Best sound solution?

geon106

geon106

geon106

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My Creative X-Fi platinum has developed a fault and is upsetting whichever system its in.

So i've been using onboard and well, its onboard. Uses up CPU usage plus sounds terrible in comparison.

I was looking at getting the Xonar D2X as for just over £80 looks like a great card
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-001-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=

I have a few questions however,

Firstly, is that soundcard better than my current X-Fi card?

Secondly, my dad says i'd be best off getting a digital analogue converter and using that with the onboard as it'd sound better, however i'm not sure it would and surely even though your processor wouldn't be converting the signal it'd still use CPU usage?

Finally, i've been told X1/X4 PCI-E cards can go into X8 and X16 slots as the slots are compatible with cards that don't fill up the entire slot, is that correct?

Thank you
 
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geon106 said:
Firstly, is that soundcard better than my current X-Fi card?
Click to expand...

You probably won't hear any difference to be fair, as you get into more expensive DACs it's difficult to hear the difference between 2 high end ones... one may sound warmer (Xonar I believe) but other than that you shouldn't hear any artefacting you notice with cheap DACs.

geon106 said:
Secondly, my dad says i'd be best off getting a digital analogue converter and using that with the onboard as it'd sound better, however i'm not sure it would and surely even though your processor wouldn't be converting the signal it'd still use CPU usage?
Click to expand...

External DACs have a tun of upsides that you can't get with a sound card such as better price : performance (the smaller the component, the more expensive, an external unit can be larger as it's not going inside a case), less interference (a PC is electrically noisy so a sound card can pick up a lot of interference), and can be connected to multiple systems at the same time (unlike a sound card which can only be plugged into a single system). These days even with a sound card the CPU is doing the processing due to the Vista/7 kernel, however if you use an external DAC the signal is sent via optical and the DAC has to do the processing as it has no direct link to the CPU. Phew.

geon106 said:
Finally, i've been told X1/X4 PCI-E cards can go into X8 and X16 slots as the slots are compatible with cards that don't fill up the entire slot, is that correct?
Click to expand...

Correct.
 
Auraomega said:
You probably won't hear any difference to be fair, as you get into more expensive DACs it's difficult to hear the difference between 2 high end ones... one may sound warmer (Xonar I believe) but other than that you shouldn't hear any artefacting you notice with cheap DACs.



External DACs have a tun of upsides that you can't get with a sound card such as better price : performance (the smaller the component, the more expensive, an external unit can be larger as it's not going inside a case), less interference (a PC is electrically noisy so a sound card can pick up a lot of interference), and can be connected to multiple systems at the same time (unlike a sound card which can only be plugged into a single system). These days even with a sound card the CPU is doing the processing due to the Vista/7 kernel, however if you use an external DAC the signal is sent via optical and the DAC has to do the processing as it has no direct link to the CPU. Phew.



Correct.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your help :) that has helped a lot. So an external digital analogue converter would be a better option?
 
A DAC will be no use to you then really. DAC's generally only output to stereo.

To use 5.1 speakers, you would need an external sound card. Which is rather pointless if you can use an internal one. External sound cards are fine for laptops etc.
 
Marsman said:
A DAC will be no use to you then really. DAC's generally only output to stereo.

To use 5.1 speakers, you would need an external sound card. Which is rather pointless if you can use an internal one. External sound cards are fine for laptops etc.
Click to expand...

Ah in that case then its decided, i'll use my internal soundcard. Don't want to use an external DAC if it means losing the ability to use my 5.1 speakers/headphones
 
Either X-Fi Titanium, Xonar DX or D2X would be a good choice.

I don't think the D2X is worth the extra over a DX for 5.1 analogue speakers. There are a lot of features for a speaker system with digital connection, that you wont use.

Most people couldn't tell the difference between a DX and D2X in a blind test.
 
Marsman said:
Either X-Fi Titanium, Xonar DX or D2X would be a good choice.

I don't think the D2X is worth the extra over a DX for 5.1 analogue speakers. There are a lot of features for a speaker system with digital connection, that you wont use.

Most people couldn't tell the difference between a DX and D2X in a blind test.
Click to expand...

Hmm, may consider the sub £60 DX then if no difference between them unless using a digital output
 
The D2X does have better components, but that doesn't necessarily mean any difference will be heard. Also depends on the speakers and/or headphones used.

I read a review sometime back, which compared the two, and people who were blind tested, the majority could not tell between them.
 
Marsman said:
The D2X does have better components, but that doesn't necessarily mean any difference will be heard. Also depends on the speakers and/or headphones used.

I read a review sometime back, which compared the two, and people who were blind tested, the majority could not tell between them.
Click to expand...

Well i think i'll see how much money i have left after paying bills etc and depending how much is left for me will dictate which one i'll get lol

Thanks for your help
 
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