I have never used onboard sound before, but under the circumstance it is the only option for the moment. It is surprisingly clear, but I can't get sufficient volume out of it to use the monitor's speakers as I have previously. It sounds good on my headset, but even with it, it doesn't exactly split the ear drums at maximum volume. It will hold me until I found the sound card that I want, but am still looking for suggestions.
Still trying to decide about which sound card to buy. I could get Audigy 2 ZS Gamer, which is supposed to be new, but since the card has been discontinued for quite a while, I would imagine that it would be sans a warranty. The reason that it caught my eye, is that it would be able to interface with the drive bay control box that I have. As far as I can tell, none of the XFI cards can do that...can they?
Check out the Asus Xonar line. the ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Multimedia- ASUS Xonar D1 is the basic card, bout $100.
I've used mine for years. Excellent quality without the troublesome Sound Blaster drivers and software.
Hmm, I did glance at those cards on the Asus website, but just sort of brushed them off, on a purely gut feel due to their low profile appearance. I guess I equated them to Creative's old Audigy 2 ZS SE line, which is little better than onboard sound. The price is right, and doesn't use Creative drivers, so I may give one a try since using my old Creative drive bay box doesn't appear to be possible, without getting a used Audigy 2 ZS card. Thanks.
The sound card that I ordered just arrived, and while trying to verify that I got the right one, I went back to TigerDirect's website, and was irked to find that the card that I just ordered last week, now has a $20 rebate on it, however, that is not the reason for this post. When I ordered, there were two models of this card, which were significantly different in price and specs, in that they used different chips. When looking at the model number on the box and the card, it says Xonar D1/A, instead of just D1 as expected.
When I just checked the TD website, now I only find one version available, which is the one ordered, and when I checked on the Asus website, I can only find one, but when I Google the part#, I get no returns. Looking at the label on the back of the card, I find a number M18AV100-P R1.00, which differs from the part number on the box (90-YAAOBO-OUANOBZ). The V100 embedded in the first number makes it appear to be the right card, because as I remember, that is the chip ID that the card is supposed to have, but I would like to be certain. I find no specifications in the manual, so how can I pin this down?
EDIT: This is the card that I trying to match:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...071&CatId=2771
As for the rebate, it appears that mine might qualify anyway, because when I checked the details, it says that it is valid on cards sold between 1-1-12 & 1-31-12. It would be nice to get a rebate that I didn't expect!
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