I've been using my onboard realtek alc888 with my z-5500. Onboard audio has been receiving much praised over the last few years in terms of its quality. A lot of people say they can't really distinguish between onboard sound from that of a more expensive sound card. Overall, I'll say that I'm content with my sound from my onboard, but I think that's mainly because I haven't experience with any other sound card with my current speaker system (my brother has the one of the creative x-fi audio sound cards but that's connected to his 5300 and it sounds horrendous).
Anyway, I'm looking at some of the higher-end sound cards (between $150-$200). My purpose is for gaming, movies and music, and I'm running on windows xp. The cards that I'm looking at right now are:
Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1
Asus Xonar D2X (or ASUS Xonar DX...is there a real difference)?
HT OMEGA CLARO Plus+ (or HT OMEGA CLARO...any real difference)?
All 3 has had great reviews supporting them, but I'm just a little surprised at the amount of 5 eggs users are giving the HT OMEGA CLARO (and Plus+) on newegg. I'd like some thoughts about which one you guys would recommend.
Anyway, I'm looking at some of the higher-end sound cards (between $150-$200). My purpose is for gaming, movies and music, and I'm running on windows xp. The cards that I'm looking at right now are:
Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1
Asus Xonar D2X (or ASUS Xonar DX...is there a real difference)?
HT OMEGA CLARO Plus+ (or HT OMEGA CLARO...any real difference)?
All 3 has had great reviews supporting them, but I'm just a little surprised at the amount of 5 eggs users are giving the HT OMEGA CLARO (and Plus+) on newegg. I'd like some thoughts about which one you guys would recommend.