Recommendations for SoundBlasterX AE-5 replacement

[kakaouskia]

Greetings

First post here and I would like to state that even though I do have technical knowledge, I do not understand much about sound engineering, consider yourselves warned

I have stumbled upon this website looking for a review of Asus Xonar Essense STX2 (very interesting by the way), as I am looking to replace my SoundBlasterX AE-5.
The reason being that I am tired of having to fiddle with the drivers to make things work on a case by case basis.

Work demands that I spent untold hours in front of my computer (server to be exact) and would like to have decent audio to accompany me. That and the occasional movie / game. And as the cliche goes, I want my ears to say that they like the sound

My setup is practically a server with no on-board audio using the optical out of the AE-5 as input to a Denon AVR-X500 with Monitor Audio Mass 10 for Left, Right and Centre plus a little B&W subwoofer. Though most of the time I am using the headphone jack on the Denon with a very basic Sennheiser set.

Note that since the computer is a server, I sort of have more ethernet ports that USB3s. And it runs Windows Server OS which is an incarnation of Windows 10 without most desktop features and also with less issues.

Thus the question: shall I keep the AE-5 or should I consider something external on a usb port? And would USB2 suffice or is USB3, USB3.1 needed? My budget is about €200

Thanks in advance!

kakaouskia

 

[AnalogSteph]

Sounds like a fancy soundcard is largely wasted in your setup. You're not even using their analog outputs or headphone driving capabilities. And going from Creative to a PCIe bridge Xonar? Talk about choosing between a rock and a hard place. Have an eye on potential compatibility issues with Ryzen boards.

Unless you need the galvanic isolation of Toslink, have you ever tried HDMI audio? I mean, it's got the bandwidth for uncompressed multichannel audio at least, so you don't have to mess around with live AC-3 or DTS encoding.

Generally speaking, USB 2.0 has plenty enough bandwidth even for multichannel hi-res audio - just do the math on how many channels you could fit into 20-30ish MB/s.

 

[twsecrest]

Low cost option, Asus Xonar DG or DGX sound card, should work with your current Sennheiser headphones.

If your not into FPS gaming, run HDMI from PC to Denon, then run HDMI from Denon to computer screen.
Buy 250-Ohm headphone and connect them to the Denon.

 

[kakaouskia]

Greetings

Thank you all for your replies.

Yes, the fancy sound card is a bit wasted as all I want is something to pass the sound signal to the Denon. And as I am using only L,R and Center as speakers, the math check out.

While I like games, I am not obsessed with FPS. I have to check the monitor specs though as some models favour DisplayPort over HDMI for resolution and refresh rate. If DisplayPort and HDMI perform the same (as they should), then a decent HDMI cable will suffice.

The unfortunate thing of where I live is that it is either difficult or expensive to find decent equipment. As luck would have it, a friend travelling from US had a topping e30 laying around and it was graciously donated that to me, along with a pair of Grado SR60e. Once these arrive I will attempt USB -> Topping -> Denon and see what happens.

Any recommendations for decent balanced RCA cables?

Once again, thank you for all the help!

 

[AnalogSteph]

Any recommendations for decent balanced RCA cables?

oxymoron (n)

 

[kakaouskia]

oxymoron (n)

Had to try