) designation indicates the card uses the PCI-E bus, rather then the PCI bus.

http://event.asus.com/multimedia/xonar/find.htm

Full lineup.

The main contenders:

Under $40: ASUS Xonar DG(X): With a powered headphone amp, gives the best low-end option for headphone users without breaking the bank.

Under $100: Creative Soundblaster Z: Displaces the ASUS Xonar D1/DX from the under $100 segment due to higher specs. Fully loaded I/O with headphone amp makes this a VERY attractive option.

Going above that you get diminishing returns. Worth noting are the ASUS Phoebus and ASUS Xonar Essence ST(X), and Creative Soundblaster ZxR. But these are the TOP cards on the market, and overkill for 99% of the population.

As for headphones:

http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide
http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-updated-7-18-2013-philips-fidelio-x1-added
 
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rlakhani11

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Thanks very much man.

I think I've almost made up my mind. Considering what lots of people have to say about creative, I think I can't afford to take this risk. Although Z's compatibility with windows 7 x64 ultimate may beat DX's, but I'd still go with it as it seems a safer (and cheaper) option now than Z. So DX it is then.

But I'd be grateful if you help me out with one last consideration regarding my going-to-be sound card/headphone combo. What should be the ideal impedance range I need to consider, for a headphone to run optimally without any external headphone amp for DX?



EDIT: Sorry man somehow didn't catch my eye what you hinted in another post about this range (http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1764049/asus-xonar-pcie-low-level-mid-level-gaming.html).

So I'll consider it good-to-go/safe to get a headphone with <= 80 Ohms resistance/impedance.

Thanks for your help.
 
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rlakhani11

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Thanks man. You helped me big time. Really appreciate it.
 
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