Xonar D2X replacement

megalomaniacs4u · 6 Jun 2017 at 00:32

Well my ancient Xonar D2X is causing me grief. Sound keeps vanishing from Win7 and it doesn't appear to be a driver crashing.

So I finally face replacing my card with something modern.

Suggestions?

Primary use will be gaming. I mainly use Sennheiser headphones so something with enough oomph to drive them would be useful, but I also use the DD Live digital output via spdif which would be nice to keep but not essential.

In the meantime I have two alternatives:

I have a usb audio soundcard for use with Cubase etc could that be used sensibly when gaming?
I have a gigabyte z77x-ud5h motherboard is the onboard sound any good? (I have avoided onboard sound since nvidia killed off the nforce2)

Note: Creative Labs will only be touched with a very long barge pole if no sensible alternative can be found.

rids57 · 6 Jun 2017 at 08:59

Asus Xonar STX @ £125 is good value, it's £65 cheaper than the STX II with there being very little difference between the two.

Mine drives my HD650s very well, volume to spare (lots of it) and a good, full sound.

EsaT · 7 Jun 2017 at 17:30

megalomaniacs4u said:
I have a gigabyte z77x-ud5h motherboard is the onboard sound any good?

How about trying it as it doesn't cost any?
ALC898 codec of that motherboard is about equal to one in this "audiophile disaproved" test:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-19.html

Though without specifying what particular Sennheisers you have those might be lower impedance ones and very sensitive to interference.
Which can be the biggest showstopper if integration wasn't done carefully.

Except for possible binaural simulation only thing you really need from soundcard is it giving enough volume (that's check for typical Sennheisers) and not maul sound.

C64 · 7 Jun 2017 at 19:34

checked the floppy cable and or tried a different pci-e slot ?

megalomaniacs4u · 7 Jun 2017 at 20:03

C64 said:
checked the floppy cable and or tried a different pci-e slot ?

Yes I should get around to checking connections etc but the box has not been moved since I put the geforce 1070 in last summer. On my things to do this weekend.

megalomaniacs4u · 7 Jun 2017 at 20:17

EsaT said:
How about trying it as it doesn't cost any?
ALC898 codec of that motherboard is about equal to one in this "audiophile disaproved" test:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-19.html

Though without specifying what particular Sennheisers you have those might be lower impedance ones and very sensitive to interference.
Which can be the biggest showstopper if integration wasn't done carefully.

Yeah thats why I avoid onboard sound in general, weird humming noises & other issues but I haven't tried the currrent system as I disabled it in bios on first boot.

I use a "cheap" PC 151 (32ohm) as headset for skype & games that need a mic and I have better HD 380 Pro (54 ohm) which i prefer but I have switch sound settings when changing between them.

megalomaniacs4u · 7 Jun 2017 at 20:19

rids57 said:
Asus Xonar STX @ £125 is good value, it's £65 cheaper than the STX II with there being very little difference between the two.

Mine drives my HD650s very well, volume to spare (lots of it) and a good, full sound.

Interesting, looks like it suffers the same driver issues and I'll have to use the Uni Xonar drivers still. But as a straight up replacement its a viable option

EsaT · 7 Jun 2017 at 20:52

Once quickly tested bottom of the barrel ALC892 in basic level Asus motherboard and was surprised by it sounding actually decent.
Though 250 ohm Beyers makes for nice interference resistance because most interference has fixed voltage.

Those Sennheisers sure are one of the better ones for catching interference with low impedance and high sensitivity.
But that Gigabyte was high end motherboard of its time so they should have been able to afford more than passing thought on implementation.

And why haven't you gotten separate mic for HD 380 instead of suffering from those supra-aural ear crushers with likely also so and so sound?

megalomaniacs4u · 7 Jun 2017 at 23:49

Well it looks like i may have to test the onboard sound just had a hard freeze while watching youtube, on reboot I apparently have no sound card...

BTW the separate mic - I guess I've cheapo mic somewhere from the last soundblaster i bought (AWE32 gold) otherwise I'd need to muck about with adapters XLR to 3.5mm (stereo) jack ugh. The headset is surprisingly comfortable I bought it for use with the work laptop.

rids57 · 8 Jun 2017 at 00:44

megalomaniacs4u said:
Interesting, looks like it suffers the same driver issues and I'll have to use the Uni Xonar drivers still. But as a straight up replacement its a viable option

I've used the drivers from the Asus site from day one and have never had a problem with it.

megalomaniacs4u · 8 Jun 2017 at 11:25

Well a WTF morning. Reseated the xonar & checked the floppy power connector and nothing.... No post nothing. Fans didn't even shudder. Check all connections nothing. Switch mains lead & power on! WTF! Turn upright & nothing. Recheck everything while flat, nothing. Give new mains lead plug a check & all is well. Turn upright & nothing. Press on plug - ta da!

Dodgy trailing extension lead?! (note i plugged the new mains lead into a different socket)

head desk thunk!

Uriel · 12 Jun 2017 at 17:28

I once loved my Xonar D2 but gave up due to very iffy driver support in a few games.

Went back to Creative (Soundblaster Z) and been problem free for a long time. I preferred the Xonar's Dolby Headphone though to Creative's latest headphone virtualisation so have DDL or DTS-C from the creative card to a Victor SU-DH1 and Neco Soundlab headphone amp - rather than use the soundcard natively.

Drivers on the Z seem much better than what we had on X-Fi or previous Audigy cards. I'm on Windows 10 though.