X-Fi Titanium HD vs Soundblaster Zx?

eddiew

eddiew

eddiew

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Well seeing as the X-Fi Titanium HD is on offer today... :D

I love my current X-Fi Fatal1ty, but it's about 7-8 years old now, and it's showing signs of age; develops distorted sound every few days, may be causing some blue screen issues, and last week it decided to disappear from Windows and I spent an hour tinkering to get it back. It's also PCI, which is becoming harder to find on mATX motherboards like I want for my next build!

Was originally looking at a Soundblaster Zx as a possible replacement, but would the Titanium HD be as good/better? I'm not a dedicated audiophile, but I don't want to step back from the lovely "crystalliser" quality I have now :)
 
Alas, just noticed that the Ti-HD's outputs are simply... not what I would have expected from a soundcard. 2x2 phono isn't going to work well with my 5.1 speakers that expect 3x headphone sockets to be there!

Since I don't plan on changing my speaker setup, I've just answered my own question: shall wait for the Zx.
 
Unless you need the control module that comes with the Zx, I'd go for the cheaper Z. Same card, just without the module.

In regard to the Titanium HD, it's a stereo card, just as the Xonar Essence cards are, aimed at headphone and stereo users. Not everyone wants 5.1. :)
 
Marsman said:
Unless you need the control module that comes with the Zx, I'd go for the cheaper Z. Same card, just without the module.

In regard to the Titanium HD, it's a stereo card, just as the Xonar Essence cards are, aimed at headphone and stereo users. Not everyone wants 5.1. :)
Click to expand...

This.

The sound blaster z is a great card.
 
Marsman said:
Unless you need the control module that comes with the Zx, I'd go for the cheaper Z. Same card, just without the module.

In regard to the Titanium HD, it's a stereo card, just as the Xonar Essence cards are, aimed at headphone and stereo users. Not everyone wants 5.1. :)
Click to expand...

I do rather want the control module, tbh - I quite fancy the headphone port on it, means I can dump the audio faceplate off my desktop :)

And I guess that explains the HD's outputs. Not for gamers then... strange choice on what got reviewed as an extremely high quality card :S
 
I'm in almost the same situation. I have an X-Fi Platinum which uses a front IO Shield and I use it only for optical in and out. It would be nice to have a rear only card that uses both TOSLINK connectors and this card seems to have it, the only thing I'm worried about is that no where on the information page it mentions about Dolby Digital and DTS Connect which I require for 5.1 output, does this card support it? I assume that it would but not certain.
 
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I have the Zx and it's great, although I've not found the headphone surround quite as good as the older X-Fi Fatality I had. Overall I found the sound to be better, although a bit bass heavy by default, but that's easy to tweak in the drivers. I actually find the volume control/headset input far better on my desk as it's right in front of me as a physical dial. Overall I'm really pleased with the Zx and totally recommend it.
 
Thanks for saying nice things about the Z / Zx guys, at least I can jump on it next offer without worrying :D
 
oem is the same thing but cheaper i can get some more Z's in though have to order them anyway I'll give you an eta shortly.


Eta is the end of the week but the price will go up. My supplier had an overstock on the last batch so i got them much cheaper than they are now.
 
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