Auzentech vs. Creative X-Fi

[Daves255]

So I've been looking up all sorts of sound cards lately, and I can't decide between 3 options. This is for a Vista computer which will be doing a large amount of gaming and some music.

Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional
I'm a bit nervous buying from Creative given the state of their Vista drivers, but I just read about their new Alchemy project. Does Alchemy fix the current driver issues, and is it worth getting over the other two options?

Auzentech Prelude 7.1
If this card does indeed blow the other two out of the water, I'm happy to wait for this card (the latest date I saw put it at the end of July), but if it's only a slight improvement over the other two, I see no reason to wait. Also, I heard it's using Creative drivers, which raises the same questions as above.

Auzentech X-Meridian
Sounds like a great card and the perfect card for me. My only question is, how good are the drivers for it? I found it hard to find a good review of their Vista drivers. And also, is the lack of EAX a big problem for games like Oblivion and future games such as Crysis and HL2 Episode 2?

Thanks for any input or suggestions =)

 

[davidinsarasota]

I have been in the same boat as far as needing a sound card for Vista for a few months now. I have contacted Auzentech support basically just to see if they would respond and they assured, as all of them will, that the prelude is totally vista compatible. I also contacted Bluegears about their card and their support was somewhat more knowledgeable in that English seems to be thier first language.

I may eventually go with the Bluegears card, but I am going to wait for the Prelude, just to see what people say about it.

Go to NewEgg and read as many reviews as you can stand, but take them all with a grain of salt.

 

[Daves255]

I have been in the same boat as far as needing a sound card for Vista for a few months now. I have contacted Auzentech support basically just to see if they would respond and they assured, as all of them will, that the prelude is totally vista compatible. I also contacted Bluegears about their card and their support was somewhat more knowledgeable in that English seems to be thier first language.

I may eventually go with the Bluegears card, but I am going to wait for the Prelude, just to see what people say about it.

Go to NewEgg and read as many reviews as you can stand, but take them all with a grain of salt.

Thanks for the reply. I take it you're talking about the b-Enspirer. I'm a little reluctant to get a card from a brand I've heard little about (but then again, before a few weeks ago, Creative was the only sound card company I'd heard of) =P.