ticky on 9/12/2014 at 22:34
Hi there!
I would like to buy an external audio card for my PC, since I am only using headphones and there are many good solutions. However, I narrowed it down for two:
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD or Asus Xonar U7
My real question is which is the better for Thief (I mostly play Thief 2 and I'd really like EAX).
I know that ASUS can't really handle EAX, but can the Creative one handle it (since it is quite "new" compared to the game itself)
Thank you for your suggestions in advance
Briareos H on 9/12/2014 at 23:42
With New Dark and OpenAL, hardware EAX compatibility isn't a requirement anymore. You should be fine with either of those.
I've read more good reviews for the Xonar U7 than for the X-Fi, btw.
bikerdude on 10/12/2014 at 03:46
You could also look at getting a Soundblaster-Z
Volca on 10/12/2014 at 11:03
Just jumping in to say: look at ODAC/O2 combo ((
http://www.jdslabs.com/products/48/o2-odac-combo/) sold for example here). Not terribly expensive and can drive pretty much any headphone (aside from some exotic ones, such as electrostatic headphones).
[]HP[]Hawkeye on 10/12/2014 at 18:13
I use an internal Sound Blaster X-FI card and I've had no problems with mine. Just make sure you grab a driver update from the Creative website for whatever OS your installing it on. Otherwise certain features may not work.
Vae on 10/12/2014 at 21:29
I highly recommend the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium, which includes the superior CMSS-3D positional audio algorithm.
Volca on 11/12/2014 at 20:34
What headphones will you use with the card? Will it be more music or game oriented?
From what I gather, gaming headsets usually are what Beats is to quality headphones = bad overpriced shit. Gaming soundcards are similar - my friend burnt his Beyerdynamic headphones with a Creative card, every time the pc went on, it sent a power pulse down to them. This is unacceptable, in my opinion. Now word is asus xonar cards are at least decent. Still, if you like your ears and consider listening to music a nonzero priority, try looking at odac/o2 or some other good dac/amp combos, these will grow with you if you'd seek better headphones later.
ticky on 13/12/2014 at 06:05
Thank you very much, guys! With all your advices and my own thoughts in my mind, reading some reviews as well, I purchased the Asus Xonar U7. I am using it with Sennheiser HD 449 headphones. I am quite pleased with the sound, also got OpenAL, but I am wondering that are there any updates for OpenAL since 2012?
