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Which sound card should I buy?


AllYourF0rt

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So I am in the market for a sound card. My on board audio just isn't cutting it anymore. So the choices are Soundblaster ZxR or Asus STX 2. I am leaning towards the STX. I've heard it has cleaner audio since it is powered directly from the PSU. I will be using the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Premium 600 Ohm. Thanks for the advice!

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Personally, I'm a fan of the ASUS line, so it's what I'd recommend. I have heard good things about the ZxR, but haven't tried it. The ASUS does get you 7.1 while the Creative is only 5.1, if you'll be using a speaker setup at any point. If you're mainly using 2.1 or headphones, then they should both be similar. But for me, I like ASUS, so that's what I would choose if I were in the market for one again.

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Personally, I'm a fan of the ASUS line, so it's what I'd recommend. I have heard good things about the ZxR, but haven't tried it. The ASUS does get you 7.1 while the Creative is only 5.1, if you'll be using a speaker setup at any point. If you're mainly using 2.1 or headphones, then they should both be similar. But for me, I like ASUS, so that's what I would choose if I were in the market for one again.

Thanks I'll go with the Asus.

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Are you still talking about the Sound Blaster or something else?

 

The STX II has 124dB SNR, which is more than enough for everyday use. It all depends on what equipment you're running, too, so while the card can do 124dB SNR (or whatever else), your equipment might not be capable of it. So really, is a 3dB SNR difference worth it?

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Are you still talking about the Sound Blaster or something else?

 

The STX II has 124dB SNR, which is more than enough for everyday use. It all depends on what equipment you're running, too, so while the card can do 124dB SNR (or whatever else), your equipment might not be capable of it. So really, is a 3dB SNR difference worth it?

Yeah the STX 2 should be good enough then. It will make my DT 990's sound awesome!

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I've given up completely on soundcards. The bloated drivers, the rapid obsolescence, etc are annoying. Decided to go with the Bose computer speaker system (USB connection - no soundcard needed). Been very, very happy. Music sounds very good but you have to hear Fallout 4 on this to become a believer. I can tell where the enemies are, explosions rock the desk and vocals are very clear.

 

Anyway, just my thoughts. It's a rather expensive addition but if you have the bucks, well worth it.

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I've given up completely on soundcards. The bloated drivers, the rapid obsolescence, etc are annoying. Decided to go with the Bose computer speaker system (USB connection - no soundcard needed). Been very, very happy. Music sounds very good but you have to hear Fallout 4 on this to become a believer. I can tell where the enemies are, explosions rock the desk and vocals are very clear.

 

Anyway, just my thoughts. It's a rather expensive addition but if you have the bucks, well worth it.

I've heard of people using a card for 10 years... So they mustn't go obsolete that quick.

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I bought a Fatal1ty Extreme something or other from Soundblaster. After about a year or so it became hard to find drivers for it. Not to mention that it always seemed to need to install these huge files for editing, soundwave customizations, etc. Disabling those features required digging into advanced options. I was never so happy to remove a product from my PC as I was for this one. A more generic card using Windows drivers might be much less of a hassle. But, like I said, the Bose system has made be very happy. And, I now only have one add-in card on my MB (the GPU) that I have to care about.

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