[headoncollision]

hello everyone at overclockers.com
this is my first post and I am sure this has been asked thousands of times, and I have read lots of posts regarding this but I am still confused and I do not know which one to choose, the titanium HD or the Recon3D

I use my computer mainly gaming > movies > tv series, and not much of music.
I play all kind of games from fps to strategy, I know that the titanium HD is a great sound card for movies and music but what about gaming, I`ve read that recon3d is superior when it come to postional audio and spotting your enemies in FPS games, I mainly game with headphones on so connectivity is no issue for me for both cards, and I have ordered a headphones desktop amp, ( schiit asgard + ah-d5000) which one of these cards will be better with headphone amp.
guys am really confused, and don`t know what to choose,
I would really appreciate if anyone here who owns both card could give me an insight and which one he kept or still uses the most.

thank you all for your help.

[txus.palacios]

First things first, this is my point of view.

Send that Schiit amp back. After seeing a not-so-cheap AKG headphone driver get literally deformed by the Schiit amp's large DC current when it shuts off, and seeing an audio engineer (NwAvGuy, give his blog a read, it's worth it) get banned from an audio forum just because he faced Schiit and spoke the truth, I won't buy anything from Schiit. I am sorry, but I trust the audio engineer more. He also designs the O2 headphone amplifier, which he designs for free. You can DIY (he releases the BOM and the Gerber files) or order one from an UK-based e-tailer (can't remember the name, will edit post later).

If you're getting Hi-Fi stuff, and you're going to use an external amp plus some nice cans like the D5000 are, why get a sound card instead of a DAC? For example, the HRT Music Streamer II (available at Amazon last time I checked). That and the O2 will be a superb system. NwAvGuy is also designing a DAC (the ODAC) that looks promising. If you visit the blog, the April post is obviously April's Fool.

And, to finish this post, ignore almost all the "gaming" gimmicks. I have an X-Fi card with all of those "amazing" features... disabled. X-Fi Crystalizer really didn't improved anything, and EAX and his relatives were given a one way ticket to the grave when Windows Vista was released. The 3D functions, IMHO, are useless. I position better with everything disabled and with a stereo headset than with all this tweaks enabled and a 7.1 headset (not to mention that if we take the positioning with a scientific point of view, the 7.1 headsets will position as well if not worse than stereo headsets).

tl;dr - Drop the Schiit, get an O2 and a HRT Muisic Streamer II.

[headoncollision]

Originally Posted by txus.palacios

First things first, this is my point of view.

Send that Schiit amp back. After seeing a not-so-cheap AKG headphone driver get literally deformed by the Schiit amp's large DC current when it shuts off, and seeing an audio engineer (NwAvGuy, give his blog a read, it's worth it) get banned from an audio forum just because he faced Schiit and spoke the truth, I won't buy anything from Schiit. I am sorry, but I trust the audio engineer more. He also designs the O2 headphone amplifier, which he designs for free. You can DIY (he releases the BOM and the Gerber files) or order one from an UK-based e-tailer (can't remember the name, will edit post later).

If you're getting Hi-Fi stuff, and you're going to use an external amp plus some nice cans like the D5000 are, why get a sound card instead of a DAC? For example, the HRT Music Streamer II (available at Amazon last time I checked). That and the O2 will be a superb system. NwAvGuy is also designing a DAC (the ODAC) that looks promising. If you visit the blog, the April post is obviously April's Fool.

And, to finish this post, ignore almost all the "gaming" gimmicks. I have an X-Fi card with all of those "amazing" features... disabled. X-Fi Crystalizer really didn't improved anything, and EAX and his relatives were given a one way ticket to the grave when Windows Vista was released. The 3D functions, IMHO, are useless. I position better with everything disabled and with a stereo headset than with all this tweaks enabled and a 7.1 headset (not to mention that if we take the positioning with a scientific point of view, the 7.1 headsets will position as well if not worse than stereo headsets).

tl;dr - Drop the Schiit, get an O2 and a HRT Muisic Streamer II.

thank you for your reply. unfotunatily I cannot return the schiit asgard because I live outside usa and returning it will cost me a fortune in shipping back costs, but thanks for the input, as for the headphones, I have been gaming with stereo for a long time and surround sound and positioning on stereo headphones is just great not to mention if the headphones were high end.
I am not listening to music alot and don`t look for hi-fi computer setup, I am just looking for a good gaming setup + watching movies and series.

thank you for your reply , the guys at head-fi already confirmed the titanium HD being of high quality than the recon3d when it comes to sound.