Buying a new sound card

PolloDiablo

Ok, as it stands I've got a Soundblaster x-fi xtreme gamer which has an embarrassing name but it did fine by me for however many years I've had it. Problem is, for whatever reason it sounds like shit over the spdif out. Can anyone recommend a good soundcard with a toslink out if at all possible? Ideally it'd also have the 3.5 jacks for 5.1 speakers. Price doesn't really matter, but its primary use is for gaming. I'm not married to Creative, and honestly I kind of hate them, so I'm open to any company so long as it's good. Any suggestions?

minor incident

I've heard good things about this guy: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-SB0880-Express-Blaster-Titanium/dp/B001E25KDK/ref=pd_sim_e_7

All the analog outputs, plus optical. All you need, really. Well under $100.

Antihippy

Asus Essence Xonar stx is THE budget audiophile soundcard right now.

Budget being a relative term, of course.

PolloDiablo

The sb titanium seems ok. I'll look into that one.

The asus looks good too, and the price isn't enough to put me off, but I worry whether my sound system is good enough to justify it. What kind of setup would work best with it?

Antihippy

What's your system? If it's not going to reproduce great clarity or need a great deal of power to drive then the Xonar Essense stx is going to be overkill. Might want to go for a xonar DG instead. Enough outputs for 5.1, toslink, and auto switching for the front headphone jack. Pretty cheap too.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Channel-Sound-Card-XONAR_DG/dp/B0045JHJSS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1315019627&sr=1-1

PolloDiablo

It's not great. It's a logitech 5.1 system that they don't seem to make anymore, so it's a few years old.

How does that cheap asus card compare to the titanium minor incident posted? I know more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better, but that card is so cheap that I'm wondering why.

Oh, I'd also want a card that does dolby digital. Would all of these cards handle that?

Antihippy

You might probably be better off with the titanium then, the DG is more of a headphone soundcard.

Check this review to see if it offers what you need.

http://apcmag.com/high-fidelity-asus-xonar-dg-soundcard-review.htm

minor incident

PolloDiablo wrote:

It's not great. It's a logitech 5.1 system that they don't seem to make anymore, so it's a few years old.

How does that cheap asus card compare to the titanium minor incident posted? I know more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better, but that card is so cheap that I'm wondering why.

Oh, I'd also want a card that does dolby digital. Would all of these cards handle that?

Well, my main concern is a card that pipes out 5/7.1 Dolby Digital thru the optical jack. Anything above and beyond that is gravy that I'll never use. I run optical into a Mixamp for Dolby Headphone. The analog 5.1s outputs on the card will drive surround speakers perfectly fine, if that's your thing. You can absolutely get better analog quality if you spend more, but if you're using the digital output, there's little point in spending more.

My preferred solution for gaming is using the cheapest method possible for getting optical out, then using that with an external Dolby headphone box like the Mixamp or the Turtle Beach DSS, then into headphone.

Or, for music, using an all together external DAC/headphone amp like one of the Nuforces. For analog stereo music, a dirt cheap USB based DAC/amp will outperform pretty much any sound card you can find. Of course, it's a more cluttered solution involving external boxes and things hanging around, so it's not for everyone.

PolloDiablo

Ah, I might go with the titanium in that case. I'd be using it mostly with the Mixamp. For some reason it sounds like garbage over my current sound card, and astro support said I needed a different one. So it's good to hear it works for you. Thanks.