Which Soundcard

the d2 and d2x are the same card with different interfaces. they are both a LOT better than the xtreme music, or any other soundcard with the exception of the prelude, which are both pretty much neck and neck.


i dont like the reasons why people seem to recommend the prelude but its a good all round card. if you want a bit of everything, get the prelude. a word of warning though, the microphone inputs on the prelude are a joke with many peopel struggling to get a worthwhile input form them. its either a driver or hardware problem, or a mixture of both, but one thing you have to remember is that the prelude was designed by HDA, the same peopel who designed the x-mystique, x-meridian ect and they all STILL have mic input problems. make of that what you will.

the xonar is a damn good audio card. just about the best you will get in an internal soundcard. it can be improved further, like the prelude, with a bit of modding if thats your thing, but even in standard form it does excel. the drivers are a little buggy, and very basic - it doesnt do halve as much as an xfi - but for analogue outputs there's really nothing better unless you want to go external. the line in on the card is also what you'd expect from a card of this caliber
 
I picked up a Xonar D2X last week which I can thoroughly recommend. Fantastic sound quality and it works perfectly in Vista, you get a fantastic package all around with cables and the like. Very happy with it.

Asus have also added EAX5 support with their latest beta driver.

Only downside is the control panel, which while perfectly functional, looks like it was designed by a 3 year old.
 
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thank you both for that.

don't you just hate decisions. you can always guarantee that whichever one i get I'll end up wishing i had the other :D

as i don't have one i can only go on what you guys say (i appreciate the help)

unless i have missed it it looks like this: -

Asus (very good name) does 118Db card with everything fully working

Prelude: - does slightly more than the Asus, has a nice front panel that i could utilize but has a bad microphone input and is 2DB lower in output.

for every 3DB we hear it appears the sound has doubled so 2 is quite large. i tend to blast music loud until the missus comes home :mad:
i do use TeamSpeak while gaming so the microphone worries me. if they have a problem with a microphone input, i begin to wonder if they have problems with Inputs in general. as i really need this card for recording what i have on cassette tape, i need to know it's inputs are functioning properly. i have used Asus products for years and i cannot fault them so i am fairly confident that i will be happy with the Xonar.

unless any of you can say that the Prelude will be better for recording music from my tapes, i will plummet for the Asus Xonar. i'm going to watch Rambo tonight so i'll buy it when i get back incase one of you has a valid reason for choosing the Prelude instead.

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just out of curiosity, i have noticed a few of you mentioning analogue outputs. i thought the optical out was supposed to be better? should i not buy an optical lead then?
 
My retail prelude does not have a front panel :s is it a seperate purchase?

The mic input is a driver issue according to the techs at auzen and will be fixed in a future driver update, apart from that I feel the card is very good for sound quality through all other channels. Currently working around the mic issue by using my onboard mic input.

**edit** - I see that new Auzentech prelude drivers are out, anyone happen to know if the mic input problem is fixed? Am still at work so sadly cannot try yet.
 
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Yeah, that's an annoyance not having a front panel audio header on the card given that a lot of cases these days have the front panel connectors. Lack of inputs is the one big reason I've never found a card I'm prepared to buy to replace my SB Live!. Looks like the Xonar is out too then. :(
 
Rich-Ando said:
dam i thought the prelude came with a front panel.

oh well that has made my mind up for sure. it's the Xonar then.
Click to expand...

By front panel are you referring to a Front mounted I/O Drive Unit included in the package like on the x-fatality series??? If so, then no the retail prelude does not come with one of these included.

However,

If by front panel you mean does it have an onboard connection to link a cable for a computer case pre-installed Front Sound/Mic inputs, then yes the prelude does have this.

Apologies for the confusion, I have probably misinterpreted what you have typed.
 
It has front panel headers - i.e. connects to existing sockets on the front of your case if you have them.

One of the X-fis has its own dedicated front panel.
 
no i was talking about the I/O front panel. i assumed it came with it but as they said in a film once: -

" assumption is the mother of all F-ups"

i realise it doesn't come with it now.

all i actually wanted is a card that would allow me to connect an external tape deck to it, play a tape and record it without picking up all sorts of crap through the recording etc.
a front panel with all of the functions like the fatality would have been nice but without it, i see too many comments on XF-i problems but none on Asus Xonar ones.
 
Rich-Ando said:
thank you both for that.

don't you just hate decisions. you can always guarantee that whichever one i get I'll end up wishing i had the other :D

as i don't have one i can only go on what you guys say (i appreciate the help)

unless i have missed it it looks like this: -

Asus (very good name) does 118Db card with everything fully working

Prelude: - does slightly more than the Asus, has a nice front panel that i could utilize but has a bad microphone input and is 2DB lower in output.

for every 3DB we hear it appears the sound has doubled so 2 is quite large. i tend to blast music loud until the missus comes home :mad:
Click to expand...

dont get carried away with what these people are claiming for the cards. having said that, the xonar does very close to what they claim. however, it wont make a blind bit of difference to how loud you play your music. that 118db figure refers to the dynamic range of the card, in other words the difference between the quietest sound it'll output and the loudest. anything over 100db is terrifically dynamic. if you've actually heard something playing back at 118dba, you'll know just how painfully loud it can be. now imagine the card can supply the source to drive that sound at anywhere between 0db and that 118db.


in reality, you wont use that dynamic range at all. ever, probably.
 
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You know that front panel i/o drive of the Xfi is so wicked ;)

Loved my tunes and quick volume control no messing about with trying to plug the headphone in the back or front instead u got a full size 5.25 headphone jack and if you got some actual decent cans you gonna need it !

+ I cant be sure but I read the Xfi front panel has a mini amp to improve headphone output quality.....

I may have to ignor the xonar and go for the basic Xfi with front panel :(
 
james, i have heard 123Decibel at 1meter before, that hurts!!!!

the only reason i mentioned it is because if they boast a louder level then the chances are it can push the speakers to the max. a lot of people tend to run an amp that can't supply what the speakers can take and subsequently it distorts at a low level.
 
the source wont make any difference to the loudness of the system, believe me. if you're using something heavily amp-limited, the amp will give out first anyway. you can't make it any louder by boasting the signal.

a better dynamic range is always desirable, obviously. but it wont perform miracles like make an amplifier louder. if you have a problem with loudness its time to start looking at your amp and speakers as the culprit:)

icey_haj said:
Sorry to jump in, but what does the pci-express xonar have as an advantage over the normal xonar?
Click to expand...

no, they are the same cards, just one's pci and the other is pci-e (d2x)
 
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thanks James, i should have known that, i won't explain why because it bad enough i didn't see what i was saying let alone make myself look even dafter :rolleyes: :D
i don't have a problem with the amp, it's the Logitech Z5500 system and that is powerfull enough to make you put your fingers in your ears :D

buying the Xonar now from OCUK, good price and you always know a good service :)

only thing i havn't seemed to have an answer on is the "Optical lead"

i cannot find one on here but i also don't know why some are saying not to bother with it and stay with analogue?
 
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if you are using spdif there really is no need for the xonar. the entire idea behind the xonar is its excellent analogue outputs. using spdif, there's no real difference betwee a xonar, an x-fi and onboard sound:)
 
so are you saying not to bother with an optical lead?

i do need a card because i want to do some recording that my onboard doesn't seem to be capable of.
 
No - he's saying if you want to go digital (and there's nowt wrong with that), then most of the hardware that differentiates one card from another is bypassed. The major selling point of a card like the Xonar is the quality of it's analogue components.
 
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