Best sound card for the buck?

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^^ People buy the cards, they sound good, so they give 4 stars/eggs. The specs on the cards don't lie: Creatives cards are a significant notch below the competitions, and anyone whos listened to other brands knows this.

Creative still lacks 192Khz output. They've yet to release a card with a SnR higher then 110dB. They still lack Dolby/DTS decoders out of the box. They use CMSS3d instead of the [in my opinion] superior Dolby Headphone/Speaker algorithm. And of course, you still run the risk of SCP, driver failures, and all the usual problems Creative is famous for.

Its ASUS vs Auzentech at this point for the top spot. [Ironically, Auzentech uses the X-fi chipset with good components; its just Creative being cheap, as per usual].

That being said, Creative is coming out with a monster card soon [roumered 122dB SnR over the main line out], so maybe they have some hope left...
 
Yes, Creative's cards do sound bad when compared to the competition.
They lack features, proper support and rely on misleading marketing to sell.
I have a Creative X-Fi card and Xonars installed in my systems.
The Xonar cards really are a large step above.

I am interested where you found the detailed specs for the HT|Omega Striker gamerk316.
Specifically, I can not locate anything on the web concerning the SNR of the card.

Not saying it is a bad budget card but I think your specs are a bit off.
I know for sure it can only sample at 96Khz and its C-Media CMI8770 is somewhat dated....
 


you are comparing the CREATIVE soundcard. The Auzentech that uses the x fi chip does support all these things. I have the Forte, and it has all these features, and more. And it isn't even the top model. Here are the specs:

http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_forte.php

And it supports all this, out of the box. I agree with you that the creative sound cards are not as good as asus. But auzentech had the c media chip that the xonar has before asus got the exclusive deal to have it all to themselves. they are not creative, they just use the x fi chipset now, with much better parts. take a gander

also, i am only talking about gaming. the c media based cards are better for basically everything else.
 
^^ Actually, Auzentech used an older C-media chip, and started to make better cards then Creative (X-Raider/Meridian anyone?). Creative offered its chipset to Auzentech (probably to make some $$ on every card Auzentech sold). Auzentech in turn modifys the chipset by using higher tier components.

Razer, ASUS, HT, and a few other smaller companies have made soundcards on the C-media chipset. The chipset is in no way exclusive to ASUS.

I might have goofed with HT though; The striker does use an older C-media chipset that only offers 96Khz. I swear I read 117 SnR somewhere recently though...
 



Exactly. But what I'm saying is that the current auzentech forte is a much better card than its creative counterpart. I had this same issue when I bought a sound card recently. I did a lot of research, and the majority of the reviewers picked the auzentech for gaming. It got beat out in almost all other areas by the c media asus card. They are both awesome cards, but if you game a lot, I would get the auzentech. With it, you get the option to upgrade its already great components with even better ones. The asus doesn't have EAX 5 support, just 2. I don't know how much longer EAX will be around, but that is another plus on the x fi side. I say gaming: auzentech. everything else: c-media
 



I missed this part in your post. Yes, according to this, it is exclusive to asus.

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/15206

Look around, why do you think auzentech would stop using a c-media chip? Its because asus took over. Its like madden football games in the nfl. only they can use the nfl.
 
Actually, the ASUS Xonar line DOES support EAX 5.
It can do EAX 2 in hardware and EAX 5 with software emulation (similar to the X-Fi Xtreme Audio, Audigy SE, Live! 24-bit, Audigy ADVANCED MB and X-Fi MB).
The implementation is quite nice also, just click one button and it works.
Compare that to Creative's ALchemy EAX wrapper if you like :lol:

Regardless, EAX is dead.
The new audio stack in Vista and Windows 7 has assured this.
You can use software wrappers to get functionallity in older games but do not expect any new titles to support it.
Creative has already stated that developers should be using the OpenAL standard...
 
And customer support if second to none, you call and the dude knows the answer, no more dealing with useless reps =)

that card would have a rating of over 90% if it werent for all the noobs that post negative reviews putting down a very good product... IDK, the Egg should get rid of the nonsense review's and make it fair.... If you don't know what you are talking about you shouldnt be entitled to a review :non:
 


that, and you get people that put a review up that haven't even used the product. they should filter that better..
 


technically, that is not EAX 5. emulating it into EAX 2 is not the same thing. while it may sound good, it is not the real thing. its not a real big deal, as EAX will probably be gone, shortly.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4037070&CatId=2771
 
Yes, EAX will be gone shortly...

