Game Sound?

The Halk · 10 Apr 2012 at 19:59

I used to live somewhere that I couldn't really have sound at any volume, so I used headphones, and then IEMs. I had a set of Shure 535s and I wanted a decent sound card for them, so I got an Xonar Essence STX. Did the job just great...

I've now moved and I don't use IEMs very often at all, I have a 5.1 setup with an Onkyo 609 and Q-Acoustics 5.1 setup. I use that for gaming, and I have my sound card connected to the receiver with an optical lead. It outputs in DD.

Could I see any benefit in getting a gaming sound card rather than the Essence?

Rusty0611 · 10 Apr 2012 at 20:14

No. Your Essence STX is about as good as it gets IMO. If anything it may be a little overkill for gaming

The Halk · 10 Apr 2012 at 20:27

Well, it wasn't bought for that task, and it's now not being used for the original purpose. I was wondering if there was some kind of technology or processing I was missing out on. I know Creative keep/kept coming out with new EAX stuff, but something was ringing a bell in my head saying it wasn't all that.

I guess not!

Boozebeard · 10 Apr 2012 at 21:21

If you're using a digital connection then the quality of the sound card doesn't really matter.

chilipeppersc · 12 Apr 2012 at 12:31

Boozebeard said:
If you're using a digital connection then the quality of the sound card doesn't really matter.

do you mean optical???

Marsman · 12 Apr 2012 at 14:48

Optical is digital, same as coaxial.