Help Regarding Sound Card Choice

vreetech · 14 Sep 2017 at 13:55

Hello

I'm out of the loop when it comes to audio, hence looking for some assistance.

Looking to improve my PC audio. Gaming is the priority - I mainly play FPS - but also watch the odd movie now and again. Current setup is a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-AD500x's and a clip on speed-link mic, both of which I'm not looking to replace. As far as I can tell the week link is the sound card. I can either use the on-board sound (Maximus VII Hero), or an external USB sound card (Sennheiser 3D G4ME1) - I'm guessing neither is a premium option.

What would be a decent improvement? Open to all options. Price wise looking around the £200 ish mark, don't want to spend much more, not unless its really worth it.

Regards,

Steves1982 · 14 Sep 2017 at 23:52

Does it have to be a premium option?

If you're only using headphones I'd look at the Xonar DGX. It's only a budget card but does have a headphone amp and works really well with my A700s.

You'll notice a big difference over onboard with this straight away and will have £175 to put towards other upgrades if you need them.

mistersprinkles · 15 Sep 2017 at 02:17

Get some schiit gear like a Bifrost and an Aasgard

vreetech · 15 Sep 2017 at 08:47

Steves1982 said:
Does it have to be a premium option?

If you're only using headphones I'd look at the Xonar DGX. It's only a budget card but does have a headphone amp and works really well with my A700s.

You'll notice a big difference over onboard with this straight away and will have £175 to put towards other upgrades if you need them.

Thanks for the reply. No, it doesn't need to be a premium option. I'll take a look at the Xonar DGX.

Something I forgot to mention was also like something I can switch between headphones and speakers easily.

mistersprinkles said:
Get some schiit gear like a Bifrost and an Aasgard

Not sure what those are but will take a look, thanks.

Marsman · 15 Sep 2017 at 09:27

mistersprinkles said:
Get some schiit gear like a Bifrost and an Aasgard

So the OP has £200 and you recommend 2 pieces of Schiit gear which cost between £600-£700?

Why not suggest a Magni and Modi, which come to about £200?

Anyway; for mainly gaming, Schiit is not something I would consider. Schiit gear is a better choice of music is the priority.

Unless you plan on getting some headphones that are harder to drive than the AD500X, then a Sound Blaster Z is a decent option for gaming.

ChrisD. · 15 Sep 2017 at 09:28

What about a USB headset? I much prefer gaming wearing headphones.

Marsman · 15 Sep 2017 at 09:37

AD500X are headphones.

vreetech · 15 Sep 2017 at 11:32

Marsman said:
So the OP has £200 and you recommend 2 pieces of Schiit gear which cost between £600-£700?

Why not suggest a Magni and Modi, which come to about £200?

Anyway; for mainly gaming, Schiit is not something I would consider. Schiit gear is a better choice of music is the priority.

Unless you plan on getting some headphones that are harder to drive than the AD500X, then a Sound Blaster Z is a decent option for gaming.

Thanks for the reply Marsman.

Yes, I did check up on the Schiit stuff and immediately saw it was out of my price range.

I plan on sticking with the AD500X for now, and yes it is almost exclusively gaming I'm doing. Will check the Sound Blaster Z, thanks.

BTW whats the word on external USB sound cards? I see several on the OC store, just never had any experience apart from using the Sennheiser 3D G4ME1.

PapaLazaru · 15 Sep 2017 at 12:08

mistersprinkles said:
Get some schiit gear like a Bifrost and an Aasgard

OP states gaming is a priority so recommending Schiit gear is a bit silly. I have a £700 DAC and I don't even use it for gaming.

PapaLazaru · 15 Sep 2017 at 12:10

Xonar U7 will see you good.

vreetech · 15 Sep 2017 at 13:46

PapaLazaru said:
Xonar U7 will see you good.

I was reading up on the U7. Apparently W10 drivers are "iffy"?

PapaLazaru · 15 Sep 2017 at 18:33

Yeah I have read that now myself. it is strange as there is not a hell of a lot out there for external, which is always my choice nowadays.

The best out there at the moment is the Sennheiser GSX1000 @ £200 but I really don't know how it will cope with your headphones. They have a relatively low ohm impedance rating of 48 so should be easyish to drive, but you can never tell until you try them with it and the amplifier in the GSX1000 is not that powerful. But in context, lets say that Sennheiser have matches to their own gaming headsets at the top of their range, the Game One and Game Zero, they both run at 50 ohms so technically are higher.

Who knows? Just buy it from somewhere that you can return it hassle free and who fiddle their taxes so can absorb the cost.

Marsman · 15 Sep 2017 at 23:12

There's the Creative Soundblaster X-Fi HD. No idea what the driver situation is like, but that's about the only alternative to the Xonar U7. There is another external USB card from Creative, but it has no headphone amp and is more aimed at 5.1 speakers.

Could do with more devices like Sennheiser's GSX1000, except a fair bit cheaper. Not having to install any extra drivers or software, surely has to be the way forward.

vreetech · 16 Sep 2017 at 12:33

PapaLazaru said:
Yeah I have read that now myself. it is strange as there is not a hell of a lot out there for external, which is always my choice nowadays.

The best out there at the moment is the Sennheiser GSX1000 @ £200 but I really don't know how it will cope with your headphones. They have a relatively low ohm impedance rating of 48 so should be easyish to drive, but you can never tell until you try them with it and the amplifier in the GSX1000 is not that powerful. But in context, lets say that Sennheiser have matches to their own gaming headsets at the top of their range, the Game One and Game Zero, they both run at 50 ohms so technically are higher.

Who knows? Just buy it from somewhere that you can return it hassle free and who fiddle their taxes so can absorb the cost.

A friend has just got a 2nd hand GSX1200, so waiting to see what he thinks of that as well. It's on the list

Cheers

Marsman said:
There's the Creative Soundblaster X-Fi HD. No idea what the driver situation is like, but that's about the only alternative to the Xonar U7. There is another external USB card from Creative, but it has no headphone amp and is more aimed at 5.1 speakers.

Could do with more devices like Sennheiser's GSX1000, except a fair bit cheaper. Not having to install any extra drivers or software, surely has to be the way forward.

Seems people like external. I too like the idea of no drivers, will take a look at the X-Fi HD. Thanks.

vreetech · 21 Sep 2017 at 15:41

Follow up: After reading all suggestions I ended up going with the GSX 1000. Had it for a few days and I'm quite happy with it. Thank you all for the assistance, much appreciated!