Regardless though, I think you may have misunderstood how the Xonar's handle EAX.
They have full, 100% accurate EAX 2 processing in hardware.
The EAX 5 support is a software solution (similar to how Creative emulates EAX support for several of their products), nothing is remixed into EAX 2.
As Creative does not license EAX 5 at all however, ASUS had to reverse engineer the calls and functions of such.
Because of this, you are not getting 100% true EAX 5 support but, in function, it works just as good.

This is probably the best wright up I have seen on the Xonar's EAX support.
Curtosiy of The Tech Report's Xonar Dx Review...
A creative approach to EAX support
Perhaps the greatest weakness of the Oxygen HD audio chip used in the Xonar DX is its relatively pedestrian positional 3D audio credentials. The chip natively supports EAX 2.0—a technology that dates back to the SoundBlaster Live! and is restricted to 32 concurrent 3D voices. Creative's latest X-Fis can handle up to 128 concurrent 3D voices at higher definition sampling rates and resolutions. The X-Fi also performs positional audio calculations in hardware, while the Oxygen HD has to offload them to the host system's CPU.

The popularity of multi-core processors (and more importantly, games that leave multiple cores unused) has lessened the need for hardware-accelerated 3D audio, but there's still a big gap between EAX 2.0 and 5.0. Asus bridges that gap with a software feature it calls DirectSound 3D GX 2.0, which is capable of emulating EAX 5.0 functionality that had previously only been available with Creative's X-Fi cards.

DS3D GX presents the Xonar as an EAX 5.0-compliant audio card, and then intercepts EAX calls, re-routing them to the Xonar's own audio processing engine. That engine does its best to approximate EAX effects, and it can handle up to 128 concurrent 3D voices with enhanced reverb effects for "most" DirectSound 3D games. Positional audio calculations are still performed on the host system's CPU, but DS3D GX at least brings the Xonar beyond EAX 2.0's 32-voice limitation.

Creative is quick to point out that DirectSound 3D GX doesn't deliver "genuine" EAX 5.0 effects, and Asus readily admits as much. However, Asus also says users will be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the two—a claim we'll explore when we dive into listening tests a little later in the review.

Asus cites an additional advantage of its DS3D GX approach for Windows Vista users. Vista features an all-new Universal Audio Architecture (which you can read about in more detail in our initial look at the Xonar D2X) that removes the hardware abstraction layer for DirectSound 3D, effectively killing positional 3D audio in games that exclusively rely on DirectSound 3D and its EAX extensions. To work around the new audio stack, Creative offers an ALchemy software package that converts DirectSound 3D calls for processing by a third-party OpenAL API that still has direct access to audio hardware in Vista.

Thus, at least in Vista, ALchemy performs a similar function to DirectSound 3D GX. However, ALchemy is a standalone application that must be specifically configured to work with different games. DS3D GX is built right into the Xonar's drivers and doesn't require additional software or game-specific profiles.
Click to expand...
 
Hmm... I remember at the time I was looking up all this stuff when I was buying a new sound card thinking that was weird, so I was under the impression that the xonar did a terrible job of EAX all the way around.. good to know
 
And the ASUS Xonar DX/D1 are ≥ the Striker for the same price 😛

Really, those Creative cards are quite low quality and overpriced.
There are better sound cards available for less.
Do your self a favor and get one of those instead.
 
Auzentech is in a different class than Creative.

The chipset is one thing, the supporting circuitry (DAC, ADC, OPAMPS, etc.) another.
Creative may have a good chip (if you ignore the shitty drivers) but everything that supports it is crap.
Auzentech's implementation is everything Creative's should have been.
 
yes. although the drivers, are not as good as i would like. don't get me wrong, they are no where near the level of suckness as creative's, but are a little more problematic than they should be. they main problem is the creative branded software it comes with that i use, namely the control panel. it takes a good ten seconds to load, and will crash the majority of apps running at the same time.
 
im having issues with my Extreme-Gamer, if i use the front audio jacks I get mad static but if I use the rear it sounds perfect... Very wierd....

I have already seen how the Striker performs so that will be the next upgrade =)
 
Your ears will be happier :)

It could just be an issue with your FP jacks, though.
Most of them, and their associated cabling, are pretty low quality.
Really, your best sound comes directly out the back of the card.
 
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