Gamers - What Soundcard Are You Using?

Xfi-titanium in gaming PC and Xonar D2X in HTPC, prefer the sound quality of the Xonar, especially for music. EAX doesn't seem to make much difference in games nowadays either so the Xonar which lacks support for this is still just as good for gaming imo. I like them both but of the 2 I prefer the Xonar.

I've always noticed a very faint background crackle with the xfi when playing music, especially mp3 files and some youtube vids/music and I've never been able to cure it, must be some sort of interference going on but it's a shielded card so it's always baffled me tbh. If I swap out for the xonar the same tracks that crackle with the xfi now don't.:confused:
 
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Creative X-Fi Extreme Music here, had it for about 4 years now.

Ordered one for a customer build and there was 2 in the box. 1 worked, 1 didn't. kept the working one for myself and RMA'd the dud. Voilla free X-Fi.

Is there any point in changing it?
 
I got a Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Edition- mainly just to stop the coil whine from my dodgey Gigabyte board, but it's also a really good card!
 
Xonar Essence ST. Basically I wanted a card that would give decent quality sound, plus the inbuilt headphone amp helps with my headphones.
 
Does the Xonar DG really make that much difference?

I have my PC hooked up to quite an impressive stereo system with two subs, perhaps that's hiding the fact that the onboard sound card is a bit average?
 
Bleek said:
Does the Xonar DG really make that much difference?

I have my PC hooked up to quite an impressive stereo system with two subs, perhaps that's hiding the fact that the onboard sound card is a bit average?
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If you've got a good quality sound system then you want a good quality source to get the best from it.

My stuff is pretty average but the combination of mid-range non-pc speakers and headphones with a relatively decent soundcard is a massive improvement over my previous setup - and I'm definitely not an audiophile by anyone's standards.
 
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music in both my PCs. The gaming PC I have a Roccat Kave 5.1 headset. Awesome combo.

The main PC uses Creative 5.1 surround sound speakers. When watching blu-ray movies (and DVDs of course), the sound is just pure excellence. :D But that's only cos I play all my media (barring music) via Arcsoft Total Theatre 5.
 
XFI Extreme gamer still the best soundcard Ive heard.

Win7 drivers are no problem and the control panel audio is so easy to use.

SBXF_PCDRV_LB_2_18_0015 (driver) 47mb
CSL_PCAPP_LB_2_61_09 (Control panel i use) 60mb
both perfect under win 7.

i tried the Xonar DG and it just sounds fake and processed
 
Auzentech Creative Xfi forte. Very good sound card and the best I've had so far.

The only annoyance is sometimes changing from 'Entertainment' mode to 'Gamer' mode and vice versa can cause a complete loss in sound. This happens once or twice a week, so I've left it on entertainment mode for a while now, as I couldn't find a solution. There is not much difference between the two anyway. It's apparently related to Windows 7 though I can't be sure of that.
 
I am currently running on board 'HD' sound, but I know it's pants. It suffices for sound, but not for quality, and it takes up CPU cycles for anything complex.

I've had three X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS cards, and all three have been excellent. Highly recommended. The best thing was that during large explosions and times of high noise count, the game would not slow down like onboard sound would do.

Also.. just use the Daniel K drivers for Vista and Windows 7 and you won't have a problem with 'bad driver support' like a lot of you guys are saying ;-)
 
Went from x-fi to onboard after horrid drivers and never looked back. Have a proper setup for movies so not at all bothered by not having all bells and whistles.
 
smit101 said:
Xfi-titanium in gaming PC and Xonar D2X in HTPC, prefer the sound quality of the Xonar, especially for music. EAX doesn't seem to make much difference in games nowadays either so the Xonar which lacks support for this is still just as good for gaming imo. I like them both but of the 2 I prefer the Xonar.

I've always noticed a very faint background crackle with the xfi when playing music, especially mp3 files and some youtube vids/music and I've never been able to cure it, must be some sort of interference going on but it's a shielded card so it's always baffled me tbh. If I swap out for the xonar the same tracks that crackle with the xfi now don't.:confused:
Click to expand...

Same setup and same experience. For my htpc in the living room, got the nvidia 260 gt doing the sound via hdmi and it gives great sound to the Bose amp (have the Asus in the same machine, but did not know I could use the graphics card).
 
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