High end Sound cards

[2slick4u]

Ok next step for me is to replace my old SC and i'm looking at Asus or Creative but really i want something that would be good for at least 5 years, plus i love my music so i don,t mid spending max 200$.Question is should i get something now or wait till end of the year any advise thank you;)

Here is my choicess ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 or Creative PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series but not sure wich or something better in that class

[Artemis]

Although I don't have any experience with the Asus Sonar card I do with the Creative X-Fi and they are a stunning upgrade, with the card onboard it actually unloads the CPU handling audio processing itself. I purchased an X-Fi for a home theater setup because I wanted TOSlink optical output to the hometheater receiver and the onboard card simply didn't cut it, it would not provide true 5.1 sound positioning.The X-Fi did this effortlessly. The important thing is that in terms of gaming or audio playback the X-Fi 'speeds up' the PC .The X-Fi was a dramatic improvement in the system it was installed on.

[bpchia]

Hi Artemis,

What's the Creative X-Fi like for 2 channel audio vs the onboard optical out?

Thanks