Asus Xonar D2X Deactivated?

[Guest PhuN]

I was looking at purchasing the Asus Xonar D2X buts its not in stock at Newegg, Tigerdirect, or Amazon. Are they stopping production on it or something? I've looked around and can not find any information on its current stock. The Asus Xense is in stock but I wasn't planning on buying that because I was not going to use the headphones with it as I have Astro A40's already.

 

Anyone have any idea?

 

I did it.

[bp9801]

Well, ASUS still shows it on their US site, but it is out of stock on plenty of vendors. Typically I'd say to look at the Xonar Essence ST or STX, unless you need the 5.1 or 7.1 connections that the D2X offers. If you're just going to use headphones, then the Essence ST or STX would be a very solid choice.

[Guest PhuN]

Well, ASUS still shows it on their US site, but it is out of stock on plenty of vendors. Typically I'd say to look at the Xonar Essence ST or STX, unless you need the 5.1 or 7.1 connections that the D2X offers. If you're just going to use headphones, then the Essence ST or STX would be a very solid choice.

 

Yeah, its still up, I just found it odd how 3 fairly popular vendors don't have it in stock, doesn't happen very often. I'll mainly be using headphones but I'll probably have the speakers hooked up and use them occasionally. From what I've been reading it seems like the D2X=Gaming and Essence=Media/Music, is that not the case?

[bp9801]

Well, the Essence will do just fine for gaming. I don't want to say its designed just for music and media creation, because it excels at those, but it also does a great job for games and movies.

 

As for the vendors, one example is that pretty much no one carries any Auzentech sound cards. Only way to get those is direct through Auzentech, which is odd considering they are a licensed provider of the Creative X-Fi technology. So, just because a card is out of stock somewhere doesn't mean it won't be around any longer, it could be just a lack of supply due to a high demand.

[Guest PhuN]

Well, the Essence will do just fine for gaming. I don't want to say its designed just for music and media creation, because it excels at those, but it also does a great job for games and movies.

 

As for the vendors, one example is that pretty much no one carries any Auzentech sound cards. Only way to get those is direct through Auzentech, which is odd considering they are a licensed provider of the Creative X-Fi technology. So, just because a card is out of stock somewhere doesn't mean it won't be around any longer, it could be just a lack of supply due to a high demand.

 

I'll have to take a look at the STX again. I doubt its going anywhere, just the fact that no retailers seem to have it and its not even on Asus's estore makes me wonder.

[Stonerboy779]

I personally would love someone to explain how a sound card can be more optimised for gaming... what makes it special. (besides supported output and utilities)

 

Personally something optimised for audiophiles/high-fidelity, utilising quality parts, should excel in all of the different fields of sound playback it supports.

Asus or any other company marketing there products for gaming or music, will only be doing so based on the utilities it comes and/or it's supported outputs. If they have two cards, same output support (just one branded gaming and the other music) you won't be able to tell the difference between them in most real world situations. So by sound alone (when running equal set-ups so not virtual and physical surround) to tell the difference the workmanship at the time of production would have to be poor.

I can almost guaranty whatever sound system you are running is going to be the limiting factor on performance. So if you want a 7.1 card with analogue outputs look at any of the quality brands asus creative ect., all in the same price range and you should be happy with any of them just try and base a decision on price, support and utilities as well as if it will fit in your case.