Need a new sound card

something daft already!!

something daft already!!

something daft already!!

Soldato
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My old Asus Xonar DX is getting a bit long in the tooth. No driver updates since 2015 and even with hacked drivers, I am getting some stuttering in game and also some crashes in one game.

I use a DTS 5.1 amp and speakers which is getting old but served me well. They connect via optical.

I am looking for a card to replace this which supports DTS out via optical and I was looking at the

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/crea...aming-sound-card-70sb174000000-sc-104-cl.html

But I can't see if this supports DTS output. Can anyone confirm if it does and if the quality is up to much?

Or perhaps suggest a better card which does but not silly money. About £100 max

Thanks!
 
Asus' sound card driver support sucks. I remember years ago, when Asus first started making sound cards, they were a breath of fresh air after the troubles of Creative's sound cards with Vista. Roll on to now and Asus have become just as bad if not worse when it comes to driver support. Swings and roundabouts; Creative have improved and Asus have got worse.

Anyway; Xonar DX has Dolby Digital Live. If your amp only works with DTS and not Dolby, then you'd need a sound card with DTS Connect. If you've been using a DTS only amp with the DX, then it's likely you've been using upmix from stereo.

Getting a sound card with DTS Connect, would be ideal. The AE-5 doesn't have DTS Connect. It doesn't even have Dolby Digital Live, to my knowledge. A card intended for headphone use more than anything.

In any case; quality is irrelevant if you are using optical. As long the card works and has the features which you need. In this case; DTS Connect.

Soundblaster Z has both DDL and DTSC. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/crea...ound-card-retail-70sb150000001-sc-087-cl.html

Not sure what the support is like for the SBZ though, being an older card. Both companies tend to only support their latest cards..

Would be good if DDL and DTSC was support on all motherboards with optical output, not just a a select few. People connecting a AV receiver via optical would have no need for a sound card then.
 
something daft already!! said:
My old Asus Xonar DX is getting a bit long in the tooth. No driver updates since 2015 and even with hacked drivers, I am getting some stuttering in game and also some crashes in one game.

I use a DTS 5.1 amp and speakers which is getting old but served me well. They connect via optical.

I am looking for a card to replace this which supports DTS out via optical and I was looking at the

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/crea...aming-sound-card-70sb174000000-sc-104-cl.html

But I can't see if this supports DTS output. Can anyone confirm if it does and if the quality is up to much?

Or perhaps suggest a better card which does but not silly money. About £100 max

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Sorry but the AE5 does not, you need to get the AE7 or AE9 for DTS out. Much more expensive than your budget I'm affraid.

I think the Creative Zx cards do but they are getting very long in the tooth and probably suffer the same old driver issues you have.
 
Marsman said:
Not sure what the support is like for the SBZ though, being an older card.
Click to expand...
Latest software is two days short of three months old.
Correcting Wintoys10 update related problems...

And anyway for just outputting signal digitally and not using any of analog circuitry there's no sense to pay for expensive sound cards.
 
something daft already!! said:
I have ordered one of these as the volume knob will be handy:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/crea...ound-card-retail-70sb150600001-sc-090-cl.html
Click to expand...

OK, look's interesting!

I assume this will give you sound from all speakers via the optical out and your AV AMP? Is that what "SBX Pro Studio™ technologies" is? I'm not up to speed on sound cards, it was much easier when it was just "DTS Connect". Information is fairly sparse, I guess it's rare for people to have a AV AMP next to the PC.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers
 
ssmacc said:
OK, look's interesting!

I assume this will give you sound from all speakers via the optical out and your AV AMP? Is that what "SBX Pro Studio™ technologies" is? I'm not up to speed on sound cards, it was much easier when it was just "DTS Connect". Information is fairly sparse, I guess it's rare for people to have a AV AMP next to the PC.

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers
Click to expand...

SBX Prostudio is for headphone use. DTS Connect or Dolby Digital Live is what you need to get 5.1 via optical when playing games; SB Z has both.
 
something daft already!! said:
Dropped few hints and my partner is buying me a

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/logi...ker-system-500w-rms-980-000469-sp-099-lg.html

Which should go well with it. Not getting it until feb lol.
Click to expand...

Look very nice!

Marsman said:
Card itself is the same. Just depends on which bundled extra you want, if any. Z comes with a microphone, Zx comes with audio control module which also has built in microphone.
Click to expand...

Ordered the Zx, will hopefully arrive tomorrow...paired with a old-ish Sony 820 AV Receiver, looking forward to hearing sounds from behind me again.

Cheers
 
The card arrived as expected. There were and are a few issues though. Using DTS negates the volume control in Windows, you have to use the amp's own volume control, unlike the Asus card. It isn't too happy about switching between headphones and speakers and back again. It will report the speakers as working but no sound will be heard. I will have to reboot or I found changing from DTS to something else then back again can fix it. I could use my USB headset but that defeats the purpose of the upgrade.
There are two modes for Dolby. Dolby Digital live and DTS. My amp is DTS and always used this mode on my old Asus card. I have connected it to the sound card using the Toslink cable. I have found the sound drops out and back in a lot after a time. The sound drops, I see the Dolby light go off then back on, on the amp and the sound is back until the next drop. I tried Dolby which seems a little more stable but still suffers random drop outs. The only way to not get them is to select No Encoder mode but this restricts it to 2 channel.

I'm not getting stuttering sound in games and the audio when it works is very good. I only hope my new speaker setup will improve matter somewhat.
 
I contacted Creative support and they sent me a patch, well it was a registry update. The audio has not dropped since I installed it. Been testing for half an hour now and no drops. It would have dropped by now. Fingers crossed this has fixed it.
 
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