Best External Sound Card

Vakas · Sunday at 19:00

PieEater said:
@Vakas you've asked a couple of times if you can use software with a DAC, I assume you mean the type of software that comes bundled with gaming based sound cards. The answer is no and this is the reason I use a creative G6 on my PC and a Zen 2 DAC for Hifi duties. The Zen 2 sounds fine on the PC but the creative software is useful to get the best gaming experience whether you use speakers or headphones

So do you just use the G6 on your PC or the Zen as well?

PieEater · Sunday at 19:51

Sorry for the confusion I just the G6 with the PC, the inbuilt DAC in the G6 is fine for playing music too, the software has an equaliser you can set up for music listening and separate settings for games, you can even have separate equaliser settings for headphones vs speakers as it detects when you connect up the headphones. It's just quality of life things like that that make the G6 the better option for the PC IMHO plus it's cheaper than the Zen 2. The Zen 2 I use as a DAC on my bedroom HiFi System between a Raspberry Pi streamer and my amp, and I'm more than happy with it in this scenario as the Pi streamer has all the audio settings I need to tweak.

Vakas · Monday at 00:30

PieEater said:
Sorry for the confusion I just the G6 with the PC, the inbuilt DAC in the G6 is fine for playing music too, the software has an equaliser you can set up for music listening and separate settings for games, you can even have separate equaliser settings for headphones vs speakers as it detects when you connect up the headphones. It's just quality of life things like that that make the G6 the better option for the PC IMHO plus it's cheaper than the Zen 2. The Zen 2 I use as a DAC on my bedroom HiFi System between a Raspberry Pi streamer and my amp, and I'm more than happy with it in this scenario as the Pi streamer has all the audio settings I need to tweak.

Thanks for explaining much appreciated

JollyJamma · Monday at 09:05

Yeah I wouldn't describe the Ifi Zen v2 as cheap. Good value for the specs, but not cheap (I think I paid £75 for mine and that included the optional power plug and that's much cheaper than the retail price).

I've never really used the 3D sound features of any software (Dolby Atmos, etc) other than the ones built into the game so I can't say that I know if the software that the G6 helps in anyway but I've never struggled with enemy location within games.

I did use the Ifi Zen with a paid of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 OH headphones on PUBG and found it a fantastic combo but if the G6 works better for you, go for it.

Edit: The G6 comes with optical in/out and that can be very useful for adding things like a subwoofer or audio from a TV or whatever and it's £90 and it supports a bunch of surround sound stuff. Pretty good.

timmothy · Monday at 18:26

The if Zen 2 does look really good. I have been thinking of buying one but not sure how much better it would be.

JasonM · Monday at 19:13

Vakas said:
I've seen some pioneer DJ DM-50D-BT-W

Any other recommendations

General rule on buying studio monitors, look for some that are bi-amped with the amps inside each of the monitors. Those Pioneers are single amped with a speaker cable connecting them together, this is done for cost saving.

Adam audio t5v or Yamaha HS5 will both out perform those Pioneers.