Auzen Prelude vs. Asus Xonar D2

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T

TechHead

Galvanizer
As above.. which one?
X-Fi giving huge issues with nF4 chipset, will move it to the HTPC.
Primary uses - gaming (XP, not Vista), movies and music to the AE2s.
TR concludes that the Prelude is better for gaming in XP, due to the HW support for EAX. That's negated in Vista, of course.

Also, am getting an amp + HT setup fairly soon, would like to connect the computer to that setup as well. Both these provide DD Live too, correct?
 
if the card is mainly for a gaming rig, save yourself some money and go for the Asus Xonar DX. i've got one on the way thru KMD ;)

also, when it comes to connecting to amp/HT setup, you shouldn't have to worry about the soundcard if you're planning to connect using digital output to your HT. even an onboard SPDIF works fine since the PC is merely just sending the digital signals to your HT receiver/amp for digital decoding. in this case, you should prob invest more into a capable AV receiver that has all the latest decoding features. but if you intend to use analog out from soundcard to amp, then the soundcard's digital decoding capabilities comes into play.

so think through your setup carefully before you plonk down money for a soundcard. especially since the prelude and D2 aren't exactly cheap enough to toy around with ;)
 
^Ok. I'm assuming the DX will be ~5500?

As for the amp, I have an Onkyo SR-605, which covers pretty much all the formats. Am thinking of getting some nice Wharfedale Movie Star+ or Jamo HT speakers.

So the DX ought to be ok, na?
 
the DX should suffice for your gaming needs. it will also provide a digital out to your onkyo to handle all the surround sound decoding :)
 
I have the DX connected now and its a huge improvement over the Audigy Value I had, especially since now I can finally update to SP1.
 
burnz said:
also, when it comes to connecting to amp/HT setup, you shouldn't have to worry about the soundcard if you're planning to connect using digital output to your HT. even an onboard SPDIF works fine since the PC is merely just sending the digital signals to your HT receiver/amp for digital decoding. in this case, you should prob invest more into a capable AV receiver that has all the latest decoding features. but if you intend to use analog out from soundcard to amp, then the soundcard's digital decoding capabilities comes into play.
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True if your upstream electronics and speakers are so so. When I switched from an XFi to an EMU as transport, the difference hit me in the face so bad, it wasn't funny. Then one fine day a friend got his Bluenote Stibbert II CD Player and using that as a transport made the EMU sound like a cheapie. You might have guessed that I never even tried using the onboard SPDIF.

Even though theoretically it shouldn't, the transport makes a substantial difference in how it finally sounds. I don't think an onkyo receiver will be resolving enough but with higher end electronics, its quite easy to distinguish the sound signature of individual transports. Its mostly jitter and the power supply regulation of the transport.

BTW TH just curious... what kind of issues are you having? That board never misbehaved with an XFi when I had it... with the sound card in the bottom slot.
 
Chaos said:
True if your upstream electronics and speakers are so so. When I switched from an XFi to an EMU as transport, the difference hit me in the face so bad, it wasn't funny. Then one fine day a friend got his Bluenote Stibbert II CD Player and using that as a transport made the EMU sound like a cheapie. You might have guessed that I never even tried using the onboard SPDIF.

Even though theoretically it shouldn't, the transport makes a substantial difference in how it finally sounds. I don't think an onkyo receiver will be resolving enough but with higher end electronics, its quite easy to distinguish the sound signature of individual transports. Its mostly jitter and the power supply regulation of the transport.

BTW TH just curious... what kind of issues are you having? That board never misbehaved with an XFi when I had it... with the sound card in the bottom slot.
Click to expand...

I think it's a card issue. Intermittently, I'll get a Code 10 error on the card, "This device cannot start". I remove the card, reinstall 2-3 days later, works fine.

Can't help but wonder whether 'tis a heat-related issue. Plausible?
 
Chaos said:
Looks like a bugged card. Definitely not a heat issue. I assume urs came with a heatsink on the chip?
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Nope. No heatsink.
Got it in Dubai for 4600, box pack, in May'06. Can't complain :)

Still, I hope it starts working again.. new HTPC on 780g chipset.
 
TechHead said:
Nope. No heatsink.
Got it in Dubai for 4600, box pack, in May'06. Can't complain :)

Still, I hope it starts working again.. new HTPC on 780g chipset.
Click to expand...

Paste a heatsink on the chip. Might fix it. The older revision that you got had heating issues.
 
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