Dan42684 Posted April 13, 2006 Posted April 13, 2006 music wise I listen more towards rock techno and metal but I listen to everything. I'll stick with A2 ZS then. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltes-5 Posted April 13, 2006 Posted April 13, 2006 I think maybe five years ago, I cant recall exactly how long ago lol, any way Stereophile came out with a new format of magazine that deals with home theater, so came Stereophile Guide to Home Theater. I can remember when they used to have a column about PCI based cards that's capable of processing surround, like something similar to a Lexicon processor for home theater. If I knew I would pick up the hobby of building my own PC I would have kept all those mags for those articles, it would have greatly helped me to choose a PCI based sound card. I have done a bit of research on it but still undecided on a product. Could you guys point out a sound card that comes close to a home theater setup? See I have an old Lexicon CP1+ with seperate amps and speakers, 3 front, 2 left, 2 sides and 2 rear speaker setup from 4 power amps. To this day it still rocks although without the Velodyne subs. I want to be able to hookup that setup to my SLI-DR/X2 rig. I think that would be a good set up to be able to play game on. Any help/suggestion is appreciated. :angel: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthR6 Posted April 13, 2006 Posted April 13, 2006 the x-fi or the audigy 2 zs are the better for deep bass songs? wouldnt the xMystique have more of a crisp bass that hits harder :cool: For whatever reason the X-fi really kicks butt in the bass department and hits harder. I'm not sure why the XMystique isn't as awesome as the X-fi for bass, but it makes up in other areas. Both are great cards, you can't go wrong with either one. Gamer, wants bass = X-fi. Audiophile, movie/music buff, got a receiver and wants optical or coax = XMystique. Note the XMystique needed to have the equalizer tweaked for the bass to sound good on this card via the software. Without tweaking the bass sounded weak, after tweaking it sounds a lot better. For reference I added about 11dB at frquency 30, 6dB at 60 and 2dB at 120. Bass sounded much better afterwards but without tweaking the creative card the x-fi still sounds deeper and hits harder. Now movies, I use Nvidia DVD Decoder which has support for Dolby Digital Live, wow the movies are unreal. X-fi can't even come close here to the XMystique. Overall sound quality I still think goes to the XMystique or maybe a tie. If you buy the XMystique and don't use Dolby Digital Live then you should highly consider replacing the opamps cuz the ones that come w/ the card aren't that great. Opamps were like $2.50ea and you only need to replace the 4 output ones, front, back, side, sub. But then again if your using $90 5.1 speakers, these sound cards aren't gonna show what either card can to anyways. Just another note, Cmedia has the 8788 coming out soon (the 8768+ is used in current XMystique, Turble beach DDL cards, 8770 used for the Xplosion adding DTS). The 8788 is gonna add Dolby Digital headphone along w/ DTS support. This might be features you may or may not need, but personally I'm looking forward to Dolby Digital headphone Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthR6 Posted April 13, 2006 Posted April 13, 2006 I think maybe five years ago, I cant recall exactly how long ago lol, any way Stereophile came out with a new format of magazine that deals with home theater, so came Stereophile Guide to Home Theater. I can remember when they used to have a column about PCI based cards that's capable of processing surround, like something similar to a Lexicon processor for home theater. If I knew I would pick up the hobby of building my own PC I would have kept all those mags for those articles, it would have greatly helped me to choose a PCI based sound card. I have done a bit of research on it but still undecided on a product. Could you guys point out a sound card that comes close to a home theater setup? See I have an old Lexicon CP1+ with seperate amps and speakers, 3 front, 2 left, 2 sides and 2 rear speaker setup from 4 power amps. To this day it still rocks although without the Velodyne subs. I want to be able to hookup that setup to my SLI-DR/X2 rig. I think that would be a good set up to be able to play game on. Any help/suggestion is appreciated. :angel: So thats 9 spreakers + sub? Do you have a receiver to plug all this into? Both the X-fi and XMystique cards output 7.1 = 7 speakers, 2 front, 1 center, 2 rear, 2 side and sub. How much do you want to spend? What kind of connections are you looking at, TOSLINK (optical), coax, analog? The XMystique cards does output coax and optical. The basic X-fi ($120ish) only outputs analog 7.1 unless you buy a custom creative digital out thingy... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunt_Style Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 im gonna give my XFi one last shot. by formatting the OS drive. and reinstalling everything. puting the soundrivers in last. i just gotta get of my lazy duff and dedicate an afternoon to the project. but i honestly have mixed feelings about the XFI. in theory its the best card on the market. and aside formt he seemingly endless problems hat arise from driver issues, its IMHO the best card period. it offers more options, better interface, and fantastic audio. but when it gets buggy....it REALLY gets buggy. but the truth is audio cards are pretty much at thier pinicle. ill GAURONTEE that if you did a blind audio test of 10 computers with equal speaker systems. 5 with AUdigy 2zs, and 5 with XFI's, played an asortment of movies/games and whatnot, im positive you wouldnt be able to guess all of them correctly. sound only impves so much before its lifelike. cant get any more real than that. so why did i choose the XFI? its new. more expencive, has that XRAM wich i thought would improve performance.....it didnt. but mabee thats because software isnt written to take advantage of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shaolin95 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 but mabee thats because software isnt written to take advantage of it. No doubt... the game needs to take advantage of it in order to make a difference and as of right now I think only BF2 does and I dont have high hopes of seeing more games using that feature. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltes-5 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 So thats 9 spreakers + sub? Do you have a receiver to plug all this into? Both the X-fi and XMystique cards output 7.1 = 7 speakers, 2 front, 1 center, 2 rear, 2 side and sub. How much do you want to spend? What kind of connections are you looking at, TOSLINK (optical), coax, analog? The XMystique cards does output coax and optical. The basic X-fi ($120ish) only outputs analog 7.1 unless you buy a custom creative digital out thingy... No, there is no receiver involved, my setup is a breakdown of a receiver. Its the beauty of the seperates, if any one of the amps blow, just replace it oppose to a receiver. The Lexicon Preamp handles all that and its a very good Sound Processor. Am looking for a PCI based card to replace the Lexicon, so I can move the whole system based on the PC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StealthR6 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 Take a look at the M Audio PCI cards, is this what you are looking for? http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=produc...D=pciinterfaces Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blooz1 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 I was just reading through this thread, and wondering why nobody had even mentioned M-Audio cards for music/home theater! Thanks, StealthR6! Voltes-5, so you're looking to totally replace the preamp? That sounds like a great sound system you've got there! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voltes-5 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 I was just reading through this thread, and wondering why nobody had even mentioned M-Audio cards for music/home theater! Thanks, StealthR6! Voltes-5, so you're looking to totally replace the preamp? That sounds like a great sound system you've got there! Yes it is, it is mostly THX approved gear, but like I said I am looking to replace the Lexicon with a PCI based Processsor. That way I can use the pc to optimize the setup, right now I have the system tweaked and balanced with a digital sound meter and truthfully, it is not as accurate. You guys should hear that scene on the movie "Heat" where there is the major shootout on the streets, it just rocks. But I want to integrate my SLI-DR in the system. Like I said Stereophile Guide to Home Theater used to have a column on the pc based processors, but have not been in touch with the mag for so long now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
george__ Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 M-Audio Revolution 7.1 .... Is good? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blooz1 Posted April 14, 2006 Posted April 14, 2006 The Revolution is a VERY good card! It's supposed to be outstanding for music, yet also be good for gaming. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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