[RaceFace]

Is the card good? Will I experience better sound? Do any of you use it?

Using ASUS Realtek at the moment

Please respond even if it is about another sound card or whatever

[Pinky]

Maybe, what do you do with your computer? Game, music, porn?

[RaceFace]

Originally Posted by Pinky

Maybe, what do you do with your computer? Game, music, porn?

Funny guy!

I mostly play music with a 2.1 system via the motherboard connections, and when I play games I use a headset w/mic.

The 2.1 system sounds nice, mostly play FLAC files via WinAmp anyways...
I do not need any improvements there.

What I do think, is that the sound card would make me have a wider variety of equalizing and settings, when it comes to using a headset?

So my final answer is, games; playing with a headset, and I wish to improve quality/ or having a equalizer.
To what extent does a sound card help me, anyways?

[Pinky]

Usually a dedicated sound card will allow windows to offset some of the sound processing power (now being handled mostly by the CPU). In games this could mean a very nominal benefit (like maybe 1fps). Dedicated cards used to be mandatory for gamers but onboard has come a long ways in the past few years to the point it's sufficient for most people's uses.

You would probably get the ability for EQ'ing but you should have basic bass/treble adjustments right now with the onboard. If you're looking to create separate profiles for 2.1 / headphones, I'm not sure that can be done without a better sound card. I don't game and didn't get into that when I was gaming. Maybe someone else can wager a guess if there's already a means to create custom profiles within windows.

As for sound quality, you probably wouldn't notice much of a difference with a dedicated card aside from any special features that may be included (like the creative x-fi has crystalization and virtual 3d effects, for example).

[Kohta]

I have a Xonar DG, and i'm not going to sugar coat anything. There is no difference between my on-baord and this, i have a 5ghz 2600k and i bought i for the sole reason to alleviate any extra cpu cycles, there is no difference, in fact iv'e had some issues with some games that won't use it's 8 channel audio, which in my opinion adds a tiny tiny bit of depth to games, such as the sound stage, but i can get these similar options from a realtek on-board.

I still have it and use it however i believe my issue stems from not being able to utilize it, i have a 2.1 system on my PC and a $20 pair of headphones, when i got my sennhieser hd200's i noticed a slight difference in highs and mids versus the onboard, but it was so slight, that i could have just been imagining it. I wouldn't spend the money if you don't have too, i don't think you will benefit from it unless you drop $300 in a speaker system or some dolby headphones.

If you want to know anything else about it's features let me know.

[RaceFace]

Originally Posted by Kohta

I have a Xonar DG, and i'm not going to sugar coat anything. There is no difference between my on-baord and this, i have a 5ghz 2600k and i bought i for the sole reason to alleviate any extra cpu cycles, there is no difference, in fact iv'e had some issues with some games that won't use it's 8 channel audio, which in my opinion adds a tiny tiny bit of depth to games, such as the sound stage, but i can get these similar options from a realtek on-board.

I still have it and use it however i believe my issue stems from not being able to utilize it, i have a 2.1 system on my PC and a $20 pair of headphones, when i got my sennhieser hd200's i noticed a slight difference in highs and mids versus the onboard, but it was so slight, that i could have just been imagining it. I wouldn't spend the money if you don't have too, i don't think you will benefit from it unless you drop $300 in a speaker system or some dolby headphones.

If you want to know anything else about it's features let me know.

At the moment I've got the 2.1 Creative Gigaworks T3...
No intention in altering the sound quality on this one...

I'm just thinking of the headset I'm going to buy, I have no idea which one. At the moment, I am borrowing the Corsair HS1A from a friend (bought for fun) and I do believe that e.g the bass would be deeper if one could actually use a proper equalizer/sound card.

Do you have any examples of (Dolby) headphones/sets on ebay.com that can be shipped to other countries in Europe?
It's also $50 for the Xonar DG, so of course I could have bought it, but if it is not an improvement, I'd probably scrap it anyways, which is unnecessary.

