# ASUS SupremeFX X-Fi vs. Audigy 2 vs. X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB, opinion please?



## Jstn7477 (Oct 13, 2009)

Hey everybody,

I got my ASUS Crosshair III Formula in mid-August, and it came with the SupremeFX X-Fi audio riser card (it's a SoundMAX chip, but licensed by Creative to do the usual X-Fi functions, which I can't currently do because the software that came with the drivers doesn't support Windows 7). I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (SB0240) from 2002-ish and I also have a USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 (SB1090) from 2008. Any thought on which is best for audio and games?


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## -1nf1n1ty- (Oct 13, 2009)

the current one you have I imagine I always heard the supremefx card was really good to have especially if it comes with your motherboard, if your looking to use your audigy2 or the usb thing I'd go with the usb x-fi? just cause it says x-fi I personally dont like usb sound cards so I would plug the audigy in.

im not much help,but maybe you should see what you can get drivers for and decide based on that and see if you would rather open your pc(internal) or not(usb)


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## IINexusII (Oct 13, 2009)

keep the supremeFX, im sure it would work on win7 if you install in compatibility mode, my asus AI suite worked that way


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## Jstn7477 (Oct 13, 2009)

When I installed the drivers for the ASUS card, they installed fine. The software that ADI released gives me an error every bootup along the lines of "This software was not intended for this OS", so I can't use the Creative add-ons that are supposed to be the key feature of the card. As for the USB Surround 5.1, it does have a real Creative processor in it, and I think it can handle up to EAX 4.0.


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## kenkickr (Oct 13, 2009)

Right now Asus does have Win 7 drivers for the SupremeFX audio card but before they had that I just used the Vista 64 drivers without issues.  In my experience between the SupremeFX, Audigy LS, and Audigy LS modded to the X-fi xtreme audio; I would have to say the SupremeFX is the best.


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## Jstn7477 (Oct 13, 2009)

kenkickr said:


> Right now Asus does have Win 7 drivers for the SupremeFX audio card but before they had that I just used the Vista 64 drivers without issues.  In my experience between the SupremeFX, Audigy LS, and Audigy LS modded to the X-fi xtreme audio; I would have to say the SupremeFX is the best.



Any chance you can point me to what motherboard you found them with? When I got the new BIOS for my Crosshair III Formula, they just had the old driver from February 2009. TIA.


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## MKmods (Oct 13, 2009)

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=2Y4dQFaJ6gPN18cQ


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## kenkickr (Oct 13, 2009)

Jstn7477 said:


> Any chance you can point me to what motherboard you found them with? When I got the new BIOS for my Crosshair III Formula, they just had the old driver from February 2009. TIA.



Damn you!!!  You made me reset my Pandora J/K.  

Go here and click *DOWNLOAD*.  Now select Win7 or Win 7 64 and select audio.  Download, extract, install, and you should be all set.


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## Jstn7477 (Oct 13, 2009)

I'm downloading them now. ASUS quietly sneaked in a new driver on my board's support page a few days ago. Thanks everybody for your help.


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## kenkickr (Oct 14, 2009)

I would honestly keep the ftp site on hand cause the actual url site is always WAY behind the ftp site.


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## MKmods (Oct 14, 2009)

The Bloodrage GTI also came with a similar X-Fi card, they are an excellent way to go.


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## Jstn7477 (Oct 14, 2009)

Alright, i'm currently baking the drivers into my hard drive. I'll let you guys know how they work out for me. Again, thanks.


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## kenkickr (Oct 14, 2009)

MKmods said:


> The Bloodrage GTI also came with a similar X-Fi card, they are an excellent way to go.



Damn straight.  It is just sad to know this is pretty much the last of the ADI audio chips we will see  For onboard they have always been so much better than Realtek when it comes to clarity.


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## Edito (Oct 14, 2009)

im using the supreme FX X-Fi that came with my Maximus II Formula and its amazing and the drivers that came with the board didn't work with windows 7 x64 but i have made a research i found out that the Asus Gene II drivers work well just download the drivers of the Gene II and the supreme fx X-Fi will work just fine...


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## MKmods (Oct 14, 2009)

kenkickr said:


> Damn straight.  It is just sad to know this is pretty much the last of the ADI audio chips we will see  For onboard they have always been so much better than Realtek when it comes to clarity.



