X-Fi Titanium - is it worth it ? and head phones ?

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prandi

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hi!!!i believe step wise upgrade...i want to buy a sound card..googled abit..i came across xfi titanium,i have never owned a sound card before,i have artis s5500r 5.1 system and will be buying a good head phone soon. i currently have cmi 9880 onboard codec,,will i be getting noticeable difference in sound from my system(will be upgrading system later),my budget is arnd 5k. i like listening to music and watching movies and sometimes games,,also suggest gud head phones to pair it up,,thanx!!,,

btw how r these hps

JVC- HA-RX900("http://av.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL028321&pathId=112&page=3")

JVC-HA-RX700("http://av.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId=MODL028320&pathId=112&page=3")
 
its extremely personal to suggest a headphone. Some like bass others dont.
I like these headphones: Sennheiser HD 555, audio technica ATH-AD700, for playing games- Steelseries siberia 5h with sound card, Razr baraccuda.

I beleive it costs 9k+..........It needs a really good music system to compensate such a high end card.
 
^^ Nope ! You will have to use KMD or order via Ebay. Both cost the same, but it will be a better experience dealing with KMD.
 
thanx!!will be doing the same!!!

will be buying off the card and rx900 from kmd on monday,,lets hope my experience with my 1st sound card and jvc hps is good,,just one more thing will the hp require an amp??fiio e3??i would be using it on ipod and my samsung soul and ofcourse with x-fi!!
 
From the gaming performance improvement perspective, I recommend X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty. If you don't own the latest quad core, gaming performance for titles using OpenAL is HUGE! I've tested with UT3, and I've seen performance improvement by more than 10%!
More info here
 
X-Fi is only useful for games. There is NO ALTERNATIVE to EAX5 in games. Don't believe any bullshit any other cards advertise. You will get proper surround sound with proper environmental effects ONLY with an X-Fi.

If you don't game then there are much better cards from other companies.
 
Gowt1ham said:
X-fi fatality on P4..........heheehe........the card will worth more than the system itself
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i am actually collecting my inventory b4 i upgrade so that it does fall like bomb on me later!!!step by step upgrade!!!:hap2:
 
Getting anything other that the XtremeMusic (PCI) or the Titanium (PCIe) is a waste of money. The XRAM is practically useless and gives no performance improvement in games whether OpenAL uses it or not. If you need the extra optical inputs that come with the higher models for recording or whatever then you might as well invest in a professional audio recording card.
 
Torch said:
X-Fi is only useful for games. There is NO ALTERNATIVE to EAX5 in games. Don't believe any bullshit any other cards advertise. You will get proper surround sound with proper environmental effects ONLY with an X-Fi.

If you don't game then there are much better cards from other companies.
Click to expand...

In which OS?
 
TechHead said:
In which OS?
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All new games use OpenAL which supports all versions of Windows.

For old DirectSound games you can use Creative Alchemy to get surround sound in Vista/7. But these ancient games don't use EAX5 anyway, EAX4 at the most.

Basically you get surround in all OSes with an X-Fi. (XtremeAudio doesn't count, its not a true EAX5 X-Fi half the games don't support it properly.)

Games that use EAX5 will blow away any other card.

With other cards you will get cheap quality 3d audio in surround and only in XP. Only stereo DirectSound games in Vista/7 with other cards. Only if the games AND the card use OpenAL will you get surround with other cards in Vista/7.

The Asus Xonar series has some sort of EAX emulation, but the effects and 3d positioning are not as good as X-Fi.
 
sarang said:
Million dollar question! :P

@OP: If you want to drive headphones properly, why not consider a Essence STX instead?
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Eggjhactly my point :)
Wanted to see the reference to DS3D and the GX mode from the Xonars :D
 
TechHead said:
Eggjhactly my point :)

Wanted to see the reference to DS3D and the GX mode from the Xonars :D
Click to expand...

I fail to see the point of attaching an expensive headphone amp to a sound card. Even my Sony EX90 sounds plain CRAPPY when connected to the X-Fi. The headphones are really sensitive so the volume is usually at 10%. I'll definitely abhor what it sounds like maxed out. It doesn't have a Line Out mode either so I assume you have to use low volume and connect it to the amp, unless the amp has a digital input.

They sound waaaay better at 80% volume on a PSP. Or maybe the sound card's insane SNR ratio and quality brings out the inherent crappiness in the original recording :/
 
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