Hey, As the title says, which soundcard would you recommend? It would then be one of the Asus Xonar ones, I've looked into it a bit, but I'm not quite sure as to which one to take. All around best and good price? I remember there was one with the inbuilt headset amplifier or something, and then the normal but better one that was without it, I might take that one then? But I don't remember which one it was. Any insight into this, thanks.
What is "good price"? A million per shot makes economy roll, so is it more "good" than tuppence from Uncle Scrooge? You ask about headphone amp, but don't make it clear whether you will use headphones, speakers, surround speakers, etc. Music, games, movies? Yes, you said "all around best", but isn't that usually the most expensive one?
I have this card http://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards/ROG_Xonar_Phoebus/ In my opinion it's the best. Price? Does it really matter? If you want the best you have to pay for it.
Don't listen to ESlik,he doesn't know what he's talking about.. JK, he does. Why does it need to be an Asus? For the same price as the Phoebus,you can get the new Sound blaster ZXR. I had one,zero issues,no bloatware. It worked perfect. I also had a Sound Blaster Z and that was excellent as well. The only thing is the Phoebus does 7.1,but if you don't need that,you could get the SB Z for about $80. Its a great card..
ESlik,I put my old razer barracuda ac-1 back in last night. Had to use old Vista drivers but it works perfectly. I have the recon3d and Barracuda in there at the same time. I just have the recon disabled. So that way you can go back and forth to hear the difference. So far,I'm not impressed with the cuda's sound. Its decent..for games its fine. The sb z,zxr spank it tho. The bass in the z cards were night and tight and the instruments well defined. I was just shocked the cuda works well still with the vista drivers. No issues at all. Can I use this card for gaming ...Yes.. Music..yes,but since I heard the Z cards,if I was going to listen to music I'd probably get the Zxr.. The phoebus intrigues me also. I like the ROG lights on the side..
Recently, I managed to snag a used SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion (with front panel IO box) for about 40USD. Previously, I was using the X-Fi MB audio which came with my Maximus II Formula, and I was using a Z623. Well, upon installing the X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion, and playing my usual go to game, UT3, I noticed that the sound had changed somewhat. It had a crispness I'd not heard with the onboard audio, the Gatlin Gun had a nice metallic 'klink' when fired, and using the other weapons like the Rocket Launcher and Frag Cannon were somehow sharper and more satisfying. I now have a soundcard in each and every one of my systems, I'm back to my old philosophy that a system would be better with a soundcard installed....back to my old skool way of thinking.
