X-Fi to Xonar D2 upgrade?

BuToNz · 30 Aug 2008 at 20:23

Hi peeps,

Just wondering if it would actually be worth the upgrade from an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer to the Asus Xonar D2/X?

I play games, listen to music and watch movies a lot...Until i moved to vista i was pretty happy with my X-Fi but since Vista 64 the drivers have been terrible. The software is none exsistant and im fed up with the amount of times the sound just randomly cuts out and requires a reboot.

Im running a set of Z-5500's (3 years old now!) and figured since this card isnt much over £100 now its worth the upgrade...What do you guys think?

Also will i see any difference in the D2X version over the D2 version? All i can find is the D2X requires floppy power...Which to be honest id rather avoid (More cable mess)

Thanks for any replies!!

Greenlizard0 · 30 Aug 2008 at 20:39

It's not a massive upgrade, but you will still notice a difference (I believe).

As for which type, there are little differences as well, power connecters, slot types and e.g. onboard connecters for headphone sockets on cases.

Tetsu · 30 Aug 2008 at 20:52

For me it was an upgrade I was very happy with.

Margaret · 30 Aug 2008 at 22:47

Get a DX instead.

BuToNz · 30 Aug 2008 at 22:54

from what i can see its not that different but what warrants the price difference from the DX to the D2X?

Also what i forgot to mention was i will need SP/DIF pins on the board itself to hook up my GTX280 to as i use the HDMI to my Tele and use the sound through HDMI.

Uriel · 30 Aug 2008 at 23:03

I went from XtremeMusic to D2. No complaints from me. It allowed me to finally run with 4GB RAM and there was a minor, but noticeable improvement in sound quality.

Main drawback is it's making me want to encode my entire music collection at a higher bitrate.

BornEvil · 31 Aug 2008 at 09:12

As a music listener, i personally see a X-fi to D2 as a downgrade. I have both and i really miss Creative's 24-bit Crystalizer. But I only got my D2 yesterday so not had time to play with it completely.

The obvious advantage of the Xonars is Dolby Digital Live. I guess that is where you pay the difference in price.

Uriel · 31 Aug 2008 at 10:05

I never really liked the Crystallizer. It did funny things to a few of my mp3s so I kept it off. If you like that sort of thing I'd suggest SRS WOW as a substitute.

I will say this though. With a decent set of speakers of headphones - the Xonar is merciless at exposing flaws in the recording. I've started listening to my CDs again, in preference to my collection of 192kbps mp3s. On hi-fi mode the mp3s sound like something's missing and in music mode some of them even sound a little aggravating. I'm considering re-encoding my entire music collection at a higher bit-rate or even lossless.