What happened to the Asus Phoebus?

[mikeny]

I see less than 10 reviews on Amazon and less than 20 on Newegg yet other sound cards have close to 100 (bad or good cards). Did anything happen to the Phoebus?


Reason why I'm asking is that i need to replace my Sound Card. What's good for $100-$200 for 5.1 Digital speakers?

I'm torn between the:

Asus Phoebus
TitaniumHD (hesitant because it's Creaive)
Xonar Essence STX (old card but popular)
Sound Blaster Z SBX

I heard now, sound cards have processors? Quad processors? Gimmick?

 

[gamerk316]

Soundcard processors are a gimmick. Its not like theres any real benefit, giving how easy it is to do on the main CPU.

The Phoebus is a good card with apparently decent drivers. I view it as a step up from the Xense. I've heard a few people prefer the sound signature of the Xense though...

The Z SBX...I'm waiting for some sites to review it. Spec wise, it basically obsoletes the ASUS Xonar DX in the sub $100 space.

The Titanium HD and STX serves a niche market: very high quality stereo speakers and headphones that require amping. Its a total waste to connect using the SPDIF port on these cards.

As you are going to connect via digital, go with the DX, as the speakers will be doing the conversion from digital to analog.

 

[mikeny]

I was reading the reviews and people were having a lot of driver issues and the DS3D GX was causing hang-ups on the DX. The negative reviews I was reading on Newegg and Amazon are troubling though. Would be wise to wait for the SB- Z reviews or go with the DX. I'm hesitant to go back to Creative.

 

[gamerk316]

The ONLY reason to enable GX mode on any ASUS card is to use the emulated EAX effects, which doesn't affect any game made in the past 6 years or so. I never turn it on. Same deal with Creative Alchemy; no real reason to bother with it at this point.

 

[mikeny]

The ONLY reason to enable GX mode on any ASUS card is to use the emulated EAX effects, which doesn't affect any game made in the past 6 years or so. I never turn it on. Same deal with Creative Alchemy; no real reason to bother with it at this point.

Ok, thanks. I got the DX.