[Pinky]

Dolby was misused, I think he meant something else. What you want in a headphone is something that covers the entire ear and, well, sounds good (which is subjective).

I'm a fan of the Sennheiser's in the $100-200 range. I use HD280 Pros for home music production, along with studio monitors. Headphones are great full range out of the box without needing to bump up the bass or tweak the treble. This model is available most everywhere here in the US. Beware of the slightly cheaper Sennheisers that look like they're full size but are actually intended for portable use (smaller) and don't reproduce sound very well.

To add to the confusion, you'll probably need an external amp to power any decent pair of headphones. I use a Rolls HA43 Pro. About $40.

[RaceFace]

Originally Posted by Pinky

Dolby was misused, I think he meant something else. What you want in a headphone is something that covers the entire ear and, well, sounds good (which is subjective).

I'm a fan of the Sennheiser's in the $100-200 range. I use HD280 Pros for home music production, along with studio monitors. Headphones are great full range out of the box without needing to bump up the bass or tweak the treble. This model is available most everywhere here in the US. Beware of the slightly cheaper Sennheisers that look like they're full size but are actually intended for portable use (smaller) and don't reproduce sound very well.

To add to the confusion, you'll probably need an external amp to power any decent pair of headphones. I use a Rolls HA43 Pro. About $40.

I've made a huge mistake, lol

I've come to the point were I have no idea what to do. I just saw that the Corsair Vengeance 1500 Dolby 7.1 headset were pretty cheap, and by the looks, and since it is Corsair (Got one of their PSU's) I would believe it was great. Turns out more than half of the some or 30 reviews are complaining about the bass being to weak, and I do not think I could live with that, lol

I do believe that within the evening, I would have managed to order something, but I'm not quite sure now...

EDIT: If I do get the Corsair 1500's, would the Xonar DG suffice with 5.1, or would I be better off with the Xonar D1 with 7.1?

Will be back in some hours reading here, and looking at some reviews at youtube to come to the final decision!

[Kohta]

I use dolby loosely, to clarify, i mean a nice pair of headphones with good sound stage will sound the same on-board as with the DG, i'm picky about how good something sounds (The $99 Sennhieser HD200 sounds great for music but has NO sound stage) but i'm not a complete audiophile, how much money i have left in the bank is alittle more important than how clear that high or mid is, so when i give any advice consider atleast that much.

If you want headphones for Music, Movies and Games, it's going to take some looking around, which i'm currently in the process of, if you don't want to spend more than about $200 you kind of have to pick, Do you want headphones for Music and movies, or just games, or, if you want one that does all three, are you willing to sacrifice actual sound quality. The only way iv'e found to get all of this as a pretty package is to spend closer to $400, but that does not mean you have too in order to get a "good" pair of headphones, pinky also pointed out that what you think sounds good might not be true for someone else.

Let me give an example of a gaming only sound space.
http://www.psykoaudio.com/GetPsyko.aspx#axzz1tM0oVArO

The Psyko 5.1 has 5 drivers built into the headband where the sound travels through wavetubes to specific parts of your ears, just like if someone walked around the room and was speaking, you could pin-point them with your eyes closed, this has undisputedly recieved near perfect reviews when it comes to being able to hear where your enemy is, note that alot of audio people have no faith in stuff like this and are quick to shoot it down, iv'e learned to ignore these type of arguments and give it a try myself, i bought them to try them out, $99 wasn't to bad, the downside is, they are not good for movies and music, when "not good" is said it still means they are probably better than a $50 pair of ear buds, but nowhere close to how gaming sounds, again, coming from audiophile reviews, they probably sound freaking amazing to someone who isn't real picky, like me.

Next on the spectrum you have pretty much any headphone with only 2 drivers in the cans that are rated for 5.1 or 7.1 simulation, they sound good for anything, gaming, music and movies, however not as good as say, the psyko for gaming, but better than it at music and movies, you have to tip your own scale on that one.

