Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card (Black)
Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card (Black)
Consider this before buying...
The card itself is great, the sound quality is superior to my previously owned X-Fi Fatal1ty but consider this:
First, many users have experienced (and, in fact, are experiencing) problems like popping sounds, messed-up channels, troubled microphone in Skype and games, system lock-ups and so on (especially in Win7) - visit Asus's forum to get the idea;
Second, don't expect much in games (if you plan to use it for gaming), Asus's GX is a kind of a joke now and is incapable to emulate EAX in most of the cases (I ended up turning it off forever because it causes crashes way too often plus even when enabled it doesn't add much);
Last, but the most important: it looks like Asus is NOT GOING TO FIX those problems. Despite their promises that the new drivers "are almost ready" and will be released "in next couple of weeks" the support for the whole line of their audio remains awful and there are no drivers for D2X on the horizon.
I must also note that on some systems (mainboards, BIOSes, etc) D2X works perfectly even with the old drivers which makes it a kind of Russian Roulette - you pull the trigger (meaning - you buy it ;) ), you find out whether it'd work for you or not :) Not exactly what I'd expect from Asus though...
I got rid of Creative for the very same reason (lack of support) and now I begin to think that going with Asus wasn't the good idea. Maybe one should try Auzentech?..
Read More About Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card (Black)
Buying Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card (Black)
Fantastic sound quality
Disclaimer: I am not an expert, but simply want to convey my overall impression of this card. There are plenty of expert reviews on the web, which are worth reading before a potential purchase.
The sound that this card produces blew me away the first time I used it and still does. I have used integrated sound (which is obviously no comparison) and the Creative SB Xtreme Gamer before, which - although a pretty decent sound card in its own right - cannot measure up against the D2X in terms of sound quality. The D2X lets your hear things you did not know existed in a song. If you simply want to enjoy fantastic sound then this is for you. It makes the listening experience (both music and movies) so much more enjoyable. I use the D2X with the Logitech Z5500 PC speakers (highly recommended).
I cannot judge the gaming performance of this card as I do not use it for that purpose. Moreover, I do not utilize many of the features/functionalities of the Xonar D2X Audio Center so that I cannot be a judge of that, either.
The only disappointment so far has been that I could not get the ASIO driver (which comes with the card) to work with REASON 4.1. This does not necessarily imply that the card is at fault. It may very well be some funky interaction/setting within my PC that I have not uncovered yet (Asus P6T Deluxe Mobo, Intel Core i7 920 CPU, Dual-SLI EVGA GTX 260 Core216 Super-Clocked edition, ...). The Creative SB Xtreme Gamer gave me perfect ASIO (with a different PC build).
The price tag is obviously a little bit high relative to other sound cards out there (even when getting a deal), but justified in my view because of the superb sound quality.
So far I have not experienced any problems with this card, which I have owned for about a year.
Read More About Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card (Black)
Consider this before buying...
The card itself is great, the sound quality is superior to my previously owned X-Fi Fatal1ty but consider this:
First, many users have experienced (and, in fact, are experiencing) problems like popping sounds, messed-up channels, troubled microphone in Skype and games, system lock-ups and so on (especially in Win7) - visit Asus's forum to get the idea;
Second, don't expect much in games (if you plan to use it for gaming), Asus's GX is a kind of a joke now and is incapable to emulate EAX in most of the cases (I ended up turning it off forever because it causes crashes way too often plus even when enabled it doesn't add much);
Last, but the most important: it looks like Asus is NOT GOING TO FIX those problems. Despite their promises that the new drivers "are almost ready" and will be released "in next couple of weeks" the support for the whole line of their audio remains awful and there are no drivers for D2X on the horizon.
I must also note that on some systems (mainboards, BIOSes, etc) D2X works perfectly even with the old drivers which makes it a kind of Russian Roulette - you pull the trigger (meaning - you buy it ;) ), you find out whether it'd work for you or not :) Not exactly what I'd expect from Asus though...
I got rid of Creative for the very same reason (lack of support) and now I begin to think that going with Asus wasn't the good idea. Maybe one should try Auzentech?..
Read More About Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card (Black)
Buying Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card (Black)
Fantastic sound quality
Disclaimer: I am not an expert, but simply want to convey my overall impression of this card. There are plenty of expert reviews on the web, which are worth reading before a potential purchase.
The sound that this card produces blew me away the first time I used it and still does. I have used integrated sound (which is obviously no comparison) and the Creative SB Xtreme Gamer before, which - although a pretty decent sound card in its own right - cannot measure up against the D2X in terms of sound quality. The D2X lets your hear things you did not know existed in a song. If you simply want to enjoy fantastic sound then this is for you. It makes the listening experience (both music and movies) so much more enjoyable. I use the D2X with the Logitech Z5500 PC speakers (highly recommended).
I cannot judge the gaming performance of this card as I do not use it for that purpose. Moreover, I do not utilize many of the features/functionalities of the Xonar D2X Audio Center so that I cannot be a judge of that, either.
The only disappointment so far has been that I could not get the ASIO driver (which comes with the card) to work with REASON 4.1. This does not necessarily imply that the card is at fault. It may very well be some funky interaction/setting within my PC that I have not uncovered yet (Asus P6T Deluxe Mobo, Intel Core i7 920 CPU, Dual-SLI EVGA GTX 260 Core216 Super-Clocked edition, ...). The Creative SB Xtreme Gamer gave me perfect ASIO (with a different PC build).
The price tag is obviously a little bit high relative to other sound cards out there (even when getting a deal), but justified in my view because of the superb sound quality.
So far I have not experienced any problems with this card, which I have owned for about a year.
Read More About Asus Xonar D2X Sound Card (Black)
