Tired of my lame original SB Audio

[chupacabra]

Well as the title says it, my Creative SB Audion sound card is starting to piss me off since it won't give the full juice off my speakers, so i'm looking to buy a new one which will be mostly used for games and movies but some casual music.

My budget is around 50-100$

 

[diduknowthat]

I'd say either go with an X-fi titanium or an Asus Xonar D1 (or DX if you want PCI-Express). The X-fi would be better for games due to it's support of EAX 5.0 while the Xonar is overall a better card for music and movies.

 

[bomberboysk]

If you're any decent at soldering with SMT stuff you can replace OpAmps on a titanium and you rival the Xonar for music, otherwise it really depends on your use. The HT Omega striker is also an excellent card for music, and makes use of nice quality solid caps:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001

 

[computeruler]

If you can spend just a bit more go for the auzentech bravura. I love my prelude.

 

[bomberboysk]

If you can spend just a bit more go for the auzentech bravura. I love my prelude.

The prelude is basically an x-fi fatal1ty with LM4562 OpAmps & Solid Caps.