External sound card

[Ansman]

Hey!

I'm thinking of buying the Logitech Z-5500 5.1 system for my PC and well, I have a couple of questions for you:

1. Which is better do you think, built in sound card or the DAC in the Z-5500? (Analog or optical)
2. How much difference do you think one would notice from the built in card compared to an external sound card?
3. Have anyone here tried a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 (That's their external X-FI)? In that case, is it any good?.
3.1 Did you experience an audio delay, some people claim there can be up to a second in audio delay.
3.2 Some people claim that the drivers use a huge amount of system resources, is this true?
4. Does anyone have any experience with DTS and DD from a chip like mine using analog or optical (S/PDIF)?

Specs:
Sound Chip: ADI AD2000B
Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe V2
OS: Windows 7 x64

 

[saaiello]

ADI is one of the better onboard sound, but it is still onboard sound the sound quality is good, but not as good as if you had a dedicated card. I have the Z 5500 and I used them with the optical and I have used them using analog connection via my Creative X-Fi Titanium and I like the quality of the sound from the x-fi better then letting the Logitech do the processing. External sound cards are crap they grab the digital signal via a noisy USB port and are just not good no matter what manufacturer makes it.

 

[Ansman]

ADI is one of the better onboard sound, but it is still onboard sound the sound quality is good, but not as good as if you had a dedicated card. I have the Z 5500 and I used them with the optical and I have used them using analog connection via my Creative X-Fi Titanium and I like the quality of the sound from the x-fi better then letting the Logitech do the processing. External sound cards are crap they grab the digital signal via a noisy USB port and are just not good no matter what manufacturer makes it.

I see, well I'd be more than happy to buy a real sound card but the problem is it just won't fit. I'm using an SLI-setup which means that the sound card would actually touch my graphics card which I really don't want.
On the other hand I could just sell my other card since I actually watch alot more movies than play games but I don't know, that just doesn't feel right

So what do you think, let the speakers do the processing or let the built in card do it?

EDIT:
I just realised that I have a spare PCI-E x1 free which I could use and luckily there are X-FI for x1

 

[saaiello]

I see, well I'd be more than happy to buy a real sound card but the problem is it just won't fit. I'm using an SLI-setup which means that the sound card would actually touch my graphics card which I really don't want.
On the other hand I could just sell my other card since I actually watch alot more movies than play games but I don't know, that just doesn't feel right

So what do you think, let the speakers do the processing or let the built in card do it?

EDIT:
I just realised that I have a spare PCI-E x1 free which I could use and luckily there are X-FI for x1

The x1 X-Fi Titanium Fatality is what I have I love it has great sound quality, you should also look at the ASUS D2X they are great cards too.

 

[Ansman]

How big a difference is there between the X-Fi Titanium and the X-Fi Titanium Fatality?

 

[Ansman]

How big a difference is there between the X-Fi Titanium and the X-Fi Titanium Fatality?

It seems like the only difference is the shield, some LEDS and 64 instead of 16 MB of ram.

I just ordered a set of Z-5500 and an Creative X-Fi Titanium

 

[saaiello]

It seems like the only difference is the shield, some LEDS and 64 instead of 16 MB of ram.

I just ordered a set of Z-5500 and an Creative X-Fi Titanium

You are correct about the differences and I really have no clue if the extra ram makes much of a difference but I love it and never had a problem with it. Mine also came with the front drive bay connect.

Good Luck

 

[Ansman]

Thanks!

Maybe you're not using Mplayer Classic (or the home cinema variant) but how do I get the most out of movies with it? Do I need to add some external creative filter that handles the DTS decoding or will the built-in one suffice?