At what point is a sound card an upgrade?

[JonSimonzi]

The HD2 is definitely not a gamers card, it uses no audio acceleration, its pretty much for music and movies only. Youll be sorely disappointed if you game with it. The Audiotrak X-Fi is a different animal in that it supports game audio acceleration, since it uses the X-Fi DSP (in simple terms, X-Fi audio processor).

So based on what my setup will be and what I'll be doing with it, did I do a good job picking out the Audiotrak Prodigy X-Fi? Just want some good quality audio with a nice sound card and $200 headset, vs. onboard audio and a $40 Turtle Beach headset.

 

[Sir Barton]

You should research that card before you purchase it. Chances are, itll sound drastically different from the HD2. Also, Ive heard Creative drivers are a pain. I use Linux, so I couldnt tell you about the drivers first hand. Since youre running headphones, grab a Xonar STX, as it has a very good headphone amp. As an added bonus, its great for games.

 

[Theocnoob]

So based on what my setup will be and what I'll be doing with it, did I do a good job picking out the Audiotrak Prodigy X-Fi? Just want some good quality audio with a nice sound card and $200 headset, vs. onboard audio and a $40 Turtle Beach headset.

Not really, no. EAX is junk compared to a really good, clean signal. I'd have said grab Grado SR125 or 225 and a Xonar STX.

 

[JonSimonzi]

I just registered and cross posted on Head-Fi, figured I'd get a wider range of input since everything I'm reading is making my head spin in circles because I'm an audio n00b. OCF is great for just that, overclocking, but has very few audiophiles

Not really, no. EAX is junk compared to a really good, clean signal. I'd have said grab Grado SR125 or 225 and a Xonar STX.

See, that's the one thing I'm just about dead set on, is a Sennheiser headset. I used one at a friends house (who didn't even have a sound card driving it), and ever since then, have been pretty much drawn to them when looking for a new headset.

From there, say looking at the PC 360, and the Xonar STX, that's topping close to $400, which is ~$100 more than I'd like to spend. I know it does come down to "you get what you pay for", but you have to remember. I'm upgrading from basically on board sound, half of a $50 speaker set, and a $40 headset. So just about any sound card and Sennheiser headset will be a (hopefully) huge upgrade.

I noticed this Asus Xonar Xense and PC 350 bundle at Newegg for $280. Since the PC 350's are ~$160 alone, I don't know if that sound card is a good value at $120, or if it's over priced for the bundle, etc, etc...

Just too many different directions