Best sound card for headphones and 5.1 surround gaming

[akk86]

Hi to all in this community

So my trusty old philips cans are on the verge of telling me to f@#$ off and get a new friend to play with, which couldnt have been a better time to do so. I was wondering if you guys could nudge me in the right direction, well i have a decent 5.1 surround system in place and would like to replace my headphones as well as a get a baller sound card.

My options are as follows:

Headphones: CoolerMaster Storm Sirus
Sound card: Asus Xonar Essence STX

My questions is: will these two play nice with eachother and surround sound?

Thanks

 

[gamerk316]

Well, the STX is only capable of stereo out; really meant to drive high end headphones and stereo speaker sets. Best card on the market, but serves a very niche purpose. The Phoebus is more well rounded, with both 7.1 outputs and the headphone amp.

 

[akk86]

Well, the STX is only capable of stereo out; really meant to drive high end headphones and stereo speaker sets. Best card on the market, but serves a very niche purpose. The Phoebus is more well rounded, with both 7.1 outputs and the headphone amp.

Thanks, i hear what your say but. The phoebus is just way out of my budget. Any other recommendations?

 

[gamerk316]

Well, if you can find a Xense without the packaged PC350 headset, that would also suffice. After that, you have to start cutting features. The D2(X) is the next card down, but you give up the headphone amp. And so on.

http://event.asus.com/multimedia/xonar/find.htm

Also, the Phoebus shouldn't cost terribly more then the STX...

 

[cats_Paw]

creative Titanium HD, auzentech X-Fi, Asus. those 3 are my personal top choices 😀.

 

[spartanmk2]

HT|Omega Striker is what I use

 

[gamerk316]

The Striker was a good card, but ASUS's Xonar DX is a slightly better card at a lower price.

 

[akk86]

You guys are awesome, giving me so many replies Thanks. Ok so what if i went with the Xonar DX, a) it doesnt seem to have any EMI shielding, will this affect my experience seeing as im some kind of audiophile. b) the STX seems to be made for music, non of the cards are made for my three main usages music,gamig and movies. the phoebus seems to be the best choice, but will it serve all my needs well with the CM Storm Sirus headphones or would you recommend a other cans.

 

[akk86]

Hey guys, i like the phoebus but i dont like the bad reviews im getting. Some people are having what seems to be EMI shield problems, place the card as far away from the GPU , thats if you have extra slots. Other people cover their capacitors in nail polish to limit the whinning from the caps. Im so lost now cause i really want a good audio experience but with all these problems people are getting even though the phoebus is high-end i have to wait probably till they resolve these issues.

 

[gamerk316]

http://event.asus.com/multimedia/xonar/find.htm

The D2(X) remains a very attractive option...at $100 or so. Its really at a very awkward price...

 

[akk86]

http://event.asus.com/multimedia/xonar/find.htm

The D2(X) remains a very attractive option...at $100 or so. Its really at a very awkward price...

To me the STX is within my budget, but the phoebus is desirable. I am wondering if these sound cards would interfere with my GPU (Gigabyte gtx 670oc) since i heard that nvidia cards tend to have interference with these mentioned sound cards when working with headphone mics, in saying this i will not be using the mic at all, but you never know. This is my concerns seeing that i will be connecting my 5.1 surround sound system amp to the card.

 

[gamerk316]

There shouldn't be; I'm running a Xense next to a GTX 570 without issue. ASUS's cards are EMI shielded for that reason.

 

[akk86]

Ok yes i agree, BUT you would think that the EMI shielding would be sufficient. Check out the issues these guys are having.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?23551-Phoebus-Annoying-noise-when-moving-mouse-scrolling-web-pages-graphic-card-loaded&highlight=phoebus+xonar

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?18211-Noise-humming-in-microphone-while-playing-games&highlight=phoebus+xonar

Those are just among the many threads i have come across.

 

[akk86]

There shouldn't be; I'm running a Xense next to a GTX 570 without issue. ASUS's cards are EMI shielded for that reason.

Is the Xense and Senns combo a good product, apparently these guys mod the Senn to make it sound better.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/406187/modding-the-sennheiser-pc350-headset

I like the combo seeing that they quite expensive audiophile headphones and amp. Is this investment worthy of its price bracket over say the phoebus or STX brothers.

 

[akk86]

Ok so im leaning towards to phoebus and the cm storm sonuz, my reason for the sonuz is because the mic can be removed and the headphones arent that expensive. Any thoughts?

 

[leonarfd]

I might aswell give some input, recently was trough alot of research for what to use.

The 2 top cards for headphones are Creative SB X-Fi Titanium HD and ASUS Xonar Essence STX.

If you are an gamer the Creative will be a lot better than the Asus in fps games.

And gaming headsets ar just gimmick, I got 3 others headphones from 70-400$ all of em perform better 3d spotting for me trough the Creative SB X-Fi Titanium HD

 

[akk86]

I might aswell give some input, recently was trough alot of research for what to use.

The 2 top cards for headphones are Creative SB X-Fi Titanium HD and ASUS Xonar Essence STX.

If you are an gamer the Creative will be a lot better than the Asus in fps games.

And gaming headsets ar just gimmick, I got 3 others headphones from 70-400$ all of em perform better 3d spotting for me trough the Creative SB X-Fi Titanium HD

I think i would rather wait until the new Creative Sound Blaster Z, Zx & ZXR show up and see how they fair towards the competition, maybe by then the phoebus would drop in price

 

[gamerk316]

I will say the Z series looks good...on paper. But I'm still VERY wary of Creative driver support.

And no, there is no FPS advantage between soundcard these days, specially since everything is done S/W side now.

 

[akk86]

I will say the Z series looks good...on paper. But I'm still VERY wary of Creative driver support.

And no, there is no FPS advantage between soundcard these days, specially since everything is done S/W side now.

So essentially what you're actually saying is that no matter which Asus Xonar high-end card i choose i cannot go wrong?

Ok, now i just got to sort out the headphone choices!! I dont have access to the audiophile cans i would like, thats why i started looking at the CM Storm series.

 

[gamerk316]

Well, there are differences between ASUS's cards; I went from a D2 to a Xense, and they do have different sound signatures. All their cards are high quality for the most part though.

http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide
http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-updated-10-30-12-dt990-listings-merged-and-updated

Check these two threads out.

 

[akk86]

Well, there are differences between ASUS's cards; I went from a D2 to a Xense, and they do have different sound signatures. All their cards are high quality for the most part though.

http://www.head-fi.org/a/headphone-buying-guide
http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-updated-10-30-12-dt990-listings-merged-and-updated

Check these two threads out.

All of those are audiophile grade which my heart is so burning for, but seeing that i live all the way in the very southern tip of South Africa - Cape Twon, i am unable to get my hands on a sampler to even just test before buy kinda approach. Although i do have access to the following brands: Corsair, Coolermaster, Zboard, Asus, Krator, Creative, Steelseries, Razer, Zalman, Microsoft, Skullcandy and Logitech. So much choices have been made with these brands in mind, not much i know.

Any advice concerning these brands and any favourites with particular products of these brands.

 

[akk86]

let me just add i would prefer it to have a 3.5 jack and not usb.

 

[mikeny]

Gamerk, do you have a link for a gaming sound card just for 5.1 digital speakers?

 

[ShadowJ20]

Gamerk, do you have a link for a gaming sound card just for 5.1 digital speakers?

Why would you want a digital connection? Your better off with analog. The Asus DX from what I've heard is pretty good. It has a digital connection. I plan on getting the DX soon.

 

[mikeny]

The 8 year old card? I thought analog isn't of good quality? I have 5.1 Logitech Z5500s.