[edit] I have Bose 2.1 speakers and all I care about OK low/high but pure midrange. I have 6.1 speakers but they are a couple years old and I really dont' care about that stuff. And yes, I primarily use my PC for gaming but I am ALSO an audiophile when it comes to music. 1.Creative Labs X-fi series-very high priced has a ton of gaming features that I may or may not need. 2. ----My alternative, while still a bit overfeatured for my use but more cost effective, I have investigated the Turtle Beach Montego 7.1 DDL This boils down to features like X-Fi/EAX 5.0 vs DDL/EAX 2.0...I have no idea which is more beneficial. And also, I keep hearing lower end x-fi cards lack some digital out function or something? Anyone care to enlighten me?
Bose sucks. You aren't an audiophile, you own Bose. The X-fi sucks as well, for audiophile usage. The Montego looks like a cheapy card. Get an XM 7.1 or a Prelude. The X-fi cards don't have DD or DTS encoding, therefore no digital output. EAX sounds like crap on good speakers, but since you are using Bose you might like it. Note I said good speakers. Bose isn't in that category. My advice to you is to sell the Bose and get some better speakers and an XM if you can afford it. If not, save your money until you can. Yeah, I'm harsh. But, I'm giving you the facts.
I dont recommend a Turtle Beach Card.. I have owned a Santa Cruz and didnt have a good experience with Setting it up nor getting it to work right.. the EAX was Recognized and Supported but made the game sound horrible.. with this Audigy SE I noticed an Giant Up after listening to EAX on it.. I recommend an X-Fi XtremeMusic, X-Fi Gamer Fatal1ty or a plain X-Fi XtremeGamer, the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer maybe cheaper but its Hardware Sound will be little if none.. but don't let that turn you away my small 20 dollar Audigy SE only has Software EAX and No hardware Processing and Im enjoying it... also the X-Fi Cards should be last on your list of Toys to buy.. There Expensive little things.. and I recommend saving for a Nice Pair of 5.1 Speakers over getting a new soundcard, being as you can get a Nice Creative Set for about 80 bucks.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836116025 But if you insists on a Set Card go for the Fatal1ty Gamer Card.. Hardware Processing and all that.. but also be on the Lookout for that new Auzentech X-Fi Prelude.. that will include the Features of Creative X-Fi Cards with the quality of Auzentech Cards.. which is currently what Im waiting for..
Try and save up for a an Auzen X-Meridan if your interested in great sounding music or get yourself the new Prelude for gaming and music. These two cards by Auzentech destroy any X-Fi or anything else on the market. You'll be pleasently surprised by the improvement in sound through either of those two sound cards with your speakers. Your main concern is improving your source. Get yourself some good headphones for gaming/music some Grado- SR60's etc and you can have awesome sound for a fraction of the cost of upgrading your speakers.
Sorry, but only one thing to say: Buy Other Sound Equipment You can get a decent price on ebay for the Bose stuff though.
either get a creative x-fi fatal1ty now or wait for the aztch. x-fi prelude if your primary purpose is gaming. i dont see better native openAL cards, which is the near future of gaming audio. so if thats of intrest to you there ya go. if you enjoy the audio your speakers provide, thats all that matters because your the one that has to hear em all the time. ive personally never been a fan of bose,but i know a few people who are that have bose setups, and i dont think they sound as bad as some people trash talk about. they just arent as "wow" worthy as the price tag they carry would be my take on it.
^^^ understand what ya mean Thanks for the tips guys. Seems for games its either Auzentech or Creative. I also have noticed xtreme-audio doesn't have a DSP chip. tricky tricky~ I knew from the second I posted that I use Bose there would be some debate over that. I am very meticulous about sound quality in general but when I bought them my theory was I only needed 2 speakers at the time(portability) and it seemed there were few alternatives in that group. Anyhow that aside, I also own shure e2c's but I'm not sure how they fair in gaming since they are still earphones. Silentscope-thanks for the list I'll definitely check those headphones out.
if youre into gaming go with the xfi gamer( unless you need the Fatality features ), you can mod the xfi for lower noise/better range/fidelity reading around the web,id say it would be grand if mid range is ur concern, but i think posting here is like saying youre thinking of getting a Ford Focus when everyone has a Ferrari, course i could be wrong
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=229350 I've done a few of these mods and can vouch for the increase in sound quality.
Definately see if you can get a new Prelude. Check out Head-Fi.com for advice on headphones for gaming and music. Any Grado is great for music but there are some better all rounders for gaming and music. Do some searches on Head-Fi.
Auzentech X-Meridian is at same level whit X-FI XM when it comes to Audiophile RIG. M-audio and E-MU offers the best quality sound, but it's not intended for gaming.
While harsh I agree with Spezzy's reply One comment on Bose...I agree they suck from a price stand point but some (read I said SOME) of their speakers aren't bad if they were priced a lot less. What I mean is say a $200 product from them if it was priced at like $75 then it'd be good. Case in point...for their price the performance is SEVERELY lacking. A few of they're products sound "ok" but if I had my choice I'd go with anything but :heh:
