Own Barracuda HP-1 Headphones - Which Sound Card to I get

Hi Guys,

Alright, I have been doing a lot of research and have spent many, many, and then some more hours researching between the Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Gamer Card and the Barracuda AC-1 Gaming Card.

My rig if it makes a difference is a Core 2 Quad 2.4, 4GB Ram, Asus P532n SLI-PLUS, eVGA 8800 GT x 2 SLI, XP Pro 64 bit and will dual boot later to Vista Home Premium x64

Currently the sound card I am running is the Creative ZS 2 Platinum.

I want to get the best possible sound out of the hp-1 headset. I have splitter cables that plug my headphones and old school Creative inspire 5.1 sound system into my computer.

I have read that to get the most out of my headsets I should combo it with the Razer sound card. However, if I do this, then I lose the 5.1 speakers as well (not too big of a problem) My major concern is that non-Creative cards don't have anything above EAX 2.0.

And that's the major question. Do you really need EAX? Do most games use it? Will you experience the same immersive if you don't go EAX.

Also, if I go x-fi, then will I get as good sound from my headphones?

I would really appreciate your reply and input. Hopefully you have either setup and can share your experiences.

Thanks!

Check your speakers. Do you have an analogue center/subwoofer channel? I ask, because the X-Fi cards no longer support the Creative Digital Din plug, and their digital out is limited to 2.1 sound unless you're playing DVDs. Then they will pass the full 5.1 AC3 stream out.

I use my Barracuda headset on a X-Fi Xtreme Gamer card and it sounds great.