Getting a Soundblaster a good idea?

Over the years I've had loads of SoundBlaster's, going back the AWE 32 (remember that!).

The last Soundblaster I owned was a X-Fi Titanium HD, at the time if was Creatives best card, it was also the best Soundblaster I ever owned, it was no doute a very good card.

This was the card.
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Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD review

The SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium HD. This card has many aspects in common with existing X-FI designs and a few new features and modifications to appeal to the newer crop of demanding soundcards enthusiasts. Introduction
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However I sold the X-Fi Titanium HD, why? Because it was not as good as the Asus Essence ST sound card for music. Although the Soundblaster had more ability for games, for music the Asus Essence had a more natural / more analogue sound. In comparison the Soundblaster sounded a bit processed even in music mode. This comparison was done with both the X-Fi Titanium and Asus Essence ST installed at the same time, and I was switching output sources and listening between them.

However... If I was building a gaming computer I would have 100% kept the Soundblaster, as a gaming card the X-Fi Titanium was still the better all round card.
 
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Still have the X-Fi Titanium HD in my drawer. Good card, always somewhat iffy drivers.
But didn't use it since onboard realtek got good enough to my taste (and GPUs hot enough to rather not have an air obstruction next to them)

But recently got back into SoundBlaster with X4. Nice external card with a volume knob and a convenient button to switch between 5.1 speakers and headphones. Potentially less interference as a bonus.
Sounds great, but what do I know.
 
Marine-RX179 said:
I still have the STX which I got from MM years back for £40, and it is in my secondary PC Sandybridge 2500K with Vega64 in my bedroom :D
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Still rocking my STX with my Sennheiser HD650 and a pair of 2.0 Creative Speakers on my main PC. I would like to upgrade to W11 later this year and l was wondering if anyone had any experience with the STX working properly with that OS. Is there an internal solution that is audibly better than the STX? The only alternatives l am aware of are the STX II obviously, the EVGA NU Audio or the Creative Sound Blaster AE-9.
 
theforce said:
Still rocking my STX with my Sennheiser HD650 and a pair of 2.0 Creative Speakers on my main PC. I would like to upgrade to W11 later this year and l was wondering if anyone had any experience with the STX working properly with that OS. Is there an internal solution that is audibly better than the STX? The only alternatives l am aware of are the STX II obviously, the EVGA NU Audio or the Creative Sound Blaster AE-9.
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I'm using an STX II with Windows 11, using the 2015 Windows 10 drivers and the card is working fine.

I do own an ST (not STX) but never tried that in Windows 11.

For a consumer card difficult to match the Asus Essence, only alternative is external DAC of good quality.

Never owned an Creative Sound Blaster AE-9, however have owned a Creative Titanium HD (it was their top end card at the time), and it not match the Asus ST for audio quality.
 
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Quartz said:
Noob! :) I had one of the original Soundblaster cards. Followed by an AWE32.
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I had a SoundBlaster Pro. I also had a Gravis Ultrasound that I wish I never sold !

I use to run the Gravis Ultrasound at the same time as an Awe 32!. On a computer game like XWing, you would run the music into the Gravis, then sound effects into the soundblaster. Then I ran 2 amplifiers (each with 2 speakers), running both at once.

BTW. I still own an AWE 32 !
 
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JasonM said:
Although the Soundblaster had more ability for games, for music the Asus Essence had a more natural / more analogue sound.
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That comes down largely to the opamps - depending on variant the JRC2114D and/or LM4562 and LME49710 (single version of the LM4562) are used all of which are excellent specs wise but end result is a touch harsh and clinical sound, great for games, not so great for music. Swapping them out for something like the OPA1692 makes a huge difference for music. Though the capacitor selection (generic) also tends to make the X-Fi a touch harsh sounding - a little more involved but a slight modification there also improves things for music use a lot.
 
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Rroff said:
That comes down largely to the opamps - depending on variant the JRC2114D and/or LM4562 and LME49710 (single version of the LM4562) are used all of which are excellent specs wise but end result is a touch harsh and clinical sound, great for games, not so great for music. Swapping them out for something like the OPA1692 makes a huge difference for music. Though the capacitor selection (generic) also tends to make the X-Fi a touch harsh sounding - a little more involved but a slight modification there also improves things for music use a lot.
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I own the original Asus ST and also the later Asus STX II. On the STX II I tried both the stock Muse op-amps and the included LM set, however settled on the Muse op-amps.

The ST and the STX II sound different, the STX II with Muse op-amps is a little more forward sounding, it's also a little cleaner and more detailed. Apparently Asus improved the power filtering on the STX II. One advantage these cards had over Creative is power not from motherboard.

Rroff, was it yourself that years ago was trying op-amps on the Asus Essence cards?
 
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JasonM said:
I own the original Asus ST and also the later Asus STX II. On the STX II I tried both the stock Muse op-amps and the included LM set, however settled on the Muse op-amps.

The ST and the STX II sound different, the STX II with Muse op-amps is a little more forward sounding, it's also a little cleaner and more detailed. Apparently Asus improved the power filtering on the STX II. One advantage these cards had over Creative is power not from motherboard.

Rroff, was it yourself that years ago was trying op-amps on the Asus Essence cards?
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Probably not me, did a bit of trying opamps in different cards but mostly Creative stuff.
 
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