The ASUS Xonar D2X

[LiquidRain]

I recommend the ASUS Xonar series to anyone I come across. Mostly it was out of positive reviews, and an aversion to anything Creative.

So today I ate my own dog food. Sold my Creative X-Fi Platinum and picked up a Xonar D2X. I stand by my recommendations. I am listening here, grinning widely as I enjoy the audio quality coming over my headphones. I didn't do any ABX comparisons, it might be the placebo effect, but I am simply loving it regardless.

Ladies and gents, this is the soundcard to own.

Not mentioned in any reviews is that the D2X flavour of the Xonar cards comes with 3.5mm->RCA cables for classic speakers and an optical TOSLINK cable, as well as TOSLINK->coax adapters. It's a complete package, and I was pretty impressed upon getting it. (mind you, I should be, considering this is a premium soundcard) I was also surprised to see this thing support EVERYTHING, including Dolby Pro Logic IIx encoding.

I'll be testing the gaming functions of the Xonar later on when I fire up L4D.

[Brady]

I've got an M-audio Delta 1010 card in my pc that I always used for recording, but I honestly don't really use it anymore. I've been thinking I might throw the card on ebay and grab something a little better for gaming/multimedia.

I'll look into this card, I think as far as the price goes, it would probably be about an even swap.

[LiquidRain]

I have come across an issue for headphone users such as I; there doesn't appear to be any way to control the incoming S/PDIF volume. To avoid Windows multi-speaker issues with DTS/DD 7.1 decoding and encoding having severe issues, it does a passthrough to the DSP on hardware. This means I have to fallback to analog audio for my Xbox, which is acceptable for me considering I use it with headphones anyway.

[Brady]

So I take it that you have your 360 hooked up to your computer monitor and route all your audio through your pc?

[crazyD]

Hmm... $200 is a little to rich for my blood for a sound card, though I am in the market.

[Liquidus]

Get the Xonor DX for $65 AR. It's almost as good.

Link (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006)

[LiquidRain]

So I take it that you have your 360 hooked up to your computer monitor and route all your audio through your pc?
Correct! I'm tempted to switch to a HTPC style setup, but unsure how I'd get my PC gaming done in as much comfort as I do should I go with that. :)

Dolby Headphone doesn't really work for gaming; I'm currently tinkering with Dolby Virtual Speaker.

[LiquidRain]

Virtual Speaker is neat, but the sounds coming from the rear come across way too echo-ey in headphones. (it's designed for 2 speakers) Better than Dolby Headphone though, that's for sure.

I found out I can change the S/PDIF input volume. In Linux. :D

[Brady]

Ok, one of my roommates is buying my M-audio delta 1010 off of me... So I'm now in the market for a diff soundcard.

If you say the Xonar DX is almost as good as the D2X, what about the D2X should make me want to spend the extra cash?

Also is going with a Xonar worth not having support for the latest version of EAX? Or is EAX even still relevant? It's been a while since I've done any soundcard shopping.

One last question. Would you still suggest this is the card for me even though I will not be using surround sound? I use 2 KRK V4 studio monitors as my speakers. For gaming I either use those or a pair of AKG K240 headphones.

[LiquidRain]

http://techreport.com/articles.x/14500 is a great review of the DX vs the D2X and X-Fi.
Asus bridges that gap with a software feature it calls DirectSound 3D GX 2.0, which is capable of emulating EAX 5.0 functionality that had previously only been available with Creative's X-Fi cards.
The differences between the DX and D2X:
- No cable bundles (the D2X is generous with cables)
- No LED backlit ports (http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/01/asus_xonar_d2x_pci-express_soundcard/leds.jpg) (purely luxury, but it *is* rad, I love it)
- No premium DACs (TechReport couldn't find a subjective difference)
- No S/PDIF input, only output
- Small number of I/O jacks
- No DTS encoding (but it still does DD)

And yes, I highly recommend either the DX or D2X over onboard audio, especially if you use quality audio gear.

[Brady]

Yeah I read that techreport review earlier today. I think I'll order the DX. Right now I've got cables up the ass (I used to do a lot of recording on this pc) and I'll be good without the other features for now.

Can always upgrade in the future ;)

Thanks for the info!

[LiquidRain]

No problem.

I'm still continuing to evaluate the Dolby options, and I'm warming up more to Dolby Headphone the more I use it. The front audio sounds a bit more like you're in a room than then Virtual Speakers (which may very well be the point but that's not what I like) but the rear audio is far less echoey. The tradeoff is something I'm willing to make considering the echoing from Virtual Speakers was driving me nuts, making even explosions sound hollow. Yes, I'm liking both modes over regular stereo.

Now I just wish L4D handled vertical audio a little better...

Yeah I'm loving this card. :D

[KingGorilla]

Here is a question, have any of you audiophiles noticed a palpable difference between coaxial SPDIF and Optical?

[LiquidRain]

Digital is digital. Optical is more impervious to any sort of interference, seeing as it's fairly hard to disturb a wire of light without cutting the cable open, but it's really only about what your system/receiver/console supports.

I just found out that the Xonar doesn't seem to decode 5.1, which is a bit of a bummer. It'd be pretty neat to send 5.1 data through the card and have it re-encode it to Dolby Headphone.