I want to upgrade my old Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer The main reason : / better sound quality / only for gaming What would you recommend ? Asus ? Creative SB ? Or something like this : http://www.trustedreviews.com/fiio-e09k_Portable-Audio_review I'm using for gaming the headset Sennheiser HD 429 In case i go for FiiO E09K, i won't have anymore EAX effects / Crystalizer and many other SB functions. Any ideas / advices are welcome. Thank you.
I went with the card you see in my details. Had the Xtreme Gamer too before that and i'm more than happy with my choice. Runs in both XP and Win7 / 64bit. For enhanced 3D sound i bought a DSS2 (TurtleBeach) from Amazon and connected that via optical to my soundcard. Best 3D-like sound in stereo.
So, if i upgrade my Xtreme Gamer card with AsusXonar D2X / ASUS Xonar Essence STX / and i add the DSS2, do i get 3D sound, even if i use the Sennheiser HD 429 headphones ? All i want is to improve the sound quality, and if there is 3D too, that would be much better
You don't need dss2 to get positional audio. Dolby headphone (positional audio on Xonar cards) will do that just fine. It'll work with any stereo headphones. Not sure about dss2 actually, it might be ok. I'd check out Razer surround software too, I find it better than Dolby headphones on Xonar cards.
I really like my HT|Omega Claro It's a really good all around card for gaming/music Solid drivers. One thing I noticed about HT|Omega is that they get the drivers right the 1st time. None of this driver update to fix this or that.
By connecting via optical you're not getting the benefit of the soundcard. OP is best off getting a Z unless he's considering putting some healthy money down, depending on his uses.
but.. but i Connect my SBZ > DSS1 > Headphone the SBX's crystalizer still useful and still have dolby effect.(make sure the surround in SBX is off) If you have the DSS already, it is ok but don't buy the DSS after you get the soundcard. seem Not worth it
If you connect via anything other than analogue you're not benefiting from your soundcard or original source. The reason for this is because you're sending the data digitally, you're essentially using your sound card as a pass-through. That's not to say you wont get features from that method, but the best aspects of a soundcard (Aka the conversion by a probably superior DAC) are lost.
You don't need the dss to get surround headphone dsp, the Z already have a option for that. The only reason to use optical is if your connection the Z to a External dac or dac amp to send the functions over to the device or if you have a Home audio receiver for the Encoders on the Z. Other wise it best to just use analog.
