Replacement for Xonar D2X

Kanpai · 17 Jun 2018 at 10:51

After several years it would appear my trustworthy Xonar D2X has died and I now need a replacement.

This card has served me really well and I have been really impressed with the quality it has delivered.

What would be a good recommendation to replace this?

Marsman · 17 Jun 2018 at 11:57

I suppose it depends on what you are looking at spending. If a £100+ is not an issue, then Creative SoundblasterX AE-5 is the best choice at the moment. If you're not looking to spend that much, then the Soundblaster Z is a decent choice for around £50.

If you're someone who prefers to steer clear of Creative, then I think the Xonar DX is still available. Asus have these new Strix Soar cards, but not sure they are any improvement on the the previous Xonar range.

Some people prefer Asus because of past experiences with Creative, but bear in mind, there are plenty of people who have also had bad experiences with Asus cards. Both can and have been as bad as each other at times.

foster grant · 17 Jun 2018 at 13:16

When I used a sound blaster I always found it a bit muffled , so I ended up getting myself one of those higher priced ( £120 on offer ) Asus Cards....and it was like a whole new world of sound

Marsman · 17 Jun 2018 at 17:07

The Soundblaster Z can be somewhat marmite. Some people don't like the sound it produces, particularly people who've come from Creative's previous X-Fi cards, which many people have said was better. AE-5 is a certain improvement though on the Z series.

As for Asus' more expensive cards, the ST/STX was a great card, but the STXII that replaced it is not far off the same card and costs an extra £80. Not worth £200 in my opinion, especially not when taking into consideration that Asus haven't bothered to update drivers in 3 years and the card doesn't work properly with some new Ryzen boards.

EsaT · 17 Jun 2018 at 20:31

Marsman said:
If you're someone who prefers to steer clear of Creative, then I think the Xonar DX is still available. Asus have these new Strix Soar cards, but not sure they are any improvement on the the previous Xonar range.

Xonar DX is one of those sound cards with that crazy 100ohm output impedance.
So not really good for any lower impedance headphones and makes SB Z's 20 ohm output impedance look excellent.
And for some inexplainable reason also Strix Soar and Strix Raid Pro with TPA6120 also have same lame output impedance.