Reddit reviews ASUS Xonar DSX PCIe 7.1 GX2.5 Audio Engine 192K/24bit Playback Support Sound Cards

Almost any sound card will be an upgrade compared to your onboard Realtek audio. The main benefits will be slightly cleaner sounding audio stream and additional features like the Dolby enhancements (which are nice for headphones and stereo systems).

Let me give you a few options that would be farily decent:

• ~$100: Asus Xonar U7 - Fairly new so may be a bit hard to find. Offers some decent features, especially for headphones. Also has an optical out for Home Theatre systems. Plus it's a USB device so you can take it with you if you have a laptop.
  
  
• ~$60: Asus Xonar DSX - PCI-E based card, basically the entry level card I would go for if you want an internal sound card. Has a decent set of features and has 7.1 analog output (for the cheaper surround sound systems).
  
  
• ~$180: Asus Xonar Essence STX - Probably the best solution for headphones as far as PCI-E sound cards go. Decent DAC, reasonable integrated headphone amp, and all the other typical Dolby features. Note that this, like the U7, does not have multiple 3.5mm analog outs like the DSX.
  
  Now the above DAC's/sound cards are suggested if you are looking for something that has support for a surround sound speaker system and also has the virtual surround software (Dolby headphone/Dolby home theater). If you don't care about those and are only going to have either a stereo (2 channel) setup then I would probably recommend something different.

To get a surround effect a sound card would be best.
This has 7.1 surround http://amzn.com/B007TMZ1MY

This is a good budget card. If you want to swing the full 80 That will be a bit better and is amped.

I have been trying to figure out why my Audio Engine P4's only buzz when the amp they're plugged into (Monoprice Tube Amp 25 Watts) is playing audio from my PC. If I switch the source to run wired off my phone, the buzzing stops. So I think I have some EMI in my computer case, does anyone know any ways to stop the buzzing all together? Maybe another extension that plugs into my case or something?

Note: The amp plugs into a sound card, ASUS Xonar DSX PCIe 7.1 GX2.5 Audio Engine 192K/24bit Playback Support Sound Cards on my pc.

Sound card I was talking about: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007TMZ1MY/

Apart from this, idk what you could get. A gpu fan maybe, or an extra ethernet port for niche use cases.

Budget - $300, $350 max

Source - Most likely an internal sound card.

Requirements for Isolation - None.

Preferred tonal balance - I'm not sure, so I'm going to go with balanced.

Past headphones - Logitech G930, Corsair Vengences 1400

Preferred Music - Rock, folky music with a lot of acoustic guitars and banjos etc.

Miscellaneous - I game a lot. I play a little of everything (except for MOBAs and RTS). I love my G930's 7.1 surround sound (they use Dolby Headphone 7.1 Virtual Surround) and I pretty much need 7.1 surround when I game.

Right now I'm looking at Sennheiser HD 598 (omg so sexy) and an Asus Xonar DSX, + a modmic

Any help or advice would be much appriciated!

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/B007TMZ1MY/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

You can get a new Xonar DSX PCIe X1 card for $55

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007TMZ1MY

Its what I have, and it works great.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Xonar-DSX-Engine-Playback-Support/dp/B007TMZ1MY/ref=sr_1_1?tag=displayninja-22&s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1531314741&sr=1-1&keywords=Asus+Xonar+DS is that even fucekn worth it wtf asus

​

OK. first thing is you dont need to buy anything except some adapter cables (3.5mm stereo to RCA). your Pioneer receiver has a 6ch ANALOG input. using the analog output of the sound card in 5.1 mode you can achieve excatly the same thing as HDMI, except with an analog connection instead of HDMI.

secondly, if you WANT to use digital, the Xonar STX is WAY overkill.

what you want is a sound card that can take LPCM and encode it into a Dolby Digital or DTS so that it can fit in the bandwidth of an optical cable.

the STX can do that, but the real reason it costs so much is because of its DAC and analog output stage, neither of which you would be using.

DSX has DTS support:

http://www.amazon.com/Xonar-DSX-Engine-Playback-Support/dp/B007TMZ1MY

the Creative Sound Blaster Z does both Dolby Digital and DTS:

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Beamforming-Microphone-SB1500/dp/B009ISU33E/

just note that analog might sound better because there with digital optical you are limited to a 1.5mbps bitrate, where as with analog or HDMI you are not.

a decent quality analog card should sound equally as good as HDMI.

The Audio Technica ATH-AD900X have the best mids (vocals) in this price range, and they're fairly easy to drive. You'll be able to get by with your onboard sound until you're ready to upgrade to a discrete sound card or external DAC.

• ATH-AD900X $220
  
• Asus Xonar DSX $57

That soundcard doesnt say if it supports dolby digital live or dts connect. Heres one that does http://www.amazon.com/Xonar-DSX-Engine-Playback-Support/dp/B007TMZ1MY

I'm completely new to this (basically have zero experience in the audio world) but I'm looking at getting a dedicated sound card. My use case is pretty much purely gaming, but I also listen to music a lot, just not hardcore like a lot of you folks do. I'm also a VR enthusiast and would be using this heavily for VR games. My setup would consist of 2.0 speakers, IEM's, and whatever sound card I get. What's important to me, in no particular order, is audio quality, immersiveness, surround sound, positional audio, ease of use/lack of hassle, build quality, and proper EMI shielding/lack of signal noise. The quality of audio through IEM's is more important than the quality of audio through the 2.0 speakers, since I wear IEM's while in VR. I'm not considering a DAC/amp at all, so please don't suggest that. My budget is $100 or less.

Here's what I've found so far, again in no particular order:

ASUS Xonar DSX

Creative Sound Blaster Z

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy RX 7.1

ASUS Strix SOAR

ASUS Xonar DGX

Out of these options, which do you think is best for my use case? Are there any better options in this price range I haven't considered yet? Will this even be a noticeable improvement over onboard audio? (Z270 motherboard)

Also, kinda unrelated but also kinda related: If I'm not horribly confused (which I am), the 2.0 speakers would require a left audio input and a right input, like this. However, I've noticed that none of these sound cards have left audio out/right audio out ports. Just front, rear, center, and woofer. (Plus a few more, like line in/mic in, but never left/right audio out.) So, uh... Where would I plug my speakers in? >.>

Also also, a lot of these sound cards advertise support for surround sound. Do I HAVE to have a 5.1/7.1 system in order to use surround sound, or would I be able to get surround sound with 2.0 speakers? Ditto for headphones - if I was using IEMs, would I be able to get surround sound? Or would it be the same as using onboard audio in that regard/make no difference because it's still only two speakers (one in each ear)?