I'm gonna buy an ASUS Xonar DX but...

[sfxster]

Hi everybody!

I've decided to upgrade my generic audio system and i'm gonna start with the sound card, and here in my country I've seen three options wich are the ASUS Xonar DS, Xonar DX and Creative Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer (I don't have a credit card, so I can't buy in Amazon, eBay or any similar site)

I want a sound card mainly for music (I'm bassist and I use Guitar Rig and Amplitube, but Amplitube gives me too much latency and as far as I know, both ASUS have ASIO 2.0 support.) and movies/TV series, last gaming (let's say, 60-30-10%)

I read goods reviews from the Xonar DX but don't really know if is a big improvment in quality from the Xonar DS(74 vs 107USD at local currency)

Do you think the Xonar DX worth it?

PD: long time I don't write something in english, so any misunderstanding or grammar mistake are product of your imagination 😀

 

[popatim]

they are both very close in sound quality.
The DX is Dolby and the DS is DTS.
The DX is PCIe and the DS is PCI

DS has a swappable OPamp if that makes any difference to you at all.

 

[sfxster]

So, the Xonar DS won't play Dolby or it can be emulated? Does it make a HUGE difference?

Almost all the movies and series I watch uses AC3 audio

 

[jpoos]

had the dx for going on 3 years now, very pleased with it. no driver issues, excellent sound quality. DX is a pci-e card, but there's also a pci version the D1 (or think it might be other way round, belive the DX uses a plx bridge to interface with pci-e slot)

http://uk.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_D1/

 

[gamerk316]

The DX has slightly higher analog output quality, and trades DTS encoding support for Dolby encoding support. If you have no plans to use SPDIF, this point is irrelevent.

The HT Omega Striker is also a strong competitor in this price range.

The ExtremeGamer was a good card...three years ago. Newer cards have passed it on though. Its only advantage is full EAX support, which isn't that big a feature now the EAX is depriciated.

 

[MEgamer]

the asio in soundcard still has some latency, enough latency anyway, to frustrate a keen muscician, id say get a good soundcard but dont use the asio built in, and just DL asio4all.

 

[someguynamedmatt]

I'd go for the Asus Xonar DX. Absolutely, without any doubt. It's worth the difference over the DS.

I've always liked the HT Omega Striker, but its low sample rate and aging PCI interface place it far enough behind the DX that I'd have to steer people away from it. It IS pretty, though. 😉

I understand why people try to recommend the DS over the DX, but to put it flatly, the Xonar DX is just a better card. Better construction, better interface, better sound quality. It's really just a cut down Xonar D2(x) minus some of the features. And that's a $200 sound card.

Yep. The ExtremeGamer's days have passed. It's outdated now, and is beat by cheaper cards.

And before anyone can spit out a recommendation, I'd avoid Auzentech in favor of Asus. Yes, their cards have absolutely amazing sound quality for the price (the X-Fi Bravura was(!) my favorite sound card of all time), but they have... well... quality issues. From personal experience and reading, Auzen's audio cards have an absurdly failure rate. And a sound card that puts out excellent sound quality is no good if it doesnt put out any of said sound.

Just my opinion. The DX is IMO the best thing you can buy for under $180.

 

[sfxster]

Thanks everybody

I finally bought the Xonar DX, I read some bad reviews of the DS in ASIO mode.. Now I'm wating the shipping 😀


About the speakers, I haven't seen with digital input (not 'cheap' at least, there are some for about 600 bucks), but that's other stuff

 

[festerovic]

the DX is killer. If you would like a better interface specifically for recording, consider the Guitar Port (I know it changed its name recently - may be something else now, its from Line 6). Its like the POD, but its just an interface and some software. It works great for my bass, very low latency, 10ms.

 

[sfxster]

Finnaly I got the DX, is an big improvement from the onboard audio. Now sounds louder but also almost noiseless, no humming or buzzing at all

ASIO also is great, using ASIO4ALL I got 11ms latency

 

[sfxster]

Best answer selected by sfxster.