What is the best sound card for high quality speakers

[AWOL_UK]

Hey all

I currently have an original Sound blaster X-FI xtreme from a Dell Dimension 9200 sadly it has died it was the only remaining piece from my dell, anyway I need a new one and I want to keep the features I had such as the THX bass management console (it worked wonders with my subwoofer to orgasmic ranges) and the in dept EQ along with all the other goodies including gaming and the 3 mode console switcher

I'm no doubt gonna get another X-fi I know many people are angry at them for many reasons but the quality is still great, So i wanna know what the best one for me to get is, I need to be able to get in and mess with the bass like before changing the frequency and cut off etc

What is the best one recommended? I noticed those Recon cards arent actually that good, Im a music enthusiast and a gamer so I need high precision music and clean low freq bass for my music and speaker set its only 2.1 but they are hifi speakers and a dual subwoofer (dirty)

 

[MeGustaComputadoresIThink]

Well, if you are the music enthusiast you claim to be I have a great solution for you, but I have a few questions first. Are you using an amplifier for your speakers (Home receiver, integrated amp, et cetera) or are you using powered speakers? (This means you plug them in to a wall for power)
Also, what connection are you using between your speakers/amp and computer right now? This will make a difference upon what I can suggest to you.
And finally, what is your budget?
For $250, the Arcam rPAC is the way to go. It has a great DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) and will offer you significantly better sound than whatever you would be able to get from a sound card. The rPAC also comes with a great headphone amplifier, if you ever feel like gaming with headphones. If you want bass control, download an equalizer. That way you could bump your bass, reduce it, beef up the treble, whatever you want.
-From an avid audiophile and gamer

 

[AWOL_UK]

The speakers are amplified through a sony hifi system only cause there are 2 speakers and a subwoofer with only copper cabling, however I could remove the hifi and just use only the speakers (they are passive speakers including subwoofer), computer runs to hifi using a 3.5mm to 3.5mm jack to jack cable, then the speakers connect to the hifi via copper cable, my budget is upto £100 thats pounds not dollars
I have good headphones too but my main thing is for my speakers

 

[MeGustaComputadoresIThink]

If you have a coaxial input on your hifi this is perfect
http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10-USB-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B005VO7LG6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1347342650&sr=1-1&keywords=fiio+e10
65 American dollars, so roughly 40 quid. Honestly, you would be hard pressed to find a sound card that has better quality than this DAC/headphone amp combo. Here is what your setup would look like
Computer(USB cable)Fiio E10(Coaxial cable)Hifi->Speakers

 

[AWOL_UK]

Thats an interesting thought, I will look into that one, shame no other ideas have been posted though, I was hoping some form of X-fi would have been suggested

 

[AWOL_UK]

hey I know my post is old but still haven't found a suitable card

I would like to know if anyone can review the new soundblaster ZXR against my current X-FI because those recon cards actually didnt match up to it so I would like to know if the Z series is actually an upgrade?

 

[lpedraja2002]

I would like to know too yet barely any sites seem to be doing sound card reviews.

 

[shapemaker]

For a wireless soundcard solution, you could try the Arcam airDac as an alternative to the rdac, it has Airplay so you can wirelessly send music to it, and the DAC section is a big sound quality upgrade on the PC soundcard.