Soundcard performance

[prashant_dv]

Yes Spirovious. This card seems to combine both features into one card..!! very impressive.. if i knew about this card, i would have taken this card instead of going for separate Audio/Graphics cards for my PC.. bad timing for me, but am happy with the performance and SQ.

Cheers
Prashant

 

[spirovious]

Yes Spirovious. This card seems to combine both features into one card..!! very impressive.. if i knew about this card, i would have taken this card instead of going for separate Audio/Graphics cards for my PC.. bad timing for me, but am happy with the performance and SQ.

Cheers
Prashant

Dont be,as this is not GC,it works on PCI-E1x,I think it cannot be used as dedicated GC for gaming.

check this -ext SC/DAC
Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro - Definitive sound card for audio creation and gaming

 

[prashant_dv]

Spiro,

No worries with my current setup, absolutely fine by me.
Btw, am not at all into any type of gaming.

 

[spirovious]

XONAR D2 comes with Backlight-
View attachment 607

Coparison in Xonar D2,DX.D2X

bit-tech.net | Review - Asus Xonar D2
bit-tech.net | Review - Asus Xonar DX
bit-tech.net | Asus Xonar D2X - PCI-Express soundcard

surprisingly DX does better due to newer drivers.

Is there any player which can decode HD aud?
This is really necessary as if one invests in highend SC,then it shld be able to decode all codecs or atleast help sofware to do.
I meen can we get output through SC(Xonar)as 7.1 if software does decoding from Bluray mov.?

Currently I use VLC player which decodes DD/Dts & I get 5.1 ana out from realtek onbord SC.

 

[moserw]

I wonder if somebody here has heard both the Xonar D2X and the Essence STX. I would love to know how much difference there is between these two cards.

Anybody has any idea?

Even more so between Xonar Essence STX, Xonar D2X and Xonar D2. Most reviews for the Essence talk about the headphone amp, performance, etc. Only one reviewer said there is not much difference between the Essence STX and the D2 and the D2 makes more sense at half the price if you're not a headphone user (which I am not).

Does anyone have the Xonar D2 (not the Xonar D2X) and if so how does it perform?

 

[spirovious]

Even more so between Xonar Essence STX, Xonar D2X and Xonar D2. Most reviews for the Essence talk about the headphone amp, performance, etc. Only one reviewer said there is not much difference between the Essence STX and the D2 and the D2 makes more sense at half the price if you're not a headphone user (which I am not).

Does anyone have the Xonar D2 (not the Xonar D2X) and if so how does it perform?

bit-tech.net | Review - Asus Xonar D2

 

[thevortex]

Even more so between Xonar Essence STX, Xonar D2X and Xonar D2. Most reviews for the Essence talk about the headphone amp, performance, etc. Only one reviewer said there is not much difference between the Essence STX and the D2 and the D2 makes more sense at half the price if you're not a headphone user (which I am not).

Does anyone have the Xonar D2 (not the Xonar D2X) and if so how does it perform?

Is there an architecture difference between the D2 and D2X? I thought the D2X was just an improvement over the D2.

 

[thevortex]

Cranky - would you say that cards such as Esi Juli or MAudio Audiophile or one of the EMU cards are not a great improvement over the Xonar series? Especially the D2X and Essence?

My question really is - are there cards around the 10K-15K range which beat the Xonar cards in terms of sound reproduction? It does not matter if they are available in India or not.

 

[thevortex]

Another question on a related note:

The end objective really is to improve the sound coming out of the HTPC. One can use either a sound card or a DAC for that purpose. Considering this, does a squeezebox make more sense? Or any other standalone DAC?

Or would these be at a par with the output that I am getting with the Xonar D2X?

 

[moserw]

Is there an architecture difference between the D2 and D2X? I thought the D2X was just an improvement over the D2.

No difference in the specs sheet. Only as Cranky said D2 = PCI and D2X = PCI-E, which as per previous discussions in this thread make the D2 better since its on the PCI slot.

I am going with the Essence STX for myself, I'm easy to convince I suppose and sold on the 124 dB SNR, but another friend too is looking for an upgrade from his Creative and he is more interested in the D2 or the D2X taking the cost to performance ratio into consideration, hence the query of mine.

