Asus Xonar DX vs Creative Soundblaster Z

Discussion in 'Soundcards, Speakers HiFI & File formats' started by Kicek, Oct 16, 2013.

  1. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    Really? So why the price difference? Shiney red paint?

    Do you think it would be a step up from what I have now? I only use 2.1 speakers but I would like to get something like 5.1 head phones.
     
  2. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    The main reason is it oem and doesn't have a EMI shield which why it cheaper. for that price it worth it if you want the features of the Z card which isn't on the xonar card and if you not happy with the DX card or want to upgrade your audio quailty. One major thing the Z has is a good headphone amp, Plus you can plug both speakers and headphones to the rear of the Z card at the same time.

    As for Headphones, I suggest you get your self a good pair of stereo headphones and use either Dolby Headphone on your DX card or the SBX surround headphone on the Z card. Which you config both by having windows and games set to 5.1, as well set the Asus control panel to 5.1 input and the output to headphone and then enable Dolby headphone and select mode 1 or 2 which every one you like.

    For Z card same thing but after you switch it control panel in speaker side to 5.1, you select headphone slider and enable SBX surround headphone and set it til you find a setting that you like.

    I find that dolby headphone works really well depends on the headphones that your using or audio setup chain. As I currently use it with my DGX connected to my Bifrost uber to my LD MK2 2.0 and Beyerdynamic T90.

    You can find a good deal on Audio Techinca AD700X on amazon as well DT990 pro-230 which are two good choices, tho the DT990 pro-250 would work better off the Z because the Z headphone amp will be able to handle it, While the AD700x doesn't benefit to being ran thru a amp so the DX would work just fine.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2014
  3. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    Thanks for the advice about the card. I'm guessing games will be hardware accelerated?
     
  4. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    You shouldn't even worry about that, cpus are fast enough today so it wont even effect you. It be something difference if you had a old single core or old dual core cpu then maybe.
     

  5. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    Gotcha. Ok. Thanks!
     
  6. antonyfrn

    antonyfrn Maha Guru

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    With the Xonar cards I would suggest to use the Uni Xonar drivers as they are the latest from C-Media modified to work with all but one card I believe. been years since I used a CL card but will say im very happy with my Xonar.
     
  7. Hostinghub24

    Hostinghub24 Guest

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    I've had my Xonar dx for a couple of years now and agree with what most are saying in that the drivers are rarely updated but they work great for me anyway. Sound is excellent for the price.
     
  8. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    Glad I stayed with my DX now after reading that. It's the same as a D1 (which I also have) but it's PCI-E instead of PCI.
     
  9. Corbus

    Corbus Ancient Guru

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    I'm happy with my Xonar, yes the drivers are horrible but with the Uni drivers that weakness is fixed.
     
    fry178 likes this.
  10. HonoredShadow

    HonoredShadow Ancient Guru

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    What weakness is that?

    I don't have any problems with the Xonar drivers but have been thinking of trying modded drivers. I had more problems with Creative back in the day with my Audigy cards.
     

  11. Rich_Guy

    Rich_Guy Ancient Guru

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    Had my DX a good few years now, love it, always had Creatives before, but their drivers were terrible, glad i switched.
     
  12. goat1

    goat1 Ancient Guru

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    I've had quite a few creative cards and never had any driver issues. Asus was not immune to driver issues either. I just swapped out my recon 3d for the Zxr. No driver issues with either card.
     
  13. Rexob

    Rexob Guest

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    I've used both Asus & Creative cards costing $150-200 with headphones @ $300. Asus hands down sounds better. The bigger issue with Asus cards, and any high quality sound card, is having headphones that actually take advantage of their capabilities.

    It's the same as having a cutting edge GPU, but playing on a really bad monitor.
     
  14. goat1

    goat1 Ancient Guru

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    Depends on which cards your comparing to which. I doubt any Asus card sounds better than a Z card,on top of that,unless you have them going at the same time with the same exact settings,your not hearing much difference. Claiming that an Asus is a cleaner sounding card is absolute hogwash!
     
  15. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    That depends on the Asus / Creative cards in question tbh.
     

  16. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    Not tp mention that some of the asus and creative cards let you roll op-amps to change the sound signature and both asus and creative cards has there own benefits to different people.
     
  17. goat1

    goat1 Ancient Guru

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    I mean totally stock. Throw an STX 2 and then a ZXR and try telling me the STX is better.. Its no different than AMD lovers against Nvidia lovers. Apple vs Android.. Some guy that had a bad experience with one of sound blasters,probably someone that didn't know what they were doing I'll bet.. Now swears to hate creative.. Goes to asus,it works and now he's a asus lover.. The STX2 and ZXR probably sound so close it would be a win win with either card. How is it possible that all these guys had problems with their SB cards and I've had tons of them and never had an issue? Drivers were rock solid and not a problem. I've built lots of PC's and never had one problem.. I read tons of people having problems with the Phoebus and asus drivers,yet ESlik has no issues. Make a guy wonder..
     
  18. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    Again it depends on the use, the ZxR might sound worse in some scenarios than the STX-2 for headphone use. That is of course assuming they never got around to fixing the problem that the headphone amp had in delivering it's rated power. Even if they did, depending on how you connect the headphones you may see a decrease in quality. The breakout unit has been proven to lessen output quality for the Zx, I can only assume the ZxR has the same problem. If I was buying a card just for headphone use, I'd buy the ST/X hands down. There's also more to a card like that than just the DAC. Granted, for a lot of scenarios they might very well be similar.

    As for driver issues, different hardware/software combinations are of course going to react differently. Both Creative and Asus have had some pretty shoddy driver releases, I remember getting a few with my STX. Lucky for me the UniXonar drivers are fantastic and solved the issues I was having, there's also third party drivers available for most Creative cards. It's a case of simple troubleshooting really, again an area some people have more problems in than others.
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2014
  19. moab600

    moab600 Ancient Guru

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    i had the Xonar D1 Phoebus, the sbz sounds way better than them specially in movies. however my new STX II blows all of them easily, then again no same people hear the same.
     
  20. goat1

    goat1 Ancient Guru

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    I agree with both of you. I did have the ZXR and I did hear the sound difference plugging my 770's into the ACM. The clarity took a hit. It did sound worse. Another reason I just went with the Z. I didn't hear much difference between the 2,plus I saved $130 going with the Z. I use my Martin Logan electrostat's for music anyhow. So the Z is the right choice for me. But the sound quality of the Z was much better than that of my Recon3D..
     

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