X-Fi performs worse than onboard through RMAA

Kei · 13 Jan 2012 at 19:53

X-Fi performing worse than onboard through RMAA

I've tried both through different sources with different cables and the results are always near identical. I'm guessing my X-fi is knackered. It is an original fatal1ty with an audigy 2 drive bay and is about 5 years old now.

X-fi Summary

Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB +0.20, -0.16 Very good
Noise level, dB (A) -74.8 Average
Dynamic range, dB (A) 74.9 Average
THD, % 0.309 Poor
THD + Noise, dB (A) -46.0 Poor
IMD + Noise, % 0.497 Poor
Stereo crosstalk, dB -78.3 Very good
IMD at 10 kHz, % 0.407 Poor
General performance Average

Graphs here

Realtek onboard Summary

Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB +0.01, -0.03 Excellent
Noise level, dB (A) -91.4 Very good
Dynamic range, dB (A) 91.4 Very good
THD, % 0.0028 Excellent
THD + Noise, dB (A) -83.0 Good
IMD + Noise, % 0.013 Very good
Stereo crosstalk, dB -85.3 Excellent
IMD at 10 kHz, % 0.0090 Very good
General performance Very good

Graphs here

On the same graph

Frequency response

Noise level

Dynamic range

THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)

Intermodulation distortion

Stereo crosstalk

Question is now, what should i replace it with. I tend to use the card for multiple purposes where my A/V receiver gets SPDIF for dvd audio and 6 channel audio from games via dts live and my luxman stereo amp gets music duties. I don't use my headphones directly into the card but through the luxman. (120Ω AKG K601) I also record LP's using the drive bay phono inputs using adobe audition. Been looking at the xonar essence ST, potentially getting the xonar H6 add-on card to go with it at a later date.

Kei · 14 Jan 2012 at 19:51

I gave up and bought the Xonar essence ST and the H6 module for surround. Should be quite different as i've been using creative cards since the 90's.

Marsman · 14 Jan 2012 at 20:02

What speakers are you using, as a matter of interest?

Kei · 14 Jan 2012 at 20:36

They are custom made using vintage goodmans "Minister" cabinets, Kef B200 SP1063 8" drivers and seas prestige 22TFF tweeters.

Marsman · 14 Jan 2012 at 22:37

Cool, nice to see they're not cheap things then.

I've seen people asking about an Essence ST + H6 board, to connect to Logitech speakers. :/

Nice to see people that know what good sound is. Too many people seem to think a pricey sound card will improve rubbish speakers.

Kei · 14 Jan 2012 at 23:51

Their performance certainly outweighed their cost. (inherited the cabinets with some elac drivers and original goodmans silk tweeters, and spent under £100 to rebuild them)

I've got my fingers crossed that the asus card works ok with ASIO too as i use it for recording work. I Was also considering an E-MU 0404 pcie pro audio card, but it isn't really capable with games and there's no option of surround.

Marsman · 14 Jan 2012 at 23:55

If you do get any ASIO problems with the Asus drivers, there's Brainbit's modified xonar drivers. There's a low latency option.

3dcandy · 15 Jan 2012 at 13:49

for asio drivers you can't beat the m-audio stuff, like the 2496. Drivers are rock solid with excellent latency...

Kei · 15 Jan 2012 at 18:24

Marsman said:
If you do get any ASIO problems with the Asus drivers, there's Brainbit's modified xonar drivers. There's a low latency option.

Yeah i'd looked at those UniXonar drivers yesterday. Might be a PITA to get around the signature enforcement in 7 x64. I looked at the m-aduio cards but prefer the e-mu.

3dcandy · 15 Jan 2012 at 18:44

Well....e-mu are the parent company of creative, so the drivers aren't as good as the m-audio ones. The e-mu stuff is based off the creative chips...

Marsman · 15 Jan 2012 at 19:05

Kei said:
Yeah i'd looked at those UniXonar drivers yesterday. Might be a PITA to get around the signature enforcement in 7 x64. I looked at the m-aduio cards but prefer the e-mu.

I think only the latest release has driver signature trouble. I use the previous release with my Essence and W7 x64. No trouble at all.

Kei · 18 Jan 2012 at 10:21

New card arrived today, so i got straight to fitting it. Same pci slot as the X-Fi. This is what i got... (i'll just show 2, it was that bad)

Frequency Response

Intermodulation distortion

Knew straight away something was amiss. (no way it should be that bad, showing similar problems to the X-Fi) Took the card back out and put it in my other PCI port and enabled spread spectrum just in case and it performed as it should. (which leads me to believe that my X-Fi was fine)

Frequency response

Noise level

Dynamic range

THD + Noise (at -3 dB FS)

Intermodulation distortion

Stereo crosstalk

And just a side by side shot for anyone who is interested. (xonar H6, xonar essence ST, X-Fi Fatal1ty)