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Compare these three sound cards

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For a Bose 2.1 speaker system.
Not a total audiophile but I can tell the difference between good and bad
I've owned quite a few quality music systems ($600 shelf speaker system, QC1, QC2, A $180 pair of bose headphones, a $200 pair of panasonic headphones) so sound quality is important to me.

I want the sound card strictly for better sound output. I'm not very concerned with the card positioning the sound of monsters where you would expect to hear them in three dimensional space. I just want higher quality sound so it sounds good coming out of the speakers.

The three Candidates are:

ASUS Xonar DS 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Audio Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

and

ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

and

Creative 70SB088000004 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Express 1x Interface PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Having future driver support also kind of matters. I would like this card to last a long time... 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years.

More about : compare sound cards

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I would like this card to last a long time... 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years.


Any card bought today will be completely outdated in a few years. New technology is released every year. The warranty is likely about one year or so.

The two Xonar cards you listed are the same card with a different interface, PCI and PCIE x1. In my experience, the Creative cards are slightly better as far as overall sound quality or listening pleasure. It's a matter of opinion really.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14500/21

I have the PCI card. I think the PCIE x1 card is the DX model. I also have a Creative Xfi card. I like the Xonar fine, but prefer the Xfi. I also have several 6,7,8 year old cards that are terribly outdated.
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Quote:
I have the PCI card. I think the PCIE x1 card is the DX model. I also have a Creative Xfi card. I like the Xonar fine, but prefer the Xfi. I also have several 6,7,8 year old cards that are terribly outdated.


Okay, well I think you have swayed me towards Creative. Sound cards seem to be such a subjective piece of hardware that you eventually have to just pull the trigger and hope for the best.

I find it interesting that a sound card can get outdated when a 20 year old speaker system can still sound awesome. I understand that new features and interfaces come out but when it comes to just making good sound I would think that would never get bad.

I understand that for gaming sound cards probably have to do some processing to make sense of everything that is going on and so a card might get old for gaming. Then again even if you just multitask with different applications that use sound you could probably put a load on the sound card.

So what.... on board sound is 3-4 years behind discrete sound? Is that a relatively constant number?

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For example, older sound cards are not fully operational with Vista or Windows 7. Creative issued drivers for Vista/7 for some of the old Sounblaster cards, but the EAX panel is non operative. So, don't expect a sound card you buy today to be cutting edge 10 years down the road. Or even three years. As far as the Xonar cards, I have one in my main system using Bose speakers and like it fine. My HTPC has a Creative XFI and sounds fantastic. Any of the cards you listed would serve you well.
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