im currently using the sound card that came with the asus maximus formula but i want to upgrade. Im not sure which to choose because each card seems to have some major flaws like lcd panels... (shudders)

auzentech$199 (on sale for $140) prelude- http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] omoid=1020

creative$100- http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] ive%20Labs

creative$185- http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] ive%20Labs

creative$170- http://www.ncix.com/products/index [...] ive%20Labs

i am leaning towards the auzentech because i have heard good things. However supposedly there are MAJOR driver issues. for example this one guy left his pc on for a week and the sound card ate up 800mb of ram... (ram leak or something, a simple reboot solves but still very annoying)

im on xp mostly but i also have vista on my other hard drive. any advice?

ok i just read another review on the auzentech preulude and the drivers are supposedly really messed up, does anyone have any experience with any of these cards?

The prelude has cool hardware on it.

? lol

He means that the sound card itself is an amazing peice of technology, but much like the HT Omega, the driver support and implemention are said not to be there. I am new on the subject as well so I am not totally sure, but I see the same thing a lot. Do not get a Creative Labs sound card, though I love the company, you will need and must have sp/dif coax, especially if you are paying those prices.

I have an Auzentech card, and an HT Omega.
The HT Omega works fine, and I've heard good things about their support ALTHOUGH I have no first hand experience of this. This in itself is a GLOWING endorsement.

Auzentech. Product pretty good.
Customer support. Terrible. I dealt with them on and off for 4 months as they failed to resolve an issue I had.
I think if the product works out of the box with Auzen, you're ok.
TBH, I will probably buy a prelude in the next six months.

Curve ball into this thread...

(Especially as I am leaning towards a Auzentech Prelude as my Auzentech Xplosion has s*** Linux driver support.)

But have you considered:
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cI [...] ageID=2645
http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/i [...] mitstart=0

Someone else brought this up on another thread... Driver support looks good.
I am intrigued as they have some Linux drivers to download (thats for my benefit I should add!!)

Bob

I have an Auzentech Prelude running on Vista 64 - It works great, and sounds awesome. Actually bought a new surround stereo for the house (was planned for later this year) so I could move the old one to my office because the card sounds *that* good on it.

About all I would say is to not use the drivers on the supplied CD. Rather download and use the latest from the Auzentech site, as there is new functionality.

Also check the HT Omega Claro:

http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/i [...] &Itemid=27

I have a Creative Fatal1ty Platnum and it works rather well. One reason I like it better than the Auzentech is the front panel, which makes it easy to plug in headphones, fine tune adjustments, etc. And Auzentech has bad tech support, so-so drivers, and I think its a bit overpriced for what it is.

One last thought, unless you have really good speakers, you probably won't need cards quite as high priced as the Fatal1ty Platnum or the Auzentech Prelude. Good speakers benefit from these cards, but cheap speakers still sound like cheap speakers.

X-fi on my current Asus Maximus formula it works fine under vista. Ignore the fact it has no linux support . That isn't a sound card what your running by the way, its more of a sound amplifier.

I got a x-fi xtrememusic on one pc and a x-fi xtremegamer fatality on the other pc. Both are running vista 64 Ultimate atm with no problems under latest creative drivers.

The only reason why i would recommend the Auzentech X-FI Prelude is if you have an amplifier and some very good 5.1/7.1 speakers that you will connect via optical or coaxial.

Other than that, go for one of the 2 X-FI's i mentioned (though i think the XtremeMusic is discontinued)

I'm loving the Auzentech Prelude in my new system. My speakers sound so much better than they did with my last soundcard (a soundblaster audiology)...it's incredibly noticeable. I haven't ran into any problems that couldn't be corrected by a noob such as myself and I highly recommend the soundcard...at least for 64-bit Vista. I can't comment on using it with any other OS.

well i think the prelude has every thing of a xfi card and a little more because it supports dolby digital live and the prelude has better capacitors and people claim they have good tech support.

i dont own a prelude i have a creative xtreme gamer fatallity platnium
at newegg the xtreme gamer fatality is 85 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6829102005

if i could i would go with the prelude but the fatality extreme gamer is the best bang for your buck if you get it from newegg

the creative platnium card and the xtreme gamer fatality are the same. i had both of them and the only diffrence with the platnium card is the io drive and remote which i never use and the remote is cheap.

i think of the prelude as a HT Omega Claro and a xtreme gamer fatality in one sweet package

As has been mentioned the Prelude is the card to get if you are planning to connect it up to a proper 5.1/7.1 system over SPDIF (Coax / Optical), its what the card is designed for. If all you are planning to do is connect the card up via old style analogue cables then just get the Fatality, as you will largely be wasting money on functionality that you don't need.

The other option if you are after SPDIF solution that is gamer friendly is the Asus Xonar D2X, as that now has EAX 5 support. Its usually about the same price as the Prelude.