looking for soundcard which one ?

R

rkwinkel

Obliviot
Hello,

I recently upgraded to a new system and at the moment I have an Audigy 4. I want to upgrade the soundcard, and I am want to pick one of the following cards:
Asus Xonar
Creative XiFi
Sondigo Inferno
Razer Barracuda
Onkyo Wavio

Well these are expensive cards, but want to make a good investment and therefore choise. the card has to last me a long time.
At the moment I have xp and want to upgrade next year to Vista
I game, listen to music and watch movies on the pc.

What would you advice me, since I do not know what to pick.

Regards,

Rick
 
R

rkwinkel

Obliviot
But is the Asus just as good for gaming as the other ones ?
I was thinking about the Asus, just want to be sure.
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
The ASUS won't be as good for gaming as the Audigy four you already have. If I might ask, what's wrong with it?
 
R

rkwinkel

Obliviot
nothing wrong with my Audigy 4, but just like to get a new soundcard and treat myself cause of the new rig.. Also I believe that also sound will improve, Also thinking about the xifi elite pro... so any advice still ?
 
Rory Buszka

Rory Buszka

Partition Master
Really, if you want the best in gaming performance (which pretty much means you need onboard DSP acceleration) AND an upgrade in sound quality from your current Audigy4 card, then it's the X-Fi for you. Or else the Auzentech Prelude, which is also X-Fi based, and is pretty much the ultimate PC sound card ever, period, end of story.

If you're not a bleeding-edge gamer, and don't mind sacrificing 1 or maybe 2 frames per second while enjoying great sound, the Xonar or even the Barracuda AC-1 are still good options. Really, the overall impact on your gaming will be so slight that you probably won't notice any deterioration in performance at all.
 
Last edited:
MakubeX

MakubeX

Partition Master
madstork91 said:
I enjoy my creative X-fi.

And i didnt pay an arm and a leg for it either.
Click to expand...

I can say the same. I've got the X-Fi Fatality (the first one that came out, today they call it Fatality Champion Series) and I payed $150 for it slightly used when it was worth around $300. Still going strong today. It's gotta be one of the best deals I've ever gotten. :)
 
R

rkwinkel

Obliviot
well I bought the xifi fatality pro today and love it... its fantastic..
thanks you guys...
love the sound
 
T

Tramapolean

Obliviot
I am interested to see what happens when sound cards from Creative catch up with Vista. At the moment, it does not look like much has changed with their cards for a while. Then again, I am not sure what they could really change as realistic sounds already seem to have been achieved in most cases :)
 
Rory Buszka

Rory Buszka

Partition Master
I'm a bigger and bigger fan of the Xonar sound card every time I get a chance to use the analog outputs. Typically, I run an optical Toslink cable under the carpet, across the room to my HT receiver. However, the extremely high quality output of the Xonar's analog section (burr-brown DACs and opamps) really brings out the best in whatever it's connected to, including my modest Cambridge Soundworks 2.1 speakers.

If I were a smart person, I'd have tested the Xonar card's drivers under Vista. I think I'll do that sometime this week and post my findings in the forum thread for the review. Because I don't use Vista on any of my machines at present, it's altogether too easy to forget it even exists.
 
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