Regarding the Xonar and X-fi Gamer sound cards.

[Ironza]

I'm going to be putting a build together soon, and I've decided that I'm going to spend a decent wedge of funds (£120 or so), on a soundcard, pair of stereo headphones and a Logitech Desktop Mic.. a pair of crappy earplugs headphones for a £1650 PC does not cut it all.

My question though, I need to choose a sound card that will provide me a good level of positional audio, especially in PR, and was wondering if anybody here has used one or more of the following sound cards.

Xonar D1
Xonar DX/XD
X-fi Xtreme Gamer

These will probably used with a pair of Goldring DR-150's or Sennheiser 555's because I was put off by the fact that most 'gaming' headsets are usually terrible quality and do not really provide the best audio experience because they sacrifice audio quality for the Microphone attached.

The reason I want to spend this much on a SC + HF's is because a couple of months ago before I broke my Mac I was playing PR through the bootcamp vista partition, but when using a pair of sennheiser audio earplug headphones, the sound was REALLY off, like I would be hearing a BTR coming from a direction, and it would be nigh-impossible to find it's location by sound, and I ended getting my squad killed by the fact I was not able to locate enemies/vehicles/origins of gunfire by sound... quite a huge disadvantage in PR. When the BTR/Vehicles were moving it sounded as if they were moving away and returning contineously and the sound came from every direction.

Anybody whose able to clarify how well those Sound cards I listed work in PR will be rewarded with lots of cookies.

Thanks.

[[R-DEV]Deadfast]

The Creative cards are better for games. On top of that BF2 has support for X-Fi.

[VoXiNaTiOn]

Apparently Goldring headphones seem nicer when used with a Xonar and Sennheisers work better paired with an X-Fi, although as I use Goldrings with an X-Fi I can't comment lol.


If the card is purely for gaming with the off bit of music, then go with the X-Fi as they tend to have an edge in games, CMSS-3D works incredibly well, especially with a nice pair of open back headphones. Leading on from that, the Sennheiser HD555's are very highly regarded and would pair very nicely with the X-Fi giving good positional audio. I haven't used them myself, however have several friends who use an X-Fi/HD555 combo and love it to bits.


However if the main use will be music, then a Xonar and some Goldrings would be your best bet, although I'm assuming that you will be mainly gaming judging from your post.



Just be weary of 5.1 Headphones, some people claim that these provide good positional audio, however having never used these I can't vouch either way, but I will say that quite a few people claim that CMSS-3D is either the same or a LOT better than 5.1 headsets, couple that with the fact you have some nice stereo headphones that are very good quality and you have a win win situation.




It's nice to see someone who isn't memorised by the "ZOMFG ITZ LIEK F474L1tY PR0ZORZ" gear that can only be described as overprices shite. Seriously, I've seen the USB version for £50, just why?!?!?! (And yes, I have tried a pair of these, my ears hurt for a while after )



If you need any more help, just shout .

[Ironza]

Cheers for your replies guys!

Correct Voxination, the use will be an equal mix of Gaming and Music.

Sounds like I'll be going for a pair of Goldrings or the HD555's with the X-fi Xtreme card then!, it seems to be a good balance of what I'm wanting out the card and apparantly, it provides punchier bass compared to the Xonar's, however I'm not terribly sure! ... I've never had a 'decent' sound card before and I'm looking forward to the prospects of using it.

According to various specialist review sites I've browsed through, the Goldrings provide better audio quality vs the HD555's comfort and build, however both are very good stereo headphones compared to the 'Gamer' headset crap that I've bought in the past... I've had 2 pairs of Plantronics .Audio [Insert random number].. they were good enough as a cheap headset with a micrphone... but they were USB headphones and therefore did not warrant the use of a sound card at the time.


Thanks for the help guys