HDA Digital X-Mystique or HDA Digital X-Plosion

PAULRYAN52 · 20 Aug 2006 at 13:30

thanks is the xfi a really good card

Phil99 · 20 Aug 2006 at 14:01

The best there is for gaming.

PAULRYAN52 · 20 Aug 2006 at 14:05

will it be good for music, films and games

Phil99 · 20 Aug 2006 at 14:09

PAULRYAN52 · 20 Aug 2006 at 14:11

thanks whats the difference between the xfi range

Phil99 · 20 Aug 2006 at 14:23

Some are expensive and come with fancy boxes, all do the same thing, X-Fi Xtreme Music is best value for money.

PAULRYAN52 · 20 Aug 2006 at 14:25

thanks

PAULRYAN52 · 22 Aug 2006 at 22:20

Phil99 said:
Yup.

In which case I'd go for the X-Fi Xtreme Music (OEM) and connect it up using those ports.

It'll sound a lot better in supported games (e.g. BF2, Quake 4) and is about the same price as the X-Mystique.

what wires would i need

Phil99 · 22 Aug 2006 at 23:22

3 of these would do the trick

PAULRYAN52 · 23 Aug 2006 at 12:14

thanks again

PAULRYAN52 · 24 Aug 2006 at 18:41

will i get dd using these connections

Kamakazie! · 25 Aug 2006 at 13:09

PAULRYAN52 said:
will i get dd using these connections

you will but it will be decoded by the sound card, not by your receiver.
It probably won't be as good quality for DVD's and such like that is already DD encoded.
However, depending on your Speakers and receiver you might not notice the difference.

I'm debating between using an onboard soundcard to output via digital toslink or coaxial, going with the X-Fi and using it to decode so i get EAX, or going with the X-mystique so games with 5.1 get encoded by the card and then decoded by my reciever and DVD's and such just pass right through and get decoded by the receiver.

Hmmmm!!
I would definately go with the X-Fi if i had a seperate DVD player but to get a similar quality seperate it would cost a lot.

PAULRYAN52 · 25 Aug 2006 at 13:14

i do have a seprate dvd player

Phil99 · 25 Aug 2006 at 16:47

Kamakazie! said:
you will but it will be decoded by the sound card, not by your receiver.
It probably won't be as good quality for DVD's and such like that is already DD encoded.
However, depending on your Speakers and receiver you might not notice the difference.

I'm debating between using an onboard soundcard to output via digital toslink or coaxial, going with the X-Fi and using it to decode so i get EAX, or going with the X-mystique so games with 5.1 get encoded by the card and then decoded by my reciever and DVD's and such just pass right through and get decoded by the receiver.

Hmmmm!!
I would definately go with the X-Fi if i had a seperate DVD player but to get a similar quality seperate it would cost a lot.

Could always just use digital + analogue at the same time on the X-Fi. Analogue for games and S/PDIF passthrough for DVDs.

PAULRYAN52 · 25 Aug 2006 at 16:51

thanks

DarkShadow · 25 Aug 2006 at 18:18

Phil99 said:
Both are way overpriced though

Agreed.

Over a year back I ordered the Mystique for an awesome sum of £38 IIRC :cool:

Was bloody chuffed.

james.miller · 25 Aug 2006 at 18:20

yeah. i remember those days well :cool:

its not often pc hardware doubles in price and holds there. it's suppsoed to get cheaper, not more expensive. 'Glad i got my x-mystique when i did

DarkShadow · 25 Aug 2006 at 18:25

Heh, I remember all the fuss both you and Phil had made at the time, I just had to buy one!

I remember I reached level 20 on guild wars then too

Happy days

Kamakazie! · 26 Aug 2006 at 12:38

Phil99 said:
Could always just use digital + analogue at the same time on the X-Fi. Analogue for games and S/PDIF passthrough for DVDs.

can the XFi software switch between those automatically meaning i just have to change the input on the receiver?
or do i have to change the settings for the sound card each time?

Phil99 · 26 Aug 2006 at 14:45

Not 100% sure, but if you set your DVD player software to S/PDIF it should use digital automatically...I don't have one to hand to try this on though.