Xonar DG - ultimate budget headphone card?

That sounds reasonable, usually you need the startup program running for that to work.

Still in two minds about this one. Anyone move from an Xfi- xtremegamer or better who has comments on performance? Anyone with NS1000s who'd care to share their opinion?
 
alexhull24 said:
That sounds reasonable, usually you need the startup program running for that to work.

Still in two minds about this one. Anyone move from an Xfi- xtremegamer or better who has comments on performance? Anyone with NS1000s who'd care to share their opinion?
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I say buy it and return if you don't like it. Dolby Headphones makes a great difference with Creative Fatal1ty, my NS1000 should be here by tomorrow too.
 
Well that's what I was thinking, or sell it on/use it in another PC. My other option is to keep the xtremegamer and buy a Fiio E5 headphone amp.
 
You can get both for £40 and return the one you don't like. E5 does a good job with NS1000 according to Uriel and some people at Head-Fi.

Anyone tested Dolby Headphone and 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter on stereo headphones? It's sounds totally different to the flat Hi-Fi mode (no DSP).
 
Mr Krugga said:
You can get both for £40 and return the one you don't like. E5 does a good job with NS1000 according to Uriel and some people at Head-Fi.

Anyone tested Dolby Headphone and 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter on stereo headphones? It's sounds totally different to the flat Hi-Fi mode (no DSP).
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i have D1 & dr50's and used the 5.1 in windows, headphone in asus control panel with dolby headphone & prologic II. The to slider in PLII was all the way to the right hand side so it covers centre & both front speakers. The right hand slider was on the middle.

Sounds geat. I prefer DH1 or DH2 depending wether im listening to music or gaming.
 
One of principal NS1000 + e5 'offenders' on Head-Fi is me. I have a different user name there. Wouldn't want to give the impression that it's more of a consensus view than it actually is.
 
Well I've been thinking about it and I'm going to go with the E5 until there's better feed back here. Sounds like the Xonar may still be a little too weedy to deal with the high impedance NS1000s properly. That said, even the E5 won't be amazing, I accept that for £15.

Uriel, anything better in terms of headphone amps sub £25 you've used with the NS1000s?
 
I'm more and more impressed with this soundcard and that's on £30 headset. Dolby Headphones with 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter make a mahoosive difference, had to get used to it for a few hours though.
 
alexhull24 said:
Uriel, anything better in terms of headphone amps sub £25 you've used with the NS1000s?
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Nope. To be fair, the E5 is the only dedicated sub £25 amp I've heard with the NS1000s. It does a better job with them in passive mode than any of my sub £70 amps. I have a CMOY amp that does roughly as well but that cost more than the E5 anyway.
 
I very much doubt that it's the impedance that makes the NS1000s difficult to drive in passive mode. With active mode they have a built in, battery powered amp but still have a high input impedance so they benefit from an amp with strong voltage swing. I can just hear audible differences between amps in active mode but it's subtle, with better amps bringing out a hint more detail and making the soundstage more 3D. Current requirement is probably quite low.

Passive mode has lower impedance, so probably not the same requirements in terms of voltage swing. However current requirements are probably not far off whatever's being drawn from the AAA battery used for active mode - maybe even more.

Gain is not much of an issue. I've never had a problem with getting them to run loud enough in passive mode. Taming the bass and bringing out the detail is what it's about. In that respect I think the NS1000s may be quite unusual, hence the number of amps and soundcards etc that utterly fail to run them well.
 
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I had a little go on COD4 multiplayer last night with this and my pc350's and I have to say it was awesome, at first I didn't feel like I could notice any difference between this and my old creative x-mod; but then I realised I was getting much better directional awareness whilst playing, footsteps were pinpoint accurate and I was able to get a great sense of peoples positions without seeing them.

I still need to have a massive play with all the settings, not sure if dolby headphones setting will help or not; will just run through everything whilst in a game and see.

Definitely worth the money imho.
 
Marsman said:
True indeed, my bad. Got the ohm ratings mixed up. :p
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I'm pretty sure they'll do just fine, interested to see how Xonar DG stacks up against Xonar DS/D1 with NS1000s.

Uriel, are there any update on Xonar DG anywhere on the Internet? I couldn't find anything since its release info.
 
Do user impressions mention any disadvantages of Xonar DG? Also, is Asus GX used in any games? Not sure if it caused the crash but I just had a CTD in The Witcher :)
 
That's a shame. I'd like to see how it fares compared to my current card at some point. I wonder if ASUS ever plan to send out review samples or if they're just waiting for the enthusiasts to get their hands on them!
 
I just ordered one. My XFI has finally given up the ghost and I didn't really want £150 on an Essence. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.
 
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