Very, Very Nice

(sorry for not responding) Very good. I know its not an X-fi with their encoding method, but it does a great job anyways, as good as the X-fi in terms of environment and spacial imaging. As for the sound quality, it surpasses any X-Fi out there. The only thing the X-fi has on this is the processing power. This card does not take much load away from the cpu, but as long as you have a Core2Duo and above you will be fine.

The quality made miracles for Bioshock. I mean, when you go to the Poseidon Plaza (the frozen area with the crazy dude) you can REALLY hear the ice cracking and shifting. It sounds the closest to real life that I've ever heard through any video game/sound card mix. It also really helps you identify where your enemies are. Now I can jump people left and right flawlessly without even having to see them.

My only gripe would be the optical output encoding, which is non existent in many games. I have earphones plugged straight into the card right now, but when I use my Harman Kardon AVR-745 with it, the effects become so so. Not sure why.......maybe there is a fix for it.

So yeah, get it! Make sure you have good speakers/headphones. I am running Ultimate Ears Triple Fi's for earphones, and a custom speaker that I built worth $1000 each on the market, at least If I were to sell it. Also, a 12'' MTX sub for the explosions. :D
 
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Have you compared the card to an xfi side by side? Just wondering, cuz i have an xfi and its personally the best sound card ive had/heard, and im just wondering how much better than an xfi it is, because, especially when gaming(xram is sweet), the sound quality is amazing. If its that much better than an xfi i might have to get one, but id want to have a side by side comparison done first proving that it really is superior.
 
I upgraded from built in Realtec audio (sh*t) to this, so it was beyond worth it. If you already have X-fi though and are happy with it, you should stay with it, unless you are packing tons of green.

I'm an audiophile, so I definitely can hear a difference between mine and my friends X-fi rig. Though, I can actually hear differences in sound caused by .4v variations in my receivers input voltage. I have very sensitive ears...most people do not. If your not an audio freak save your money if you already have a good card, but if you have something questionable under $100, get this, you will hear the difference no matter who you are.

Oh yeah, the SNR is very high, 11db higher than the X-Fi Extreme Gamer. This is very good in general, and even better if you record like I do.
 
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Synesthesia said:
I upgraded from built in Realtec audio (sh*t) to this, so it was beyond worth it. If you already have X-fi though and are happy with it, you should stay with it, unless you are packing tons of green.

I'm an audiophile, so I definitely can hear a difference between mine and my friends X-fi rig. Though, I can actually hear differences in sound caused by .4v variations in my receivers input frequency. I have very sensitive ears...most people do not. If your not an audio freak save your money if you already have a good card, but if you have something questionable under $100, get this, you will hear the difference no matter who you are.

Oh yeah, the SNR is very high, 11db higher than the X-Fi Extreme Gamer. This is very good in general, and even better if you record like I do.
Click to expand...

Thanks, if i ever even consider buying a sound card i'll take your advice. :)
 
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