Prelude or Xonar?

Im still unsure which to get.

My Current train of thought:

The Xonar is the better card on paper.
Encodes DD Live via hardware.
No hardware based EAX/OpeanAL support above EAX 2.0 (Correct?) - Although minimal impact on resources?
Does the Xonar support OpenAL at all?

The prelude supports hardware based EAX/OpenAL (OpenAL is hardware based even in Vista right?)
DD Live is encoded via software - Although minimal impact on resources?

HELP
 
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look the difference in cpu usage between software and hardware solutions is pretty small - too small to worry about these days. people with a xonar arent complaining about poor framerates and if you choose the prelude instead its only going to be better.

bnoth have driver niggles, but by far the prelude has the most features. do you want a basic card or one with a full driver suit? make your choice based on that.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Who would you say can be most relied upon for driver updates?

Stability is the most important thing.
 
lol, well. neither of them are brilliant. asus have released 3 minor (inc one beta) updates and one bigger one (adding eax5.0 support) in 8 months by my count, hardly pushing the boat out in terms of fixing bugs and developing the drivers.

still, that is pretty much the norm when it comes to sound cards.

honestly? just get the cheapest one. whatever that is now, its the xonar i think lol
 
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Prelude - Would be great, although the low Mic input levels are putting me off.

Have a good analogue Microphone and the onboard Mic doesnt do it justice so reluctant to buy a USB Microphone... the Soundcard SHOULD be able to do this. The difference between the Elite PRO Mic and the onboard was like night and day.

Xonar - Again, would be perfect bar the lack of Front panel audio connector and no Hardware audio acceleration via openAL OR EAX.

Im tempted to just change my mobo and get another Elite PRO :eek:
 
Stuff it.

Have decided to get BOTH :eek:

The Xonar D2X PCIe card for music and movies and the Prelude for games.

All bases covered.
 
james.miller said:
thats just ridiculous :/
Click to expand...

super ridiculous!

for me the most un-problematic card i've used in vista so far is the realtek hd!

i just wish the soundcard makers would buck up their drivers



i loved my xfi in xp, now it's like a nice pair of jeans that have developed a hole in the knee.
 
i'd take stability over sound quality any day (to a certain degree :p )

2 gfx cards is much more justifiable than two sound cards!
 
Gimpymoo said:
As ridiculous as those buying TRI/QUAD SLI/Crossfire setups?

I agree that onboard audio is the mos stable, but the sound quality is not really all that.
Click to expand...

i wouldnt do that either unless the price was right but £200 on two soundcards is fruitloop city mate. its not needed. if you were gonna do that why did you ask for so much advice anyway/
 
I'd only be paying for the Xonar (Funded by the sale of my Elite PRO) and am able to get the Prelude at no cost to myself.

I want a top end audio card.. with just the one of them, I felt I was making a compromise I didnt want to make. It is hardly my fault there is not currently a sound card supporting front panel audio connectors, hardware based DSP, good inputs and DD Live. All of which I need.
 
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its not a line in problem its a Mic input problem which is why you should get the xonar. case close. there are no other difference you should concern yourself with. you keep mentioning the difference between software and hardware EAX with then differences are so small that they wont affect you anyway. either do that, or get a prelude and usb mic. but dont get both, nobody ever recommended that!
 
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i have the Prelude and it sounds great, since it's x-fi everything is pretty much similar to creative which im used too. I havent tried a mic with it tho, but for me i use a sennheiser USB headset, so it isn't really a problem for me.
 
Question regarding the Xonar soundcard

Can one play a set of rear speakers (ie connected to LCD TV) and also play a mp3 or PC sound from the front headphone connection?

Ie dual sound sources at same time, my realtek HD I found out today can do that.... awesomeness :)
 
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