Sound Card with the Overall Best Software for Gaming

Two different cards for two different purposes. The included software with either card is more than adequate.

If the primary use of the sound card is for audio, movies, music, HTPC, and A/V editing then get the Omega Claro...however if the primary use is for gaming, mp3's, and for just general sound then get the X-Fi.

Personally, I would recommend the Asus Xonar over the X-Fi but then again, I am not a Creative fan and think that their (bloat)software and drivers bite the meaty one.

Good luck!

I would stay away from HT-Omega (and that blugears) at the moment, I have the HT-O striker 7.1... both of those cards are based off of the Cmedia chipsets, which license some code from another company.. and their license just ran out last year so driver development (which is already very stable in *nix, and vista x64) has halted.

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/?q=en/driver_tmp

Cmedia has so far been silent with news regarding new drivers. Some guy over at hydrogenaudio has a homebrew set of drivers for the Cmedia chipsets.. I have not tried them out yet.

http://code.google.com/p/cmediadrivers/

I was unaware of that, thanks much.

My main use of the sound card will be playing music through a relatively expensive receiver, gaming, and video. That Asus card looks to have some pretty nasty reviews. Additionally it doesn't have optical-out, and while the Creative card doesn't have coaxial-out... I would like to have the option of both.

Any other noteworthy cards that have both coaxial and optical outputs (other than the HT-OMEGA).

If you're a sucker for audio quality (like me), you MUST get the Asus Xonar.
It DOES have coaxial and optical, a breakout cable should be included.

Which Xonar model?

I retract my question.

After reading a very informative article on Futurelooks, regarding the D2X PCI-E unit, I realized that the apparently coaxial-only I/O panel supports both coaxial and optical connections.

Thanks for your suggestions... I have determined that the D2X PCI-E unit is simply the best option.