Asus Xonar DG or DS?

[HazMatt082]

I purchased the Corsair Vengeance 1300 headset a while a go and have come to realize that they literally need a sound card for them to not sound like crackly tin cans.
I am on a bit of a budget, and have narrowed down my choices to these two sound cards:

ASUS Xonar DG ($29.00)
ASUS Xonar DS ($45.00)

I am very unsure as to what one to get. I was nearly certain on the Xonar DS, but then I read that the DG or more suited for stereo headset uses because of it's amp.
I am mostly going to use these for gaming and music. General crisp, enjoyable sound is the main aim here though.

If you require any extra details, please let me know.
Thank you in advance, any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[HazMatt082]

Please, can anybody help?

 

[shaun_shaun]

you can try Xonar DG with amp .. but if I were in your situation I'd never waste my money on a crappy gaming headset ..

 

[HazMatt082]

you can try Xonar DG with amp .. but if I were in your situation I'd never waste my money on a crappy gaming headset ..

Well, it's a bit too late now. It is actually a good headset, according to reviews, but only with a soundcard. I suppose that's a con in itself.

 

[shaun_shaun]

I can recommend DG but the main downside is it is a pci card .. so it wont last much longer if you planning to upgrade you motherboard in the future .. if you planning to get a pci-e sound card with an amp, I can recommend Sound Blaster Z SBX, but it will cost you $100.. other option is to go with a Xonar pic-e model . but you wont find any headphone amp in those cheaper Xonar pci-e models (except high-end models like Essense STX)...

 

[HazMatt082]

I can recommend DG but the main downside is it is a pci card .. so it wont last much longer if you planning to upgrade you motherboard in the future .. if you planning to get a pci-e sound card with an amp, I can recommend Sound Blaster Z SBX, but it will cost you $100.. other option is to go with a Xonar pic-e model .. but you wont find any headphone amp in those models..

Hmm. Good point. So, even if the DG is much cheaper than the DS, it would give better quality due to the amp combined with my stereo headset?

 

[shaun_shaun]

Hmm. Good point. So, even if the DG is much cheaper than the DS, it would give better quality due to the amp combined with my stereo headset?

sorry I can't guarantee about sound quality since you have a low impedance, low frequency response headphone. personally I d never recommend gaming headsets to anyone... unless it is a good headset like Senheiser pc 360, but still DG will give you definite advantage in gaming...

 

[HazMatt082]

sorry I can't guarantee about sound quality since you have a low impedance, low frequency response headphone. personally I d never recommend gaming headsets to anyone... unless it is a good headset like Senheiser pc 360, but still DG will give you definite advantage in gaming...

Thank you for your help!

 

[HazMatt082]

Can anybody else offer an opinion/snippet of information?

 

[JHSmith57]

Go for the Asus Xonar DGX, it's the same as DG but for PCI-Express instead of PCI - it still has the headphone amp capability.

http://www.amazon.com/Xonar-DGX-PCI-E-GX2-5-Engine/dp/B007TMZ1BK/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1361060256&sr=1-1&keywords=asus+xonar+dgx

 

[HazMatt082]

Go for the Asus Xonar DGX, it's the same as DG but for PCI-Express instead of PCI - it still has the headphone amp capability.

http://www.amazon.com/Xonar-DGX-PCI-E-GX2-5-Engine/dp/B007TMZ1BK/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1361060256&sr=1-1&keywords=asus+xonar+dgx

How exactly is PCI-E better than PCI? Thank you for your suggestion, the DGX will cost $35 where I'm getting it from.

 

[JHSmith57]

It's likely that future motherboards will stop featuring PCI slots at some point in favour of additional PCI-Express slots or even a new type of slot. It just ensures that if you ever get a new motherboard in future the sound card will still be compatible with it - you won't have that guarantee with the PCI version.

 

[assasin32]

When I was on head-fi they recommended me to pair up the Asus Xonar DG with Superlux 668b (cheap but very good sounding headphones) and I couldn't be happier. There was a slight difference going from the built in sound card on mobo to the Xonar DG. You can pick up the DG with $10 rebate usually, check amazon and newegg and a few others usually one of them have a rebate going. So that brings price down to something like $20 which is well worth it in my opinion.

Off hand the DG will drive up to 150ohm headphones. Is it worth springing for the DGX I honestly didn't see it worth paying double the price (for me at the time) for future proofing as I figure by than something better will be out for a good price.

Also highly recommend going on head-fi when you have a little spare cash and asking them for help on headphone selection. Nothing like having a lot of audiophiles helping you on that. Your ears will love you, but your wallet may hate you and put a hit out on you before your done. I know I've made quite a few more purchases because of them, though I try to keep things on the cheaper side of things ($20 or so purchases, you be amazed at the sound you can get in that price range if you know where to look).

 

[HazMatt082]

Best answer selected by HazMatt082.

 

[HazMatt082]

When I was on head-fi they recommended me to pair up the Asus Xonar DG with Superlux 668b (cheap but very good sounding headphones) and I couldn't be happier. There was a slight difference going from the built in sound card on mobo to the Xonar DG. You can pick up the DG with $10 rebate usually, check amazon and newegg and a few others usually one of them have a rebate going. So that brings price down to something like $20 which is well worth it in my opinion.

Off hand the DG will drive up to 150ohm headphones. Is it worth springing for the DGX I honestly didn't see it worth paying double the price (for me at the time) for future proofing as I figure by than something better will be out for a good price.

Also highly recommend going on head-fi when you have a little spare cash and asking them for help on headphone selection. Nothing like having a lot of audiophiles helping you on that. Your ears will love you, but your wallet may hate you and put a hit out on you before your done. I know I've made quite a few more purchases because of them, though I try to keep things on the cheaper side of things ($20 or so purchases, you be amazed at the sound you can get in that price range if you know where to look).

Thank you very much for the reply. I will be purchasing the DG as soon as I can.
I will definitely go onto head-fi when I'm in need of help. At the moment, my Corsair Vengeance 1300's will do, but in the future I might get better ones.

Thanks again everybody!