Xonar DX or D2X?

gt_junkie

gt_junkie

gt_junkie

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Looking for a good PCI-E sound card and heard good things about the Xonar range.

Had a search but can't find anything conclusive.

Other than the additional £60 premium for the D2X is there much difference between these?

gt
 
I had this same choice, and opted for the D2X.

This is because of it's protective EMI shield which also covers any fragile components from being physically knocked. Also, it has a full complement of inputs/outputs and the build quality is 'slightly' higher.

However, those are the basic reasons. Sound quality and features (such as Emulated EAX 5.0) are exactly the same for both cards and the DX has the benefit of being truly low-profile.

If it were me, I'd go for the D2X, simply because its a 'premium' bit of kit. However more sensible people would go for the price tag of the DX.
 
Thanks Chimerical,

That was just the type of answer i was looking for! :D

I'll wait for any more responses and probably make my purchase early next week.

I'm only wanting the basic analogue outputs so the DX will probably serve my needs well enough. Just need a decent ouutput for my Sennheiser 595's and Pro-Ject headphone amp - had XFi's and decided i'd never go back considering creatives wonderful customer support and their crackling output issues in vista!

Cheers,

gt
 
I recently reviewed the DX and it's a fantastic bit of kit. Its basicly the same as the D2X without the EMI shield ande dosn't have dedicated optical out or DTS Encoding capability. If those don't mean anything to you then the DX is the way to go.
 
I'd opt for the DX myself if it didn't use PCI-e (for the reason that the heatsink on my motherboard blocks the first slot being used with full length cards, and the cooler on my graphics card blocks the second slot being used below it aswell! Gah). So, if I do purchase a Xonar, it'll have to be the more expensive PCI D2 instead.
 
hohum said:
I'd opt for the DX myself if it didn't use PCI-e (for the reason that the heatsink on my motherboard blocks the first slot being used with full length cards, and the cooler on my graphics card blocks the second slot being used below it aswell! Gah). So, if I do purchase a Xonar, it'll have to be the more expensive PCI D2 instead.
Click to expand...

Does your motherboard have a second PCI-E 16x slot?

The DX would happily slot into that.
 
Am still hunting down for a decent mobo one where the 1st slot is a pci express 1x slot, would be perfect for the Xonar ;)

I feel its better to let the rest of the mobo be taken up with a beefy graphics card.

Mind you the pci version maybe better, looks like no floppy power connectors needed to power it... + theres still decent amount of mobos with the 1st pci slot as number 1.
 
Chimerical said:
Does your motherboard have a second PCI-E 16x slot?

The DX would happily slot into that.
Click to expand...

It does, but I'm not sure on as to whether I'll run into any issues using it for something other than graphics. Safest bet would be going PCI, plus as (mentioned by chap above) no floppy power connector needed.
 
The xonar is compatible with any pci-e slot be it 1x, 4x or 16x.
I personally had much less hassle with it than my old XFI extreme music card. It just 'worked' with no snap, cracle or pops inherent with creatives cards. Dunno if thats solved now with the XFI cards but why release a card that is incompatible with the latest OS and why chance it if there is a viable alternative?
 
I ordered a Xonar DX yesterday, will let you know what it is like when it comes tomorrow. Have been using a Augidy 2 ZS Platinum Pro for the last 2 years.
 
tchan_4 said:
Is the EMI shield essential, or is it just a gimmick to make you pay more?
Click to expand...

Well hard to say, a lot of soundcards on the market just have no plates/brackets or shielding ie the Xfi series cards even. Even some very highend Soundcards on the market like £200-300 for muscians I notice theres none on them too.... so guess it does look sorta gimmicky, ive never ever noticed interferance on Creative/normal soundcards ive owned thru my AD900 headphones but again thats not to say its not there.
 
I also ordered the Xonar DX yesterday from Overclockers. Mine arrived late in the day today but nonetheless it's here.

Installed like a dream. Software installed on both Vista & XP with no trouble & so far running a treat.

Do these sound cards need to be run in or is the out of box sound the end product? It's long since I bought a Sound card I cannot remember.

Running them in at the moment & will let you know my opinion later.

Glad i looked on this thread & thanks to the people who gave advice on this card.

dobbs2010 - I hope yours arrive real soon, if not today.

Thanks Again
 
It does, but I'm not sure on as to whether I'll run into any issues using it for something other than graphics. Safest bet would be going PCI, plus as (mentioned by chap above) no floppy power connector needed.
Click to expand...

Indeed, i've run into issues before trying to use an expensive Intel pci-e NIC in a 16x pci-e slot, couldn't for the life of me figure what was up. I eventually managed to get it working by changing the PCI-E Payload size down to the smallest setting in the BIOS.

I've heard of issues with running RAID controllers in them too, which wern't fixable with the payload size trick. Seems to be that the motherboard manufacturers deviate from the official specification in order to tweak things for graphics cards. A clue as to whether they've done this is if they refer to the slot as a "PEG" or "PCI-Express Graphics" slot.
 
Well... just ordered the plain vanilla DX so will let you guys know how i find it when it arrives!

Thanks again for all the help and advice - much appreciated! :)

gt
 
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