Fortissimo III vs TB Santa Cruz

[deecue]

Ok, so i hear so much about these two boards and i want to get one of them. My onboard audio just isnt supplying enough power to drive my sennheiser hd570's. I'm torn between the fortissimo III and TB Santa Cruz. Both owners of each say how great they sound. (i'm more interested in sound quality then how much it can take of the cpu). The fortissimo III comes with optical which the santa cruz does not and also comes cheaper then the santa cruz by about 30 bucks.. but i also see a lot more people talking about the TBSC. so what do i go for? i dont need the firewire ports on the digifire 7.1, so im fine with the fortissimo III...but i do hear a crap load about these TBSC and they use the upgraded dsp (the CS4630 chipset) while the fortissimo III still uses the CS4624 DSP...

what do you guys suggest? (and dont tell me to go with creative cause that will be ignored)

Anybody out there used both of them and tell which one is better?

Please help.. need to grab one of these soon.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[4Ryan6]

I can't make a comparison because I only own the TBSC, did own prior Creative cards and will probably not buy another one of those, but the TBSC is such an excellent soundcard, I purchased a second one for my wifes machine, and I surely wouldn't have pulled that money out if it wasn't worth it.




Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.

 

[pacoweaz]

I personally don't know anything about TBSC. But my Fortissimo III card is great. NO problems at all. Great sound.

 

[fulgore_123]

hmm, I too have a Fortissmo 3. I just installed it 2 days ago. I'm finally able to use my 4 speaker setup. I would recomend this card as the drivers are lean and work great. I expected more from the EAX, but it's not bad as it atleast has that option.
BTW: Both cards use similar chipset. Although the fortissmo 3 is newer, it's using the older chipset, but has been reprogrammed to give better results. U really can't go wrong with either card.

Since we cannot get what we like, let us like what we can get

 

[marneus]

Well, over in the UK the TB:SC is called a badged as a Sonicfury and after the recent problems in new games it has given me I am getting a new card... (could be my system I suppose but wouldnt bet on it)



is it summer already ??? oh, its just the heat haze coming off my PC...