I am looking for a sound card to replace the onboard solution I am with now. My Z5500 speakers are connected via the optical cable in my motherboard. This is fine, however I can't seem to get 5.1 working in games and movies with that. If I switch to the 3 3.5mm jacks that does work, but the sound is very poor.

So I want to get sound card that will brings both sound quality and surround sound. For movies and games like BF3 that's very nice IMO. I don't want to spend a ludicrous amount of money on it, something below 80 euro would be nice.

I have found the Asus Xonar DX/XD and the DSX. The DX seems better from what I hear on the interwebs, but it lacks DTS. Because 9/10 of the movies I have are in DTS, that doesn't seem like a good option.

The DSX has DTS I believe, but doesn't seem to be as good as the DX/XD.

So I'm wondering what you guys would advice? I play a lot of music, games, and movies. So the soundcard I need will have to be good on all of these areas.

Thanks in advance.

A triple one, I guess. To fit your monitors.

Which motherboard do you have? Do you have the latest audio drivers installed properly?

Failing that, maybe try a USB DAC? (digital to analog converter) Chances are a decent external DAC is going to be better than an internal soundcard. This is because a soundcard needs to have extra circuitry on it for an amplifier. There's little need to have a separate amplifier since your speakers have one built in and it sounds like you're happy with it.

Quote from prOmo_LTU :

A triple one, I guess. To fit your monitors.

Aw really?

Quote from Forbin :

Which motherboard do you have? Do you have the latest audio drivers installed properly?

Failing that, maybe try a USB DAC? (digital to analog converter) Chances are a decent external DAC is going to be better than an internal soundcard. This is because a soundcard needs to have extra circuitry on it for an amplifier. There's little need to have a separate amplifier since your speakers have one built in and it sounds like you're happy with it.

I have an Asus P5Q-E. Doesn't matter which drivers are installed; onboard analog audio is just quite poor.

The Z5500's have indeed a built-in amp. I am not really 'happy' with them, but it's good enough for now I guess. If possible I do not want something external.

I'm mostly interested in the comparison between the DX and DSX I've noted above. Since the DX does not have DTS, would that be a big problem for gaming (mostly BF3). For movies and games I really want proper 5.1 sound. I guess I just have to try it out.

Quote from Bose321 :

I have an Asus P5Q-E. Doesn't matter which drivers are installed; onboard analog audio is just quite poor.

I was referring more to the optical out and support for multi-channel possibly being dependent upon driver revision.

Have you checked the 6ch/Stereo switch next to the optical input on the speakers?

Take a look at Page 4-30 (section 4, page 30) of the English motherboard manual, or page 146 (aka 4-30) of the English PDF.

http://support.asus.com/downlo ... hashedid=ogZlrSeVzUh9MKLO

My guess is there's something you're missing in the settings.

Can't seem to find that in the PDF?

The point is that the Optical out does do 5.1, but only in the setup screen of Windows. I believe that's because that audio is already encoded in DTS so my onboard card doesn't have to decode it.

The point is that it's set as 2 channel right now. Can''t even change it to 6 channels or whatever. However, the DTS and Dolby Digital seem to work great in the properties screen of Windows. However, in games like BF3 there is no 5.1 sound, just stereo.

With my 3 3.5mm jacks I do get 5.1 sound (which I can then select in-game), and get true directional sound.

I'm not familiar with all the terms and all, so excuse me in that regard.

Edit: I have been browsing a little around and might have made a little mistake regarding DTS. It seems DTS is only relevant when using an optical output. Since I will be using analogue connections that doesn't even seem to be relevant. I guess I'll be ordering a DX/XD tomorrow and see how good/better that is compared to the optical onboard solution I am using now.