I think that an onkyo SE-xxx would win easily against this card in a audiophile test.
I have one (se-150pci) and the Music it's unbelievable... lossless files, of course, and an hi-fi hooked to the card.

I'm thinking that, at half the price http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-043-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat= is probably a good all round option to this card? Reviews seem to be great, but what are the vista driver issues like!? I'd rather wait and get a bit more disposable cash for the Xonar if this thing is going to BSOD vista left right and centre

I thought that LED's introduced quite a bit of electrical noise ?
so including 20 billion on a sound card doesn't seem like the best idea ....

It looks dressed to kill, but tbh, a sound card is just that, a card for sound, why do you want 100's of lights and stuff on it

Originally Posted by completemadness
I thought that LED's introduced quite a bit of electrical noise ?
so including 20 billion on a sound card doesn't seem like the best idea ....

It looks dressed to kill, but tbh, a sound card is just that, a card for sound, why do you want 100's of lights and stuff on it

I can't get how some leds will kill the sound Card! it will make it look sexy nothing more thatn that! how it will kill it!

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser
I'm thinking that, at half the price http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-043-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat= is probably a good all round option to this card? Reviews seem to be great, but what are the vista driver issues like!? I'd rather wait and get a bit more disposable cash for the Xonar if this thing is going to BSOD vista left right and centre

X-Fi's are generally more stable under Vista than XP for some strange reason.

the only thing you have to do for the creative card is get the creative Alchemy update so the direct hardware utilization works. (along with EAX and CMSS3D)

hmmmmm tasty, I'll look at the fatal1ty and the music one, I know the fatal1ty has 64mb of xram, but it doesn't have optical out right? The new version has a weird flat output on the back as well, kinda like one of the old school joystick ports, but thiner. looks just like the connection from my surround sound control unit, but that goes direc into the sub/amp.

the fatal1ty has optical in/out, spdif in/out, and RCA R/W in on the front bay module.

the port on the back is actually for the breakout box that the Elite has and a fatal1ty can effectively be upgraded to an elite by adding the box and removing the front bay extender.

the front bay unit also has a selectable Line in 2/Mic in 2 with gain, and a headphone with independent volume adjustment. (both are 1/4" jacks)

I certainly won't be giving up my Audigy 2zs until someone can make a card with better support than I get from the ALSA "emu10k1" driver. Wouldn't be giving up my breakout box in a hurry either, IR remote and auto speaker muting headphone jack for the win :D

Originally Posted by qupada
Wouldn't be giving up my breakout box in a hurry either, IR remote and auto speaker muting headphone jack for the win :D

Me neither

Optical Spidf connectors ftw :D

Hey guys...not trying to be an attention whore (seriously! Im not!) here is a mod that involves this soundcard with the correct configuration to prove its FULL potential. Have a look you may be surprised as to what you find.

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=154058