I totally agree Asus should do more but C-Media is responsible for the drivers. By now Asus should use other chips because driver support will always be a disaster with C-Media.
When I installed Windows 10 in the first week, there was no sound at all - no drivers, nothing. Yet, I installed UniXonar for Windows 8.1 and they work flawlessly.
Absolutely true! I used to play guitar and drums a few years ago, it seriously bothers me how many bands push out their CD without even listening to it first. Bass line half/completely missing, high's being suppressed and enornmous focus on lead and vocals. If the source is crap everything is crap :wanker:
Asus Xonar hardware is very good but the software support is poor to say the least. I did some serious thinking and considering and in the end i threw out my Phoebus and installed the Essence STX II. I'm mostly using headphones anyway and the few times that i do use speakers my 2.0 monitors will do the job just fine. The STX II has one major advantage of the Phoebus; STX II can use the UNi Xonar drivers, the Phoebus can't. Actually very sad that the Xonar pretty much totally rely on 3rd party driver development to perform well. Personally wouldn't surprise me if Asus manages to produce a single wonky (beta) driver for Windows 10 for the Strix soundcard series and then completely abandon it like they did with all other cards. I will not miss the stripped down version of the UI that they call Sonic Studio either.
I had Phoebus and did upgrade to STX II when it launch last year, one of best decisions ever, STXII is so awesome.
yeah traditionally audio hw drivers always sucked - so much so it was a disgrace, I can't comment on anything after my card my Asus D2X is an absolute gem but again it needed a 3rd party to fix their drivers
My phoebus works fine-ish in win 10 (no drm support though), but there are a few kinks that need some heavy ironing, namely the surround simulation. I really LOVE what they did with it in the sonic thingy but it's been implemented with broken feet, games don't see it as a surround system (managed to tweak my way around it in BF4 and it sounds great).
If my sound card ever dies and I'm considering a new one because the onboard audio isn't cutting it (we'll cross that bridge when we get there), modern video cards have audio out on the HDMI line, no? It seems like this would be better than on board audio, but I'm not sure how it compares to a good external sound card? The Sonic Radar Pro software seems... weird? I think it'd be neat to use just to confirm that the positional audio in some games is working properly, but in a competitive game, I don't know.
How about lobby in the game industry so that we get Next-Gen sound as well as the focus on Next-Gen Graphics? Seriously, I really ache for good quality sounds sources in game. I only use the benifits of my Essence STX by using Foobar/FLAC and I AM half-deaf. ( -30-35 dba autiobite each ear in mid frequencies 2Kz ) Then start developing minimalistic usable drivers without the focus on a flashy gamer UI but with the focus on, of I dunno, quality of sound and features?
I'll probably buy the next generation Creative card when it comes out because contrary to what a loud minority says, they still make the best sound cards and have the best driver support (which isn't very good)... which speaks volumes about how crappy the competitions drivers are. My X-Fi titanium HD is still a fantastic card and the difference is night and day when compared to onboard while being listened to through my Sennheiser HD580 Frankenstein headphones (modded with new HD650 drivers) and Schiit Asgard amplifier.
Creative is complete crap. Know how I know? setup: Bottlehead Crack + speedball upgrade vacuum tube amp Creative Titanium HD with upgraded op amps on line out stage Sennheiser HD650 Behringer Audio Truth 3030A studio monitors First of all, Creative took until the end of August to come out with Windows 10 drivers. Second, the spdif optical input on the Titanum HD no longer works. It doesn't matter if I am using Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 drivers. I am doing 5.1 spdif out on my TV and into the Titanium HD. Was working well about 3-4 months ago, but as of now, the functionality has stopped. And I am still using the drivers from Dec 2014 "XFRL_PCDRV_L11_3_00_2015". So that hasn't changed. Yes, I have tried troubleshooting it: http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=64440 Bottom line, I think I might go pick up a HT Omega Claro Halo today and see what happens. Creative just has terrible support as you pointed out, but HT Omega usually pushes out a quality product.
STXII is awesome Only negative thing i have about the STXII is the molex connector.. STXII is released after the Phoebus and yet the Phoebus comes with a PCIe power connector and the STXII with a molex. We live in 2015 so I don't have anything with molex in my system anymore. So i had to specially run a new wire from the PSU to the STXII with a molex connector.
I haven't used on-board sound as my primary source in over 10 years. Whenever I do try it, there's a noticeable quality drop. To me, sound is a huge part of any entertainment experience. I wonder about folks with multi-thousand dollar rigs with amazing video hardware and the sound is a complete afterthought (it makes sound so "it'll do"). Seems like they're missing out on a bit. I suppose if someone is using crappy speakers or headphones, they wouldn't be able to benefit from a sound card anyways. ... Did I read here that other sound card brands have even WORSE support than Creative for drivers? Eek, that's not good as Creative is pretty terrible in that respect. I don't miss my X-Fi driver woes, what an adventure that could be.
sound cards now need external power from psu now?? I still use onboard sound, Im not audiophile i dont see the point when i use 20 years speakers and 20$ headphones. IF realtek start having broke audio drivers again that will be only thing to drive to to get dedicated sound card. With all problems i have with my ears, 2 different time ringing/buzz and now snap crackle pop i hearing, it would probably be very hard for me to hear difference anyway. unless we talking differences a similar to that listen to audio on phone and audio in actual stereo.
Kinda wondering why Asus went with the C-Media CM6632AX which is a native USB2.0 chip. I'm sorry but i find this comment kinda funny as it comes from a person using Logitech Z906 speakers... :bang: Get some decent monitors and/or headphones and then we can talk quality difference. Different sound doesn't automatically means better quality sound. The soundcards we're talking about here come with a built-in 600-ohm headphone amplifier which requires some extra juice. You're right about your second statement. There's no real point other then bragging rights to buy a expensive soundcard when you hook it up to an off the shelf Creative/Logitech speakerset which probably more then 95% of the people is doing. Onboard sound technology came a long way and for most day to day use scenarios for most people onboard will do just fine. People grow accustomed to a certain soundstage and tone balance. Then they connect their Creative/Logitech speakerset to another sound source aka soundcard and now it sounds different so it must be better right.. No, as i said above; different sound doesn't automatically mean better quality sound.
Haha I'm glad someone else said it But they do make great mice and decent k/b :nerd: Phe.w... at least someone gets it... Thank you.
my almost 20 year old altec lancing ACS 48 2.1 speakers. and 20$ headphones. be able to show or well make me hear difference. Though I bet the feedback in hear in my head phones 60% or higher volume would not be issue, then again I dont use that volume anymore unless i want to destroy my ears more then they already are.