My responce to the Corsair stuff, even as a entry level audio seeker here, i wouldn't buy corsairs headphones, but iv'e sat here and narrowed my searchs down to a select few within my own budget.

http://www.trittonusa.com/prod/ax720.asp#!prettyPhoto
About $150, constantly recieves praise.

The next step up is aparently the Astro AX40 at $250
http://www.amazon.com/ASTRO-Gaming-A.../dp/B005EGHE6I

However, i can't see myself spending that much in a headset. The Psyko 5.1 i linked earlier has it's flaws, while it used to be a $299 headphones/set it the biggest problem with it is the speakers in the top of the headband apparently leak a ton of sound, how much i don't know i just know at slightly louder than normal volume the drivers are audible in the top.

In the end, the ASUS DG sound card will be plenty for anything i'm going to put on it, it's a $30(?been awhile) sound card, you really can't go to wrong there, it has a 96 khz sample rate on 8 channels, you are good to go with a 5.1 on it in my opinion. I find it alittle silly to spend a bunch of money on a sound card when you use $200 headphones or speakers, if you dropped about $500 in some then that's different.

[RaceFace]

What if I chose the Corsair Vengeance 1500?

It's hard to actually buy for example the Psyko's that you linked, because they do not ship to my country, and the only one I could find that did sell them at ebay,
they charge the same price for the shipping as the headset costs, and if there ever was a failure on that thing, it would take weeks to ship/return it...

I would be better of with the 1500's as it is sold at a local shop which also are amazing at support if there ever was a problem.

I'll try them out, and might also try one of the sound cards, not quite sure yet.
Thanks for the replies though!

[Kohta]

Originally Posted by RaceFace

What if I chose the Corsair Vengeance 1500?

It's hard to actually buy for example the Psyko's that you linked, because they do not ship to my country, and the only one I could find that did sell them at ebay,
they charge the same price for the shipping as the headset costs, and if there ever was a failure on that thing, it would take weeks to ship/return it...

I would be better of with the 1500's as it is sold at a local shop which also are amazing at support if there ever was a problem.

I'll try them out, and might also try one of the sound cards, not quite sure yet.
Thanks for the replies though!

that's the tricky thing with sound, it's like an instrument, you have to kinda try them and send them back, i think you should try the Xonar DG and those headphones, compare it to your on-board and see if you are absolutely happy with it.

I don't know if they ship to you but there is a place called Musicians friend
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/

Under there headphones (Live Sound > Headphones) They have some headphones that qualify for what they call "45/45" or "45 Guarantee" basically you have 45 days to try it and love it, or you can ship it back with No restocking fee, they do have some Sennheiser HD280's and iv'e owned them before, my biggest fling was it had no sound stage to it. Musician's Friend is just a good source for "All-Around" headphones. meaning, most of them are Stereo or emulated 5.1, they are mainly for music and movies, but the things they carry are some of the best sound quality you will find.

This should get you started on arguably the best headsets out there. http://gaming-headsets-review.toptenreviews.com/

If you get the corsair's i look forward to hearing your thoughts on them.

[mjw21a]

Just keep in mind, the Xonar's do not take any load off your CPU as all sound processing is done through their drivers. If you want this then you need to stick with Creative chipset cards. Having said that, this is mostly irrelvant in this era of multi core CPU's.

Personally, for the headset I'm happy as larry with my current Turtle Beach P11's. Relatively inexpensive and sound great for music, games and movies.

[payntrain]

Good morning computer wizards. I was curious for opinions on on board audio, vs. a dedicated card. I use my PC for a home theater, and it drives just north of 4G in Klipsch audio. I currently have a MOBO with onboard audi, and it works well. I want the best however, and am thinking of building another PC based on a Z77 board. It has the Realtek ALC892 sound built in, and I am looking for opinions. Also, I am hearing a mixed bag on the processor and video demands of movies. My processor seems to struggle with streaming HD content over Hulu, and I cannot find finite answers to the cause. This is another reason that I have decided to go all out with a new machine, and leave nothing to speculation. I could use your opinions though! FYI, true home theater PC, no gaming at all really. Thanks all!