Soundcard to go with my new pair of ATD-A700.

[Frosteyy]

People of GC,

I must decide on the best soundcard under 100$ before my ATD-A700 arrive. I heard these are the best: Sound Blaster x-fi titanium, SB XtremeGamer, Asus Xonar DX or Asus Xonor D1. Any feedback please with experiences with these cards or other cards that I might be interested in. Currently, I'm leaning towards an Asus Xonar Dx.

Edit: Also, anyone using clip mics? Heard Zalmans are good or http://www.modmic.com/.

[AdmiralGiggles]

i bought the Xonar DX for my AD700s, but i can't really compare it to other sound cards.

[Frosteyy]

i bought the Xonar DX for my AD700s, but i can't really compare it to other sound cards.

Yeah, but it's pretty much ear sex, no?

[TheYonderGod]

Sound blaster Z!

Only one I can compare it to though is the Xonar DS, but it's sooo much better.

[Ash2Dust]

Havent bought a CL card in about 6 year, still on the X-Fi.

They still playing the game we're they're almost all named the same, so you need to be extremely careful of which Z card you buy?

[TheYonderGod]

Havent bought a CL card in about 6 year, still on the X-Fi.

They still playing the game we're they're almost all named the same, so you need to be extremely careful of which Z card you buy?

There's 2 Sound Blaster Zs, one is the OEM version, I'm not 100% sure but I think the only difference is that the OEM one doesn't have the red cover and doesn't come with the mic.
The Zx is the same as the Z but with an audio control module that I've heard actually lowers your sound quality (don't get it)
Then there's the ZxR, it's an upgraded card and comes with an audio control module(that doesn't lower quality) with a built in quality mic, but it's much more expensive.

[undrt0w]

below is a comparison between the zalman and the modmic.

phpBB [video]

I own the zalman but I think the sound quality is no that good. I've been meaning to ask around TS how I sound (anyone care to comment?) but I think given the fact that you can't actually have it in front of your mouth creates a bit of "in the bathroom" effect. I ordered the 2.0 modmic (the guy at antlion is really helpful, m very impressed) last week so if you care to wait, I will jump in TS and you can hear the quality.

I don't know about the soundcard but i've read good reviews about the Xonars.

Giggles, how much did you pay for the A700 in Germany? Here they cost 3 times the price in the US. From what I see in amazon.de they are 125 euro. btw, they are discontinued now.

[Frosteyy]

FFS, the AntLion modmic looks great but it's gonna cost me $45 to deliver it to me. I can get a Zalman for like $7. I'm .
Anyone else know of any other moddable mics?

Also, Asus Xonar has 7.1 and 5.1 versions. Is 7.1 really worth it for gaming?

[AdmiralGiggles]

Yes, for BF3 just set Xonar settings to 5.1/7.1 then in windows too, there is a topic on symthic and driftaholic made a vid about it
http://forum.symthic.com/battlefield-3- ... -settings/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4sjk5zSIhs

[undrt0w]

my mic just arrived (no more mic up the ass stuff). it took 7 days from Portland to Sofia...pretty nice!

https://twitter.com/purecaffeine/status ... 36/photo/1

i guess the shipping will be less to Canada, but yeah the zalman is a pretty good and cheap alternative (actually it is praised for its quality) . the problem as i see it, is that you have to attach it somewhere. its hard to attach it to your clothes if you wear a t-shirt for example and attaching it to the headphones' cable messes it up as its quite thick (i've got scars on the cable from where the mic was attached). there are of course alternative to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD4UkuVHQsQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phjR5V1ZmBc

[knorren]

I have no idea about this one but at least it looks pretty good!

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Sound-Bl ... B004275EO4

[Frosteyy]

I decided to purchase the Antlion Modmic. It looks sleek and simple and more modifiable then the labtec lva-7330, Plus, shipping a new labtec lva-7330 would cost a bit more even through ebay and amazon.
Thanks for the advice and suggestion people of GC.

[undrt0w]

good to hear!

this is how it looks on the headphones:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BM4yK-iCQAAJ_nU.jpg

what i noticed is that when you unscrew that little antlion cap to move your mic (if u needed closer to ur mouth for example) it will damage the outside of it....so don't mess with it too much once you align it to your head size.

[Frosteyy]

good to hear!

this is how it looks on the headphones:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BM4yK-iCQAAJ_nU.jpg

what i noticed is that when you unscrew that little antlion cap to move your mic (if u needed closer to ur mouth for example) it will damage the outside of it....so don't mess with it too much once you align it to your head size.

Nice. Looks great. I'll keep that advice in mind. Thanks.

[Frosteyy]

Look what came in the mail! Come to Papa