Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Sound Cards > [Solved] To upgrade or not to upgrade...

[Solved] To upgrade or not to upgrade...

Forum CPU & Components : Sound Cards - [Solved] To upgrade or not to upgrade...

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply

Best answer from jedimasterben.

Word :    Username :           
 
buwish   10-04-2009 at 10:15:17 AM

Hey all,

To finish tweaking my recent build, I'm considering buying a X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional card. However, I am currently using a X-Fi Extreme Pro that I have had for a few years. The reason the Titanium card looks so tempting is the optical out port, which would go great with my 5.1 Sony AV system. Would the sound quality greatly improve with the Titanium, especially with the optical out or is it negligible in comparison with my current card? Has anyone done this upgrade, if so, was it worth it? I figure the time is ripe seeing that Best Buy has the Titanium card on sale for $99.99 (down from $139.99).

Thanks for the advice in advance.

Add a reply
Best answer from jedimasterben
If you're thinking about gaming with it, then no. Optical outputs don't send the right signal from games to the speakers.

IE, games use DirectSound/OpenAL instead of Dolby Digital/DTS which are normally decoded by AV receivers. As such, the games won't be 5.1 unless you use the standard 3.5mm plugs.
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
jedimasterben   10-04-2009 at 07:59:11 PM
Best answer

If you're thinking about gaming with it, then no. Optical outputs don't send the right signal from games to the speakers.

IE, games use DirectSound/OpenAL instead of Dolby Digital/DTS which are normally decoded by AV receivers. As such, the games won't be 5.1 unless you use the standard 3.5mm plugs.

------------------------------ mousemonkey: I know of a couple of busy street corners, the oldest profession in the world is always recruiting. Ten dollar you love me long time?
http://i50.tinypic.com/343m1iw.png
http://i47.tinypic.com/2h8795f.png
 Reply to jedimasterben
buwish   10-05-2009 at 02:18:37 AM

O no, no gaming. Well, if you consider Tecmo Super Bowl a game, I'm a guilty, lol. It's mainly for Blurays and music. I went ahead and picked it up today and it does indeed sound great. Both movies and music sound good in true 5.1.

Thanks for the input.

Reply to buwish
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Sound Cards > [Solved] To upgrade or not to upgrade...
Go to:

There are 521 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.496 seconds
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
  • 13:08 OvrClkr won the Overclocking badge
  • 01:00 vianescute won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 meywd won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 nayega won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 gpfear won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 Conrad925 won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 skythra won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 Ckaz won the Freshman badge
  • 01:00 james59 won the Uniformed badge
  • 01:00 snarl won the Uniformed badge