Xonar D2X replacement

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Joined
19 Oct 2009
Posts
20
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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!
 
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