Sound Card

[Ash2Dust]

Just finished off a 2 day battle with my ancient Creative X-Fi sound card. Love the sound quality, hate the drivers. Pure Evil.

It was a battle in Win 7 many years ago. And here in Win 10, I almost gave up after the last win update negated 5.1 sounds back to stereo with static.

Tonight with latest drivers, and reseating the card in another slot, it complies. Currently working with 5.1 and sounding great. I've tried googling sound card reviews and benchmark, yet all I get it scam sites.

Any recommendation of a sound card below or above the $100 price range that fits 5.1? Or has motherboard sound caught up in quality? Next time I lose 5.1, I'd rather get a new card than fight a long battle with crappy drivers.

[Jokerle]

I am not up-to-date on the market.
2(?) years ago I bought a Xonar DX and I am still happy with.
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829132006)

The Asus Xonar line has different cards, some cheaper some more expensive.

[Shrapnel]

I second the Xonar cards. They seem to be replacing these cards with a new line called Strix, I'd think quality would be similar if not better on the new cards but I haven't had any first hand experience.

I'm also enjoying my HT Omega card, though I'd go with the ASUS over HT Omega. I think HTO may be headed out of business which would leave you with out support in the future.

When I built my HTPC I bought both the ASUS Xonar Essence STX and the HT Omega Claro. I tested both and could not tell the difference in sound quality on my audio rig, both are quite good and outperformed a $1000 sound processor (with some add-on software). I ended up keeping both, installing the ASUS in my gaming rig and leaving the HTO in my HTPC. I'll say that the ASUS user interface and support is far better.

[matsif]

really depends on what you're actually driving with your sound card.

do you actually have a reasonable set of 5.1 speakers, do a lot of audio stuff that requires better playback/capture, or a high quality set of headphones/headset/mic? in that case, the Asus Xonar stuff isn't bad, but as I haven't actually bought a sound card since my first PC build in 2004 I will disclaimer that opinion by saying that is just from looking at reviews, not from personal experience.

are you running a USB/wireless headset or have a cheap set of speakers/headset/headphones? in that case, there's no purpose in spending the money if your motherboard isn't a dinosaur. most ATX motherboards for the past years (don't have an exact date, but if you're newer than 2010 you're probably fine) have reasonable audio drivers (as in the ICs, not the software) on them that will support a 7.1 system, and unless you have high quality gear attached to it or are an extreme audiophile you probably won't be able to tell the difference after you get the equalizer set up properly.

[Ash2Dust]

Thanks.
Pretty much for gaming only.
I can tell the difference between my onboard and the PCI SB card.

I'll keep an eye on Asus the next time my card refuses to play nice.