Soundcard that fits my needs?

[Cryptophix]

Hi,

Today I went to my friend's house and he made me try his headphones + soundcard and I was amazed at how heavenly the sound quality was. It made me realize that I really need a soundcard since my motherboard soundcard isn't really good.

His bundle is ASUS Xonar Essence STX Sound Card & Sennheiser HD 555 Headphones (can't post link since it's my first post) but I don't like the fact that there isn't any 3.5mm input. I need 3 of them because I have a 5.1 speakers set (Logitech X-540).

So I was wondering, what would be the best soundcard for my needs. Following is a list of what I want, in order of priority.

1) Plug my PS3 through toslink (s/pdf?) with support for 5.1 (dolby decoder?)
2) Headphones amp and a good surround emulation for headphones (with a 6.35mm output)
3) 3x3.5mm output in order to output in my speakers (X-540)
4) I have a midi keyboard controller that I use to play piano, and I would like an ASIO decoder to improve the latency time.

Any suggestion? I don't really care about the price, but I consider that >250$ is starting to get expensive.

Thanks!

Cryptophix

[Zero82z]

To get the most out of a sound card upgrade, you'll really have to upgrade your speakers as well. I don't know too much about good speakers since I pay attention mostly to headphones, but even the greatest sound card is not going to make your speakers sound better than they are capable of sounding. With that said, the X-540 is a decent set, and if you don't want to switch, a sound card upgrade would be a good choice. Since you want something with good 5.1 support, I would suggest the ASUS Xonar D2X.

[Slik]

I would wait for the Xonar Xense combo that is soon to be available. Check out info from ROBSCIX.

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by Slik

I would wait for the Xonar Xense combo that is soon to be available. Check out info from ROBSCIX.

He wants to keep using his speakers, and he can't use the Xonar Xense combo for the same reason that he can't use the Essence STX.

[Cryptophix]

Yeah, I would like to keep my speakers because I've bought them about 4 months ago... I was thinking that maybe I could buy a soundcard to used with my headphones and use my motherboard soundcard for the speakers, but that's kinda stupid because my speaker wouldn't benefit from this soundcard upgrade...

[lowfat]

Originally Posted by Zero82z

He wants to keep using his speakers, and he can't use the Xonar Xense combo for the same reason that he can't use the Essence STX.

Why can he not use speakers w/ the Xense? It had 3.5mm outputs for 8 channel surround.

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by lowfat

Why can he not use speakers w/ the Xense? It had 3.5mm outputs for 8 channel surround.

Ah, I didn't realize it had that little breakout thing that provides extra outputs.

[Robscix]

There is also the Essence ST w/ H6 card which gives full surround.

[Cryptophix]

Can I use the H6 with the STX? Because I also need headphones so I want to buy a bundle. If not I guess I'll wait for the Xense.

[lowfat]

Originally Posted by Cryptophix

Can I use the H6 with the STX?

No. The STX doesn't have the header required for it.