My new soundcard

I had been deciding whether I needed a sound card for my HTPC since onboard audio sounds "ok" for me. But I given in to my temptation and decided to get one since have a discrete sound card do make a difference to me.

So my hunting for a new soundcard begins, since I listen to music and do some gaming at home. I needed a sound card that can performed for both applications. And I narrowed it down to Asus Xonar STX and Creative Soundblaster Titanium HD. Both are so called audiophile grade sound card but I am not really a "audiophile".But I am a person who likes details and clarity in the music.

Some recommend Asus and some recommend Creative after reading from the forums and reviews. In the end, I got the Creative card since I felt that it can performs both roles decently since X-Fi is known for gaming. But the card was "tuned" for music too I believed, since it is catered to the audiophile market too.

As for STX, it seems to be catered more for audiophile market where the music sounds really great (I have no doubt about with all the great review on it). The pricing for both cards is pretty close in my area. Do take note that STX card is not a native PCIx card. It has a conversion chip from PCI to PCIx and it needed a extra power to it comparing to Titanium HD where it is a native PCIx solution and no extra power needed.   

So there it is my not so good unboxing video as it is done in a rush. Pardon me for that. Comparing with the Xonar STX package, Creative seems to be more generous in the accessories department. 

Unboxing video:

All the contents with the card

Mini review: The X-Fi software suite seems interesting, you can choose between three modes (Entertainment, Audio Creation, Game). Normal usage will be Entertainment, it will be used for movie and music and for the other two modes. It will be used as the name implies.I am using T40 Series 2 but I hope it can maximise the potential of the card.

Listening from my T40 Series 2 speakers. And comparing to my onboard ALC892 sound. I feel that the audio coming from Titanium HD seems to sound more refined and detailed. Although I must say onboard audio performs decently.

Now for gaming (playing FPS games most of the time), I tested it by comparing the 2 modes (Entertainment / Game). Entertainment sounds pretty good but I feel it lack some "oomph" factor in gaming. So switching to Game mode, it seems to have a more punchy sound where I can "sense" the surroundings better. I am not using headphone by the way. But I think Game mode is optimized to be used with headphone

Lastly, the software suite provided enables to fine tune quite a number of things in each individual mode. So you can tune it up to your own preferences. In conclusion, it is a good buy to me although I feel that my speakers can't maximise the potential of this card. A pair of studio monitor speakers should be able to do a better job. But overall, I am satisfied with the pairing of the card and my speakers for now.

My new 2.0 speakers

I had been considering to change my 5.1 T6200 speaker system to something more compact as my desk can't really accommodate a 5.1 system. Moreover, T6200 has a fluctuating volume problem from the controller. It has been bothering me for some time. 

As the controller is linked to the subwoofer, I had it changed before when it is under warranty. But the issue came back again after a couple of months, I guess it is a design fault and I gave up on this problem since the warranty is only 1 year.

But It is still usable, you will need to put the controller to max volume, and you adjust the volume by using controls in the OS. But it is troublesome when you are playing games especially you need to switch in between windows.

So I decided to change it to something less complicated but more practical. And I chose a 2.0 to a 2.1 system since I don't have space to put the subwoofer too. Also, I don't need a lot of bass in the music I listened to. Clarity is more important to me.

After looking through recommended brands by forum members which I frequents, it seems AE2, AE5 or M-audio etc and some other brands is strongly recommended due to the quality of sound they produce.

But the price sold locally is pretty steep to me, from almost 300 to 500+ SGD for a 2.0 speakers (out of my budget). They are studio monitor speakers if I am not wrong. So I guess quality is there with this type of pricing.

So in the end, I ended up with Creative T40 Series II as it is within my budget although I am pretty disappointed with the quality and issue with my previous T6200 speaker system. To add on, it seems that one of the flagship model the T3 also suffers from the fluctuating volume issue after a period of usage.

On why I chose T40 Series II, the predecessor T40 has good reviews and the series II offers improvements and new colour scheme (which I kinda like). It is not a new model, it has been around for couple of years and still selling so I guess it is one of the better models.

I had also listen to the speakers at its local store, it sounds pretty good to me compared to T6200 although I am not a audiophile. The driver and tweeter materials used seems to be better than a typical multimedia speakers.

Also, you can adjust the bass and treble via the knobs available. As for the pricing, it is on a in house promotion on a local Creative store. It cost 159 SGD compared to 169 SGD or more selling at other places. Highest price I saw was the MSRP price of 199 SGD.I would say 159 SGD is more reasonable pricing.

Below are the pics:

 Nice box

 Protection

 Whole package 1

 Whole package 2

 Speaker filter

MTM design

Mini review: Tested with my onboard audio with the speakers, it sounds pretty good and better than my previous T6200 in terms of clarity in music. The bass is pretty strong in the default position, I had to adjust it down so that the music feels more natural to my ears (I am not a basshead). I guess Creative products emphasis on the bass.

The difference is not huge with or without the speaker filters. But if you are looking for strong bass, you are better off with a 2.1 system.  As you may noticed, most of the connection is gold plated for better connectivity.

The bass produced is fine with me and these speakers can get pretty loud too. I might get a soundcard in future to improve the my audio source quality. On the downside, my current speakers may not be able bring out the full potential of the future sound card.

In my opinion, onboard sound has improved quite a lot these years but having a discrete soundcard will still make a difference to me. But in the end, everyone listening standards is different. What sounds "fine" to me might sound crap to other people.

So it is the best if you listened to the speakers yourself to judge. The only thing I hope is that it will not have the volume issue after a certain period of time. Otherwise it is off to hunt another speaker system mission again :).

Scythe Kaze Q fan controller

As you may had seen my previous post on me getting a some cooling stuff for my HTPC. It is a unboxing video. Inside it, it had some fans, filters and a fan controller. The controller is to help to control some of the important fans manually to help dispel the heat faster (especially my top fans). Since I felt that my case can get pretty warm when playing games. 

I chose Scythe Kaze Q because it is very basic (simple to use) and can control up to 4 fans which is enough for my case. It seems to be slightly cheaper than other brands of fan controller. Moreover, it only uses a 3.5" drive bay and pretty space saving. My casing is SFF case by the way and I chose black colour since my case is black too.

It has a nice aluminium brushed front panel. It should blends in well with my case. Four simple adjustment knob for speed. I do noticed that it doesn't have any clear markings on the turning knobs although it has "line indention" but can't be seen clearly by the naked eye.

To be more user friendly, It will be helpful if the all the knobs can be more clearly indicated by having a white line marking on the turning knobs "line indention". But overall, it is a nice and simple fan controller. It should serve me well. For more info, please check out their website here.

Also. there is a item named "slot rafter" by Scythe. It is basically a PCI slot plastic "card" that can hold 2 x 80mm fans and 4 2.5" HDD. For details, please check it out at its website here. It will be plugged directly beside my GPU to add more cooling power to it.

For my case, I cut away the support for the HDD otherwise I would not be able to mount it since my GPU cooler has already taken up 2 slots. And the PCI slot is located just beside it, but with 2 15mm thickness fans. It seems to eat into the card space for my last PCIx slot, so it will be difficult to add a soundcard or some add on card.