ASUS Xonar D2X

[Skyguy]

Although typically known for their motherboards and graphics cards, ASUS also has produced a line of sound cards as well. Today, we will be looking at one of their high end offerings, the ASUS Xonar D2X to find out whether ASUS has been able bring the quality their name is known for to the sound card market as well.



Click HERE for the full review.

[Doctor_Death]

Decent review Jeremy!

Sounds like a great card, and the price it not bad either for what your getting in return. Asus did a fine job with this sound card.

[intel4ever]

creative x-fi titanium fatal1ty vs asus d2x. which one is better overall?

[shattered.likeness]

I have not had a chance to test them head-to-head personally. Jake did the review on the Fatal1ty.

But, I have been able to use a similar setup to mine with the fatal1ty, and the D2X blows it away. The audio sounds much better, and all the extra hardware processing isn't needed with the processors out today. The D2X will also supports EAX 2.0 officially, but emulates up to full EAX 5.0. EAX seems to be going the way of the dinosaur though, as many game studios are moving in favor of openAL for gaming audio, instead of EAX. Also, the D2X doesn't need to install Creative Alchemy to get your games working.

So, all-in-all, I'd go with the D2X over the fatal1ty. Of course, I'm also not a big fan of Creative and their crappy drivers either.

[Skyguy]

I agree, I'd go with the D2X over the Creative card.

[bullydog]

Great review Jeremy
That card looks really tempting...but the price doesnt really justify for me being a non audiophile i can give it a pass and live with my onboard audio pair with my Z5500

[Deton]

If you use your PC as HTPC then you're definitely need a good sound card.
And if you're movies & games fanatic then I'm sure you can come up $200 to purchase this card

[Skyguy]

No need for an optical mouse either, the trackball does just fine and lets you move around. And an old Pentium III will let you browse the Internet as well, no need for a Quad Core!

[/sarcasm]

[Skyguy]

Heh.

I always used onboard sound too, and then I got a great sound card and WOW what a difference!

[intel4ever]

you never know the difference between onboard sound and a high quality sound card until you try it yourself and hear everything that's missing.

[Skyguy]

Just like you never realize what's "wrong" with a Honda or Chevy until you drive a high-performance exotic. Lemme tell ya, after that.....getting back into my regular car felt like driving a BOAT.

[movieman39]

Moving from onboard sound to a dedicated sound card has made a big improvement with both games and movies. I would encourage those to at least listen to some systems with it and without and then go shopping

Quick ? - Would I gain any improvement moving to the Asus Xonar D2X over my current Extreme Gamer X-Fi, even perhaps moving to the newer Fatality series X-Fi?

[jayfunk]

hey guys.. im baaaaaaack!!! all hooked up and everything!!
and i thought id say that this baby sound card is my pride and joy OMG does it ever sound amazing!!!
it adds powerful sounds and a full range of great options. well worth the money!
ps. not compatible with COD5 unfortunately