Which Xonar?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Seirrah
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Seirrah

Seirrah

I have Audio Technica ATH900 headphones, which are very nice. Currently I've been using onboard sound, but I would like to get a card to enable Dolby surround for gaming when using my ATH900s.

I think I'm probably choosing between the D1 and the DX. Is there much between these apart from that one is PCI and one is PCIe?

My main goal is achieving as good as possible surround sound whilst gaming.
 
go for the PCIe i think it will require power from the floppy connector from the PSU which gives you cleaner power but gaming wise dont take me word for it but the creative cards support gaming better
 
Don't forget the DG if gaming is a priority. There is a big thread on here already but highlights are the preamp for headphones (unless you've already got one) and the DS3D GX 2.5 which supports EAX gaming sound effects and DirectSound 3D hardware enhanced functions on Windows Vista/7.

It's not going to be quite as good at delivering very high fidelity music but it's a lot better for gaming and at £26.99 a bit of a bargain.
 
It isn't a lot better for gaming. It will be better with some headphones. DS3D-GX is available on all Xonars with the right drivers.
 
If you don't have an external headphone amp already, it might come down to whether the A/AD 900's benefit from having a headphone amp. Some headphones will benefit from the DG's amp, some wont. One thing that should be considered, aside from the DG having an amp, is that the D1/DX has superior components. How noticeable would the difference be with any given pair of headphones? Who can say, unless one can compare.

Uriel, you have owned or used the A/AD 900's I believe. Did you try them with an amp?
 
Thanks for response go far. Maybe I should step back and ask whether, for gaming, I should choose a Xonar card or an X-Fi. Again, my main goal is 3D positional audio in games. Thanks.
 
If 3D positional audio in games is your goal then it dosent matter, any card that supports 5.1 should do assuming you have 5.1 speakers. Used to be that games used creatives EAX but no modern games use this anymore, all the sound is done in software now making the sound card far less useful in gaming than it used to be.
 
3D positional audio in games
Click to expand...

Your choice then is between a plethora of Dolby technologies (Asus) and CMSS-3D (Creative). Former generates engaging open soundstages, perfect for atmosphere, but not so tight on the near sources. Latter is much more restrained with focus given to position, but can throw up odd results when there are small motion arcs in play - common in FPS games.

As far as EAX goes, it is still around, and Asus had a better software implementation of it under the new driver model Vista introduced. But, as MaxP779 indicated, it is not a major deciding factor these days.

On balance, ATH900 and your chief requirement will benefit more from what X-Fi has to offer in the sound virtualization department, but not by much.
 
Both have advantages. For me Dolby Headphone is more realistic and immersive than CMSS-3D Headphone on X-FI. It often close to letting me forget I'm wearing headphones. CMSS-3D Headphone has never managed that for me.

However, Xonars effectively produce a 2 dimensional surround sound in games. You get left and right plus forwards and backwards but no elevation info. X-Fi can simulate up and down too. To do this you need a game using hardware sound. Many games have a software based sound engine. These are essentially the same on X-Fi or Xonar before the headphone processing comes into play.

Dolby Headphone is effectively a speaker simulator, with up to 5 channels. The LfE (.1) channelis mapped to the other virtual speakers.. CMSS-3D Headphone does that (up to 7.1) but in compatible games it foregoes that entirely: it directly reproduces the sound of the game environment. It doesn't just do this for headphones either - it can do it for up to 4 channel speakers. For 5.1 and 7.1 the more sophisticated positional audio doesn't work though. Like Xonar, X-Fis volume pan between speakers in this mode.

If I just had to rely on a soundcard for positional audio I would choose a Xonar. In practice, I use an X-Fi with 4 channel CMSS-3D and an external Dolby headphone receiver. I think that gives the best of both worlds: the more advanced X-Fi audio processing with Dolby Headphone.

Edit: I should mention that CMSS-3D Headphone and Dolby Headphone both rely on HRTF technology. These are somewhat reliant on you getting a good match. What sounds great to one person will sound off to another. I've found I get my best results for CMSS-3D Headphone using headphones with angled drivers. Dolby Headphone sounds wrong to me unless I'm using straight driver headphones. Are those headphones you mention ATH AD900 or ATH A900?
 
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I have realised, annoyingly the hard way, that I have no PCI slots available, so I need to rethink.

With A900s (40ohm impedance), would I benefit from having an inbuilt headphone amp? I notice the Xonar Essence STX has one, do any of the X-Fi range?
 
Only the new Titanium HD, which according to Tech Radar, isn't as good as the Essence. Costs more too. :( Would be interesting to see other reviews, to see how they compare.

A900's might well benefit from an amp. Goldring DR150's are 32 ohm, and they do benefit. Going by ohm rating isn't the best way of telling if phones will require, or benefit from additional amplification. Best do some googling, or have a look on Head-Fi.org, see what threads there are about the A900's and amplification.
 
A900 seem to benefit from an Amp, but it isn't critical. Hmm.

I think I am stuck between a D2X and Essence STX. Again, Hmm..
 
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