Best Surround Card

Freegrazer

Freegrazer

Freegrazer

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Hey.

So I just boughtg a Asus Xonar STX card. I can't wait to test it with my Sennheiser HD650 headphones.

I also want to get a separate dedicated 5.1 surround card very soon.

Anybody know which is the ultimate audiophile reference grade 5.1 card?
 
R you planing to outputting analog sound from the surround card or SPIDF out to a receiver? Cos your STX can do the later fine.

I dunno having 2 sound cards is kind of annoying for me. Probably too late but maybe consider a Xonar Phebus (sp?).
 
Hey guys.

PanMaster - I had a look at the Creative ZxR, and very nearly bought it too, but decided that 2 separate cards was the way to go. One card for 2 jobs just does not cut it, I need single cards dedicated to one job each.


BornEvil - The STX will only output 2-CH audio through the S/PDIF, and albeit the best bloody 2-CH audio on the planet it is still only 2-CH. I need 5.1 (or 6-CH) audio.

At the moment I have an all-in-one amp and speaker system which is decent but I will eventually be buying separate AV amp & speakers in the next 2 years or so. In the meantime I will need to connect to my current all-in-one amp via optical S/PDIF, which will have to be 5.1

So basically, I need a second card with digital connections -S/PDIF optical out (and an S/PDIF optical in if possible), Coax, etc...., and also analog connections. This would cover my current setup as well as the setup I have in mind in 2 years time whether it be analog or digital.

Looking at the Asus Xonar DX2. Aybody trump this and recommend a card with better quality surround audio?
 
No m8, the STX has Dolby Digital Live 5.1 for its SPDIF port, SPDIF is just SPDIF, sound card does not process anything (well except for DDL). Every DDL card is pretty similar, it's the AV reciever that does the work. You r paying for other features in an expensive sound card.

If you have a STX, then that is all you need. You just switch outputs in Asus's software between headphone and SPDIF.

Even if you have 2 sound cards, windows will only output to one of them at a time, you will have to switch via software, even more annoying if you have 2 different brands.
 
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Tick S/PDIF out in the control panel and switch from PCM to dolby digital live which gives you bitstream 5.1 out. You also need to set the number of audio channels to 6. You can either use 75ohm coax (RCA terminated) or optical toslink with a mini toslink connector at the sound card.

As above really though, you can't output from two devices at the same time. Plus the ZxR would have done what you wanted and is technically slightly superior to the ST/STX as it supports 5.1 via analogue, has digital I/O and the line in ADC is better. (cs5381 vs pcm4220) The use of single opamps on the creative is also a plus as they are supposed to reduce crosstalk. Everything else is equal as they both utilise the TPA6120A2 headphone amp and they both use the same combo of NJM2114D and LM4562/LME49720 (LME49710 which are the singular version) op amps for the buffer and I/V stages. The dac on the creative is a burr brown pcm1794 and the STX is a pcm1792. (Check the datasheets out for both and you'll find that they have identical performance.)

If the ZxR had been available (or even anounced) back when i bought my ST with HDAV H6 daughter board, I'd have bought the zxr instead.
 
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I just recently grabbed myself a ZXR.
My god, I thought my Platinum was good but this is amazing.

I also like my Xonar too... I prefer the Creative cards. I get them because I always use their Live Drive thingies, but the Xonar is a nice card. it has a warmth that the creative seems to lack somehow? - The creative has the edgge in pure crystal clarity however.

Then again, it also depends on what music I am playing, and what speakers / Amp Im using too!

My sound setup of choice is my well old Altec Lansing 955's

I have just bought a Bose setup, but I simply didnt like the sound and have gone back to the altecs... The bose are now on my Media PC however, so not wasting such quality as that am I?
 
So I just barely got there in time to cancel my order for the Xonar STX. I have settled on the Creative ZxR after all!

I couldn't resist the call of its S/PDIF in port. Can't wait to try it.

Can somebody tell me does coax transfer a slightly better signal than optical or is that just a rumour I heard?
 
Nope, coax is worse as it is susceptible to interference and is dependant on cable quality. I only use coax once i've used all of the optical connections.
 
Digital is digital - there is no difference sound wise - you either get it or you don't.
So go for whichever delivery method you prefer / your equipment has.

(before the trolling starts there is a physical advantage to budget coaxial over budget optical purely due to the thickness of the cables normally used and potentially you could have signal loss due to corrosion on a physical connection but the last point is pretty unlikely) there's basically a lot of clap trap spread about hifi - you can improve the sound using better materials / engineering but not by swapping digital media.

DinAlt
 
Kei said:
Nope, coax is worse as it is susceptible to interference and is dependant on cable quality. I only use coax once i've used all of the optical connections.
Click to expand...

Thats not right.
you either get digital, or you dont.
Its not like Analog.
 
FatRakoon said:
Thats not right.
you either get digital, or you dont.
Its not like Analog.
Click to expand...

The only practical difference between the two is isolation. An optical cable isolates the components from one another, avoiding interference and ground loops which could (but don't usually as most stuff is well grounded) happen with a coax cable.
 
When i said interference, i meant to the digital signal passing through which could push the error rate past the threshold meaning signal loss. (meaning drop outs and those god awful screeches)

In the home, it is unlikely that you would have any issues with either as the cable runs tend to be quite short. Toslink can be problematic if you are frequently moving the cables as the fibre is delicate and can break if the cable gets kinked.

Joeyjojo is quite right about the ground loop problem, I use coax from my ST to my AV amp and it passes a ground loop on to my stereo amp via the front preouts. (Meaning i have to use 2 isolation transformers, else it picks up all the RF noise inside my pc)
 
Some good info there, thanks guys.

I've been studying the Creative ZxR, in partcular the connectivity, and even in particular-er the analog ports. This has me asking some very serious questions.

1. Why the **** are the Front Left & Front Right ports separate mono RCA ports, but the Rear Left & Rear Right port is a single 3.5mm TRS stereo port? (This also applies to the Sub & Centre speaker port)


2. With the Front L & Front R channels each receiving their own mono signal, the result is 2 speakers producing 2 completely different sounds.

But the Rear L & Rear Right is a 3.5 TRS stereo jack, does this not mean that when the signal is split and sent to the speakers the result is that both speakers produce the exact same sounds?
Surely Rear speakers (or the Sub & Centre speakers for that matter) produce completely different sounds thus giving the surround effect. Where/when/how is the signal split to produce completely different sounds from the relevant speaker?
 
Dicehunter said:
Personally I'd say the Asus Xonar Phoebus, I went from a Titanium Fatal1ty Pro and this thing makes love to my ears.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, well the ZXR wines and dines, walks in the park makes love all night, and makes coffee & breakfast for her in the morning.
The Xonar really just has a sweaty fumble in the bushes and suffers brewers droop a few minutes in, resulting in her giving you a made up number... If any!

Thats the comparison!
 
FatRakoon said:
Oh yeah, well the ZXR wines and dines, walks in the park makes love all night, and makes coffee & breakfast for her in the morning.
The Xonar really just has a sweaty fumble in the bushes and suffers brewers droop a few minutes in, resulting in her giving you a made up number... If any!

Thats the comparison!
Click to expand...

I-See-What-You-Did-There-Cat.jpg


:p
 
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