Need New Card! :(

[xPETEZx]

Hi Guys,

 

I currently have a RaZer Barracuda AC-1.

 

Although it sounds great, and has been an awesome card, the drivers are just not there. Sometimes I exit games and a m greeted with hishing sounds, kill the driver, restart the PC a must to fix this.

Since I have had it there has been ONE new driver, which didnt address alot of the issues. Also just looking on Razers site there dosent seem to be 64-bit drivers, which I inted to move to soon.

 

So basically I am looking for a sound card of similar or better quality, however it MUST MUST MUST have SOLID drivers.

 

I have been eyeing up the X-Fi Prelude from Auzentech. Read a few reviews, however they are all from 2007, and state that the drivers are not up to scratch yet. Im just wondering if this has been addressed?

My other concern is that its Creative, and I have read some reviews stating you get a limited number of "activations" for your drivers??

 

Reason I was looking at the Prelude was because of the X-Fi chip, and the EAX support. I do alot of gaming, so that would be a nice plus.

 

However, I am a little concerned by the reviews I have been reading.

 

Can anyone comment on the Prelude?

 

 

I have heard that the ASUS cards are quiet good? Anyone got any input?

 

Thanks!

[BionicSniper]

I absolutely love my auzentech card. I would stay far far far away from the x-fi stuff. Its horrible as far as Hi-fi goes.

 

I've put new opamps on my card and am running all analog with some cables I made using Canare star quad cable running to a pioneer amp then to speakers i built (check out zaphaudio.com I made 2 pairs of the zbm4's).

[Crazy_Nate]

 

Another happy Auzentech customer here

 

The only time I've had trouble with drivers...was with Fallout 3 (it would crash when loading - but Vista only...I still can't play it in Vista).

[viperk1]

I'm using the new(ish) Auzen Forte. No problems here on Vista x64. The drivers were just released on Feb 20, lol.

 

-Shannon

[battery]

creative has been purposely mucking up their drivers to force people to upgrade for years. its what they do. Rob from YouPPaX and Daniel_k both fix these drivers and re-release them. Rob is very good, i've never tinkered with Dan's but form what i hear they don't really get a long. i believe there are several people that would recommend YouPPaX drivers on this site. i don't know anyone using Dan's drivers. hope this helps in your decision.

[red930]

This is where it stands i think most people would say creative especially for gaming

 

Now some people have said that had drivers problems with creative and its not so bad with ASUS but ASUS is not as good on the gaming front so i would say

 

Creative = gaming

ASUS = pretty much everything else lol

 

TBH both are really good, check out the features of both on google and compare to what suits you

[red930]

 

Another happy Auzentech customer here

 

The only time I've had trouble with drivers...was with Fallout 3 (it would crash when loading - but Vista only...I still can't play it in Vista).

 

Fallout 3 is known for its persistence not to work, your not the only one i have managed to fix mine

 

Check the bethesda forums and also go to tweakguides search google and find the fallout 3 pages, may have fixes and performance boosts for you, it helped me to stop crashing

[politbureau]

Auzentech has proven to be great for me. I have the Prelude 7.1 with the daughterboard in one of my systems, and sound quality is superb. If you plan on running an analog out, there are numerous guides on the net that can show you how to upgrade the opamps for near audiophile quality.

 

The HT Omega Claro Plus (+) is a great option to the Auzentech, and the opamps are superior out of the box.

 

I am currently using the Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 with the daughterboard, and personally think it's probably the best sound card currently on the market. Price is pretty damn steep, though for this level of quality the price certainly fits the product. My level of satisfaction is such that I will certainly be upgrading to the STX "Essence" when that card is available due some enhanced features like a superior headphone amp and excellent integration options.

 

For a mid-sized budget, even the Xonar DX is an excellent option, and with ASUS' excellent driver support, it's sure to fit your needs.