need a sound card

hobib_ali · 10 Dec 2015 at 22:31

ha ha, on my new build the only device I carried forward was my Soundblaster ZX.

Since my new build Ive been suffering terrible issues, fixable but a pain...

Basically every 5 days or so I lose sound, randomly, this is through general u tubing, gaming and movies, the ONLY way to reset the sound is to un-install the drivers and re-install.

I have tried every possible trouble shooting tips as possible and still the same issue.

So Ive saved the drivers on my hard drive and re-install when the issue occurs.

I take it the sound card is faulty, so Ive been looking at the asus phobus solo and the new strix sound cards.

The pheobus is more expensive but the strix is newer tech, which one would you guys recommend? theres 2 versions of the strix and im quite fond of, as they look the same but is there a difference between the strix soar and the strix raid?

or what are you guys using?

its more for gaming and i dont want to go above the 100 quid mark

edit: I use the optical cable for my headset but the pics show strix and phoebus dont have a optical connection? do u need some sort of adapter as its on the description?

Marsman · 10 Dec 2015 at 23:06

If this has only happened since your new build, I would say it's unlikely the sound card developed a fault at the same time. If there is a fault with the card, it's odd that a software re-install fixes the problem (if only temporarily). Normally, I'd not expect software to have any baring on a hardware fault. If you've tried all the trouble shooting tips you can find to no avail though, then I'm not sure what else you can do, except to buy a new card.

To be honest, I'm not really sure which would be the better purchase; Phoebus or the new Strix. Both have optical out though, in the way of mini toslink. Mini toslink uses a 3.5mm socket, so it can act as dual purpose. An adaptor is included so a standard can be connected.

hobib_ali · 10 Dec 2015 at 23:10

Marsman said:
If this has only happened since your new build, I would say it's unlikely the sound card developed a fault at the same time. If there is a fault with the card, it's odd that a software re-install fixes the problem (if only temporarily). Normally, I'd not expect software to have any baring on a hardware fault. If you've tried all the trouble shooting tips you can find to no avail though, then I'm not sure what else you can do, except to buy a new card.

To be honest, I'm not really sure which would be the better purchase; Phoebus or the new Strix. Both have optical out though, in the way of mini toslink. Mini toslink uses a 3.5mm socket, so it can act as dual purpose. An adaptor is included so a standard can be connected.

well i did a lot of testing and cant figure out what causing the issue, If i hade a 2nd pc then that would be good to check, im watching u tube vids now, lots on the phoebus but theres not many on the strix sound cards, well the ones i found were not in english!

Uriel · 11 Dec 2015 at 10:21

After upgrading to Windows 10 (Upgrade install from Windows 7) I had an intermittent problem where my X-Fi Prelude would intermittently go silent for a while randomly, before springing back into life.

I replaced it with a SoundBlaster Z, thinking that it must be Windows 10 drivers on the Prelude. The same problem persisted.

I then disabled onboard audio and the NVIDIA audio from my GPU. Same problem.

I then ran the automatic Windows 10 audio troubleshooter:

To open the Sound and Audio Troubleshooter, bring up the Control Panel by pressing Win+X in combination and selecting Control Panel. Then, under System and Security click Find and fix problems. Or else, simply right-click on the Speaker icon in the Taskbar notification area and select Troubleshoot sound problems to open the Sound and Audio Troubleshooter.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/no-sound-on-windows-8-7

This seemed to mess up the soundcard settings and the soundblaster Z's speakers and microphone moved to somewhere in device manager other than sound controllers.

I uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them and - it works! No loss of sound since then.

It's been working perfectly since. Worth trying running the troubleshoter and then uninstalling / reinstalling the drivers.

Edit: The strix soundcards are fairly new - so not many reviews floating around yet.

hobib_ali · 20 Dec 2015 at 20:58

Uriel said:
After upgrading to Windows 10 (Upgrade install from Windows 7) I had an intermittent problem where my X-Fi Prelude would intermittently go silent for a while randomly, before springing back into life.

I replaced it with a SoundBlaster Z, thinking that it must be Windows 10 drivers on the Prelude. The same problem persisted.

I then disabled onboard audio and the NVIDIA audio from my GPU. Same problem.

I then ran the automatic Windows 10 audio troubleshooter:

This seemed to mess up the soundcard settings and the soundblaster Z's speakers and microphone moved to somewhere in device manager other than sound controllers.

I uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them and - it works! No loss of sound since then.

It's been working perfectly since. Worth trying running the troubleshoter and then uninstalling / reinstalling the drivers.

Edit: The strix soundcards are fairly new - so not many reviews floating around yet.

hi, cheers for the info but the trouble shooter has not worked for me, Ive also tried the creative trouble shooter to and has not worked, whe i run the troble shooter it states that it has not detected any problems...

the only yesterday i had to do re-install the drivers after around 2 days,

Im adamant thats its the sound card, so ive decided to get the new Asus Strix SOAR

hobib_ali · 20 Dec 2015 at 21:05

but anyone know why the ROG PHOEBUS SOLO is still more expensive that the SOAR?

the soar has nearly the same specs as the Phoebus, 116 SNR, integrated 600ohm amp and both 7.1s and its like a £35 difference, i dont know maybe its the ROG brand?

also there no decent review vids either...

mraerosmith1981 · 20 Dec 2015 at 21:18

I cant recommend the strix, I have had 2 now, each with the same issue, nasty EMI ? Interference, even though my phobus never had it and also my new power colour hdx doesn't, have the problem either, im guessing its driver or something asus changed.

But either way its a thumbs down from me on the newer asus soundcards

hobib_ali · 20 Dec 2015 at 21:52

mraerosmith1981 said:
I cant recommend the strix, I have had 2 now, each with the same issue, nasty EMI ? Interference, even though my phobus never had it and also my new power colour hdx doesn't, have the problem either, im guessing its driver or something asus changed.

But either way its a thumbs down from me on the newer asus soundcards

hmmm

how does the phoebus compare to that power colour devil sound card?

mraerosmith1981 · 20 Dec 2015 at 21:58

Of the 2, I definetley prefer the power color

bimbleuk · 21 Dec 2015 at 06:04

I'm using a simple external DAC/Amp which only has a USB composite driver included with Windows. Very simple to setup but you would need a separate MIC.

Before that I was considering a Stryx style Headset with an external DAC/Amp incorporated that way you have the MIC function integrated. Basically it's getting a way of getting the electronics out of the noisy case and the drivers tend to a little bit simpler.

If you're using the optical out to drive your headset does that mean the headset has it's own DAC/Amp? As you may be simply bypassing the sound card electronics and passing the digital signal straight out the back. The onboard optical out would do exactly the same job, assuming it has one.

Check the manual but yeah a lot of sound cards have one of the 3.5mm jacks setup as a dual function analogue/digital out. Check that it is optical though and that it comes with the adapter.

Rroff · 21 Dec 2015 at 06:56

Sound devices intermittently disappearing seems to be a not uncommon problem on Windows 10 if you are using that. I bet if you went back to 7 or even 8 it wouldn't happen :S

Marine-RX179 · 21 Dec 2015 at 07:02

Rroff said:
Sound devices intermittently disappearing seems to be a not uncommon problem on Windows 10 if you are using that. I bet if you went back to 7 or even 8 it wouldn't happen :S

It's issues like these (along with graphic drivers issues) for Windows 10 that I am still sticking with using Windows 7. It's not like that there are games on dx12 that I deperately want to play available yet anyway.