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Sound blaster xfi black friday worth it?

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Last response: November 27, 2010 8:15 AM in Components

whoisme555

November 26, 2010 3:29:49 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I have a p55-ud3 motherboard and a pretty solid gaming set up with Klipsch 2.1 Promedia speakers. I was looking for a sound card a while ago but gave up when someone told me onboard sound is plenty fine, nowadays. I saw this Sound Blaster on sale for 70 and was wondering if that was a steal or if I should still skip over it?

Oh, and this is keeping in mind that I think I might be buying gaming headphones sometime. The Megalodons and the Carcharias look sweet, but I'm not sure what I'm getting.

http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Megalodon-Surround-Gaming-H...

http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Carcharias-Gaming-Headset-B...

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thechief73

November 26, 2010 4:57:36 AM

IMHO whoisme555,

No, I dont belive you should. Heres why, dont get me wrong, I doubt anyone will tell you that having a soundcard over on-board audio is quite a nice improvement, but I just cannot advise to go with a Soundblaster, just because of the terrible support and reputation of having dogdgy products and drivers. It is not hard to find evidence of these problems anywhere. That said I bought a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Value 5yrs ago and it is working fine and never gave me any trouble, but after all the bad problems i have read about this will be my last soundblaster working or not.

I would recommend taking a look at the Asus Xonar: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submi...

OR

HT | OMEGA STRIKER, these are a little pricey at $90, but have a great reputation.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

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whoisme555

November 26, 2010 5:26:08 AM

Thank you for your response.

Do you think spending 90 on a sound card and then 80 or so on headphones is worth the price? Or should I just say screw the sound card and go with some Megalodon headphones? My 2.1 sound with the Klipsch speakers sounds fine to me, so that and a pair of Carcharias headphones would really be the only things that would benefit from the sound card.

To the point: Megalodon headphones or Carcharias headphones and a solid sound card? Both end up being about the same price.

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thechief73

November 26, 2010 1:16:41 PM

I would say if you are happy with the sound right now, then no. Klipsch are nice speakers and may be helping out a bit to improve the sound quality. If you want a pair of headphones/headset then get those first and see how you like the sound of them gaming, listening to music and such. Then if you think they could be improved upon or your wanting better sound quality, start looking for a soundcard. There is really no need IMHO to spend that much on soundcards unless your doing alot of audio work on your PC, those cards I gave you just have a reputation of being the best quality.