$90 USB Soundcard for P170HM

Hi.
I had a FiiO E7 (not a soundcard, just a DAC+AMP) also without mic input, and I got refunded cause OLED burned.
Now I have $90 to spend and I changed my mind, I want a USB Soundcard.
Its like this http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Xonar-So...359005461&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+usb+sound+card
Can you guys recommend me some?

The reason: This crap internal mic.
When using Skype or any other similar program people always say "Your mic is too low", so I turn up the sensitivity boost, then people say "Your mic is cracking too much".
Tired of this I bought a new mic from zalman and people complained the same. Then I decided to test it on my PC and it was normal.
Now I know the problem is this onboard soundcard, cause I also have problems making this card power my headphone (ATH-M50s)

 

ASUS Xonar U3 rocks :thumbsup:

 

People say X-Fi Go is better than Xonar...
At least outside its much more beautiful

I'm almost getting a FiiO E10 for headphone and a cheap Amazon.com: Syba SD-CM-UAUD USB Stereo Audio Adapter, C-Media Chipset, RoHS: Computers & Accessories for my mic problems.

 

I've heard good things about the FiiO E10, and I always see it recommended for that price range. Not sure about the Xonar though. I use the X-Fi Go! Pro and it delivers very nice audio for its price. It certainly destroys the laptop's sound card.

Here is a nice discussion:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/627553/asus-xonar-u3-vs-creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-go-pro-usb
It looks like the Xonar U3 barely edges out the X-Fi Go! Pro.

I see on the FiiO E7 amazon page that the device has a sound card. What made you think it doesn't have one?
http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Portable...s&ie=UTF8&qid=1359016171&sr=1-4&keywords=FiiO

 

I said it's not a soundcard. Its a DAC+AMP.
By soundcard I mean with speaker output and mic input.

Researching a bit I found out that E10 has an annoying issue where it cut offs the first milliseconds(0.7 to be exact) of every song/noise/sound that is played while in 5+ seconds of silence.
I think I would go with new FiiO E07K + cheap USB Audio adapter.

 

The best thing about the Xonar is Dolby Headphone which is the best virtual surround sound going.

Far superior to Creative CMSSS-3D.

 

I dont use virtual surround with headphones at all. It's bs.
The only time I use surround is when watching a movie, but then I use HDMI output to my Home Theater over DTS 7.1

 

It wouldn't be the first time that the p170hm's onboard sound chip was not up to snuff; people are more commonly dissatisfied with the playback/output though.

I hear good things about the Xonar, but I have yet to test the Creative. Here's more end-user insight: Sound Blaster X-Fi Go PRO vs Asus Xonar U3 - bit-tech.net Forums

 

Virtual surround isn't BS at all. How many ears do you have? That's right, two. You only need two sources of sound to replicate any sound situation.

Listen with headphones: Virtual Haircut | I Am Bored

 

If the virtual barbershop track can play in stereo without any special surround effect enabled with my sound card and still sound like surround sound, why does it even matter to have Dolby or Creative surround features? All game developers have to do is use the algorithm to mix their sound tracks in surround mode, and then anyone with a stereo setup can hear surround sound. No, virtual surround is not a gimmick, but specially labeled hardware or software for virtual surround sound seems like a gimmick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryUw_RRnWlw
And that is a low quality YouTube track. At around 10 seconds when the sound heads to the back, it is just incredible. It is all in pure stereo mode, based on algorithms.
http://www.sajithmr.me/cetera-algorithm

 

That is a horrible example. That is not post processing bs virtual surround nonsense. That is binaureal recording, which is real and legit. Tha type of recording is made for stereo, specifically headphones. You can can buy binaureal recordings of music sometimes. Special setup to do that type of recording and that is real, legit, not be.

And its not bs algorithm, its a recording. There are binaural recordings of orchestra, so it seems you are right there.

 

I've had an E10 for a long time, and have never heard of that issue.

I recently bought an E17 though, and it's pretty amazing.

 

I say skip the Fiio stuff, just go with the Asus Xonar U3. That has all the game audio support you want, it also has optical/toslink output, and it's microphone amp is supposed to be good, no hissing. Overall it seems to be the best deal for a "gaming" notebook. If you just want a dedicated audio for music, I guess you can get a Fiio, but personally I think the U3 will do that just as well. If you want an music setup, then just fork up the money for a dedicated DAC.

That's what I would do, I have the Creative X-Fi Go! Pro and it does the job, but I too will be ordering the Asus Xonar U3. It just seems to be the ideal USB solution for a portable gaming machine.

 

Did I say it was an example of virtual surround encoding?

Try reading my post.

It was an example of how it is not necessary to have more than a pair of headphones to simulate complete surround sound.

Dolby Headphone is not a BS algorithm and you're being incredibly naive if you think it is BS.

TrantaLocked yes that is correct but unfortunately there are very few games which implement such a feature in software, especially to the standard of Dolby Headphone.

You can actually do some clever stuff with the dolby headphone dll in foobar but for games and movies it much easier to use a device like the U3 plus you also get the benefits of the great DAC.

 

And you misread me too.
I said Virtual Surround is BS. Not surround like Dolby and DTS.
If you have a card like Xonar which says has virtual 5.1 for headphones is BS at all, and its far comparable with real DTS 5.1.
As I said, I had a FiiO E7 and it doesnt have any labeled virtual surround support, but sound exact the same in games.
I wont buy another one just because I need a replacement for Realtek onboard mic input too, which only Xonar, X-Fi, or cheap USB Soundcards have.

Thats why I'm considering buying the newly E07K, and a cheap USB Soundcard for mic input (Amazon has some C-Media for 9 bucks that would do the job).

As TrantaLocked said labeled virtual surround is BS. If the source was recorded and encoded with surround you can still get it with a good stereo headphone.

 

Dolby Headphone is virtual surround?

There's no way a FiiO E7 with no DH will sound anything like the U3 with DH switched on in games or movies.

In any game I can pinpoint where any sound comes from on a 360 degree radius.

You simply can't do that without DH or some other HRTF encoding.

It really annoys me when people spread BS about virtual surround when they quite clearly don't understand it.

Try it and you will be converted.