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ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface Sound Card
See it at Amazon.com for $80.80Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Creative has been SLAPED!
(5 out of 5) by M. Tabor on Apr 19, 2008 (NW Montana)The gauntlet has been thrown down! The Xonar DX literately kicks the snot out of Creative and the X-Fi chip. I bought this card as an Upgrade from my X-Fi Extreme Audio For my HTPC after reading the sound room reviews on several websites. I paired these up with my Gigaworks S750's and the heavens opened!!!! I could not believe the dynamic range difference and the depth and clarity of the audio! First up was Era, The Mass and i heard nuances in the music i had never heard before and the sound was pure as gold. To be fair i tossed in a Mannheim Steamroller Christmas cd and again, dynamic crystal clear sound digitally reprocessed by the on board Dolby pro logic II. Now I have been Playing all of my Nightwish DTS albums and The Metallica Black DVD-A album rediscovering my whole library. I tossed in my old card again just for an on the spot comparison and it sounded flat and stale. Hands down i would say that Asus is the new ruler in PC audio and Creative is going to have to get off its fat butt and try to keep up. If you can afford it i would go with the Xonar D2X it has the DDA and well as the DTS on the fly encoding for piping out to your Home Theater Speakers if you so desire, as well as a higher quality DAC, a bunch of extra cabling and an EM shield over the card. I hope to buy a D2X in the next year and put this Bad boy in my gaming PC, forever retiring Creative. Hail to the New King, Baby!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Great Sound
(4 out of 5) by Michael L. Sutberry on Sep 15, 2008 (Pennsylvania, USA)I am using WinXp Service Pack 3, with my Xonar Dx Channel Pcie sound card. The Sound Card produces extraordinary sound that is both robust and very clear. There is no distortion or clicking sounds coming from the speakers. I have a 5.1 speaker system in my 10'X12' foot PC gaming room, and the surround sound adds great immersion to all my Flight Simulation games. When I use Fraps to record my gaming action, I no longer hear breaks in the sound as I did with my Creative Sound Blaster card. I am very satisfied with this card. The only negative is with the documentation. I could not get my center speaker, rear speakers and sub-woofer to work properly by following the instructions. After switching the plugs around and using the speaker test program, which is part of the Sound Card software, I was able to get the speakers to work properly. I highly recommend this card.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Great alternative to Creative Cards
(4 out of 5) by Jeff W on Aug 26, 2008 (Ohio)This card is quite a leap from Realtek HD integrated sound on my P6N SLI board. If you are fed up with Creative's buggy drivers and wonky support, then this is a viable alternative. My only complaint is the seeming lack of positional 3d sound in games. Diablo II and Source engine games see no improvement in positional sound (there is hardly any in the first place!). If there is a setting for this, then it isn't exactly out in the open.
Before you buy, keep in mind that this is a PCIE-1 1x card, not a plain old PCI. Drivers for 32 bit Vista have given me no problems so far. Sound quality is very good.
Before you buy, keep in mind that this is a PCIE-1 1x card, not a plain old PCI. Drivers for 32 bit Vista have given me no problems so far. Sound quality is very good.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent value under $90 - beats Creative Titanium
(5 out of 5) by D. Choo on Aug 22, 2008I am really impressed by this audio card. I had to return Creative Titanum because it no longer offers the record "what u hear" option for Vista and their support was just pathetic. I really didn't know ASUS sells the sound card until this one but hereare the PROs:
- a great price at $89
- high quality capacitors
- offers alternative recording options such as wav,
stereo mix, aux
- comparable or better sound quality as compared to
Creative Titanium
- driver support Vista x64
- a great price at $89
- high quality capacitors
- offers alternative recording options such as wav,
stereo mix, aux
- comparable or better sound quality as compared to
Creative Titanium
- driver support Vista x64
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Sounds great and easy installation Vista 64-bit
(5 out of 5) by Roger Parks on Mar 17, 2009 (Pacific Northwest)I purchased the PCIe version. I was prepared for a more difficult installation but it was smooth. First try on software and hardware installations. I did go to the Asus website and downloaded the latest software. I did not try the enclosed CD - which was just one version earlier. I haven't really had any trouble with Vista but I find that it helps to verify what works with Vista 64 and install the latest version. And this card sounds wonderful. I was just hoping to get rid of the buzz created by my on-board audio card (Gateway FX4710). I did not expect to hear such a difference. My low-priced Cambridge Soundworks speakers really came alive. I have a spare pair of Proac Tablette speakers. I think I will give those a try. And yeah, the static is gone too.
I did have one small Vista-related glitch. [...] On re-boot and startup I would get messages asking if it is OK to run HsMgr.exe and HsMgr64.exe files. The solution is to go into the folder where you unzip the file you download (vista\SoftwareDriver\DLL) and unblock those two files (in file explorer right click). I had to uninstall the software and then reinstall it after I unblocked the files.
I did have one small Vista-related glitch. [...] On re-boot and startup I would get messages asking if it is OK to run HsMgr.exe and HsMgr64.exe files. The solution is to go into the folder where you unzip the file you download (vista\SoftwareDriver\DLL) and unblock those two files (in file explorer right click). I had to uninstall the software and then reinstall it after I unblocked the files.