 

[spirovious]

D2=PCI
D2X=PCI-E

AFAIK there is no other difference.

Floppy drive powersupply for D2X,
check the reviews I posted,Dx outperforms to D2X.

Is there any player which can decode HD aud?
This is really necessary as if one invests in highend SC,then it shld be able to decode all codecs or atleast help sofware to do.
I meen can we get output through SC(Xonar)as 7.1 if software does decoding from Bluray mov.?

Currently I use VLC player which decodes DD/Dts & I get 5.1 ana out from realtek onbord SC.

 

[Rem]

Spiro check the latest versions of WinDVD or PowerDVD it can play all HD content

 

[thevortex]

Floppy drive powersupply for D2X,
check the reviews I posted,Dx outperforms to D2X.

Is there any player which can decode HD aud?
This is really necessary as if one invests in highend SC,then it shld be able to decode all codecs or atleast help sofware to do.
I meen can we get output through SC(Xonar)as 7.1 if software does decoding from Bluray mov.?

Currently I use VLC player which decodes DD/Dts & I get 5.1 ana out from realtek onbord SC.

Spiro - there is no way that the DX can outperform the D2X!

 

[spirovious]

Spiro - there is no way that the DX can outperform the D2X!

Ok,but bcos DX is cheaper option(6k?) & rating was good,I considerd it.
It has7.1 anaout & I just wanted to confirm like newer players can decode HD aud to get via 7.1 ana out.

 

[prashant_dv]

Is there any player which can decode HD aud?
This is really necessary as if one invests in highend SC,then it shld be able to decode all codecs or atleast help sofware to do.
I meen can we get output through SC(Xonar)as 7.1 if software does decoding from Bluray mov.?

Hi Spiro,

Found this info on the Asus website, I guess they have bundled some version of ArcSoft's Total Media Theater.

From : ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

By closely working with ArcSofts Total Media Theater, ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 is capable of decoding Blu-ray movies and takes full advantage of lossless digital audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio for professional, high-fidelity sounds at 24bit, 96-192Khz.

I havent tried using this software yet, so i would'nt want to comment on it.

Cheers
Prashant

 

[thevortex]

Well Spiro - I have used Arcsoft's TotalMedia as well as the latest version of Cyberlink PowerDVD. They are supposed to give you all the Full HD experience you need. But then I dont have any HD content with me to test them out with.

All I can mention is that they both seem to be fairly capable video players. PowerDVD is bloated though with a utility called Movietime which keeps on pestering users. And TotalMedia has a suspicious looking utility called TotalMedia monitor which loads up on startup each time.

 

[spirovious]

Well Spiro - I have used Arcsoft's TotalMedia as well as the latest version of Cyberlink PowerDVD. They are supposed to give you all the Full HD experience you need. But then I dont have any HD content with me to test them out with.

All I can mention is that they both seem to be fairly capable video players. PowerDVD is bloated though with a utility called Movietime which keeps on pestering users. And TotalMedia has a suspicious looking utility called TotalMedia monitor which loads up on startup each time.

Thanks,one thing I noticed with softwares that they differ in decoding performances.

I have tried in past with Win DVD7,PowerDVD6 & vlc,what I found is VLC decoding & surr reproduction is far better than costly softwares.

 

[thevortex]

Thanks,one thing I noticed with softwares that they differ in decoding performances.

I have tried in past with Win DVD7,PowerDVD6 & vlc,what I found is VLC decoding & surr reproduction is far better than costly softwares.

Currently HD Audio decoding is available only in these commercial sotwares, I think. I dont know about the same DTS track sounding different in VLC and Power DVD or something like that. Yes, these do use proprietary decoders and rendering engines but I guess I have not spent enough time comparing such multichannel tracks on different software. More interested in music, I guess.

 

[prashant_dv]

Thanks,one thing I noticed with softwares that they differ in decoding performances.

I have tried in past with Win DVD7,PowerDVD6 & vlc,what I found is VLC decoding & surr reproduction is far better than costly softwares.

I second Spiro in his opinion with regards to VLC. It decodes audio much better than most other players. I use VLC to watch movies and get much better output.

Cheers

 

[reignofchaos]

Try kmplayer. Kills everything else in video output quality. VLC is only good for streaming not for playing local files.