AuzenTech vs Asus Soundcards, I'm trying to live a Creative-free life

I need a new soundcard, and I'm sick of Creative, so I don't want to buy from them anymore.

I've been reading reviews about the Asus Xonar and the AuzenTech Auzen X-Fi Prelude, but everytime I read a good review about one, I read another good review about the other, and the reviews cancel each other out. I've read that the Asus Xonar is best for Vista because X-Fi is useless in Vista.

The Xonar is pci-e and I'm kind of worried about boxing in my 8800gtx because that pumps out the heat just by itself.

I read in one review that the Xonar is better for movies, and the Prelude is better for music, but I do both on my pc, so that argument really isn't a factor.

Anyone have any thoughts as to which one I should get?

 

i thought the Prelude is based on X-Fi chip.......

 

You can get a standard PCI version (ASUS Xonar D2) of the Xonar. Also I think there was a recent release of drivers which added full EAX support, so its now fully compatible with games.

I heard the Xonar was a great for music aswell as everything else...

Personally I'd go for the Xonar as its a bit cheeper than the AuzenTech one

 

im pretty sure you will be happy with either, so maybe just go with the cheaper of the two

 

Thanks for the feedback and advice! I should of probably mentioned that I'm using Logitech Z-5500's, if that makes any difference.

 

The Auzentech is just a creative in sheeps clothing...
"The Auzen X-FI™ Prelude 7.1 soundcard marks the first time Creative has permitted a third-party soundcard vendor to use the Creative X-FI™ chipset in its own soundcard design".

If you want a creative-free life, then the Xonar is the one to go for. And as mentioned they do a standard PCI version too.

 

You forget, thats the only x fi that auzentech do. And it IS a different design.

Auzentech make plenty of non-x-fi soundcards based on C-Media chipsets. I have the X plosion and it kicks ass. I would reccomend it from an audiophile standpoint very highly. I work for a hi-fi electronics retailer and through my system (Quality Amp + speakers hooked up to PC via 3.5 to RCA jack cables) I'd say the soundcard pumps out source quality roughly on par with CD players 4 times the price. 6 times if you're using lossless audio.

Edit: Also,the auzentechs that dont use x-fi have upgradeable opamps, so you can improve it even more!

 

My 8800gtx would get boxed in if I decided to run SLI, so is it a silly to worry about a soundcard underneath it?

Another 8800gtx or soundcard, isn't my Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe and my CM-690 prepared for the heat anyway?

Or were motherboards poorly designed to have too many mother uckers, up in my it (my SLI it)?

How many mother uckers? Let me tell you, too many to count, mother uckers!

 

I would go with the asus one bc if the auzentach is x-fi based, which means it probably wont work with the 590 chipset, i had to junk a soundcard bc they just dont work together especially if you run SLi. not just me there are a lot of posts about it in the creative forums

 

is this Flight of the conchords?

from the 2 cards you have been looking at, i would tell you to go with the auzentech, better sound quality than creative's own products, and it doesn't make a pop noise like the the creative counterpart. plus there is the interchangeable op-amps, for different sound reproduction, the op-amp OPA-637AU, would probably suited to what you would be using the soundcard for, high resolution, high dynamic range sound.

 

Yes.

I had that song stuck in my head!

 

X-Fi ain't useless in Vista, they have a solution to it now, it's called 'ALchemy'. Believe me, it runs perfectly, i haven't got any problems with it. I got the XtremeGamer version, on Vista. It supports EAX, and everything.

 

On the form factor side , get a PCI-E x1 card. It'll work in any PCI-E slot and most importantly isn't PCI.

 

ASUS D2X all the way. This is next card that I will get

 

Ive got the Xonar DX(pci-e) and its sounds fantastic in comparison to my old Audigy and my mates X-Fi.
The drivers are superb and sock solid from the get go.

 

The Asus cards have (or should I say had) issues with certain 790i bios, that's since been resolved, so if you DO have a 790i board, be aware you may have issues finding a BIOS that the card works with, and doesn't have too many other issues (aka I can't watch any videos without a BSOD).

Other than that, mine gets hot. Very hot. Like, I want to slap a waterblock on it hot.

 

I've only had my Xonar DX for a couple of weeks but so far so good. I've actually just bought a Razer Barracuda headset this week, so I'm tinkering with settings and configurations - my ears aren't quite used to crystal clear 5.1 coming through comfortable quality headphones!

I've got a P5B Deluxe mobo so the Xonar is in the PCI1 x1 port, away from the gfx, but I haven't noticed it especially hot or anything.

 

I decide upon the Xonar. I knew it would be a close fit under my 8800GTX, but it covers half the fan! So I added a little fan:



But I didn't realize, that little fan raised my pc decibel level just to the loud level. My pc was pretty quiet, but that little fan pushed it over the edge. I'm thinking of taking it out, but I'm worried about half a fan cooling my videocard, since that is a hot sucker!

(Yeah, I know the wire-management looks a mess, but that was when I was still fooling around with how to place everything, since I also added a new PSU)

 

hahhah that is a nice mod so tell me how is the card with you? you like it?

 

Well, you can always try. Just look at the temps, anything below 80-90C is good enough, and if the temps rise too high, the card will slow down automatically.