I know this is a dumb thing to use as criteria but while I really like the Realtek 889 chipset sound the realtek control panel seems like its 20 years old.(just looks like shit)

the one asus has with their Xonar cards is so beautiful to look at(sounds great too)


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## kenkickr (Oct 14, 2009)

MKmods said:


> I know this is a dumb thing to use as criteria but while I really like the Realtek 889 chipset sound the realtek control panel seems like its 20 years old.(just looks like shit)
> 
> the one asus has with their Xonar cards is so beautiful to look at(sounds great too)



OH YEAH!!  Totally agree with you.  I wish there was a way to get the Asus Xonar audio control panel to work with the SupremeFX.  Maybe I'll throw something up in the Asus forums about that.

As an update I noticed at work the newer Asus boards are coming with Via HD audio chipsets.  That's just sad!


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## devguy (Oct 14, 2009)

Question, does the SupremeFX card you have have support for dolby digital live or DTS:Connect like the Audigy 2 and real X-Fi do?  If so, that may sway my decision to make the Crosshair III my next board.


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## kenkickr (Oct 14, 2009)

I believe Dolby Digital but that's it.  The SupremeFX is a X-fi software driven audio chip since it's actually a ADI audio chipset with the X-fi software on top of it.  It's not bad at all compared to onboard audio and the Xtreme Audio but throw in some hardware based cards and it gets it's ass handed to it.


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## Jstn7477 (Oct 14, 2009)

From what I understand after installing the drivers, you don't have any control over the SB enhancements except for disabling them with a tick box in the sound properties window?


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## kenkickr (Oct 14, 2009)

Have you installed the X-fi utility?  Go to the same site I posted earlier but instead of going to "Audio" your going to go to "Utility".  Download, install, and activate.  You should be good to go from there.


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## ToTTenTranz (Oct 14, 2009)

The X-Fi 5.1 USB is also a software driven solution.

From the three, I'd choose the Audigy 2, because it will accelerate all EAX 4.0 (and equivalent OpenAL) through hardware. 
Moreover, the DAC quality should also be better than the rest.


However, the driver quality should be a bit better with the other two.

Between the SupremeFX and the USB 5.1, I'd choose the USB one, without a doubt. 
I have one and the included volume button really comes in handy.


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## niko084 (Oct 14, 2009)

Heheh I love my Audigy 2zs, you couldn't pay me enough for it for a gaming rig...

The support for it is amazing, the SQ from really a gaming card is insane, especially after some minor modifications. Few driver hacks you can even use the EMU drivers and use it with high end audio production software.


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## Jstn7477 (Oct 14, 2009)

devguy said:


> Question, does the SupremeFX card you have have support for dolby digital live or DTS:Connect like the Audigy 2 and real X-Fi do?  If so, that may sway my decision to make the Crosshair III my next board.



I just see Dolby Digital and DTS Audio, but the card does support up to 192,000Hz sampling rate. My old Toshiba X205-SLi4 laptop had DD Live!, but I just chose 5.1 when I used my 5.1ch CyberHome optical/coax headphones with it.


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## Jstn7477 (Oct 14, 2009)

kenkickr said:


> Have you installed the X-fi utility?  Go to the same site I posted earlier but instead of going to "Audio" your going to go to "Utility".  Download, install, and activate.  You should be good to go from there.



Damn, it's a 142 MB file. I thought NVIDIA's driver package was huge. I'm downloading it anyway, even if it takes an hour on my college apartment building's 800kb/s per jack ISP.


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## Edito (Oct 14, 2009)

Some screens of the supreme fx menus i think it doesn't support DTS i searched the menus and i wasn't able to find nothing related...


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## Wile E (Oct 14, 2009)

My Audugy 2ZS blows my Supreme FX II (using X-Fi software) completely out of the water in sound quality. I'd put the Audigy in.

As far as driver issues, both are equal.

I wouldn't even consider the USB card.


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## MKmods (Oct 14, 2009)

what speakers do you use Wile E?


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## niko084 (Oct 14, 2009)

MKmods said:


> what speakers do you use Wile E?



He "should" be using the same ones I use...

KRK Rockit 6 

But ya the Audigy 2zs is arguably the best SQ card every put out by Creative and can be made the best undoubtably for a few bucks in upgrades and some soldering work, solidly beating out the xfi which is it's only real standing opponent.


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## AsRock (Oct 14, 2009)

IINexusII said:


> keep the supremeFX, im sure it would work on win7 if you install in compatibility mode, my asus AI suite worked that way



Mine works perfect in win7 and Vista, just use the default drivers.  Although i only use the optical output to a home theater. 

Only issue's i had is with ASUS drivers in Vista and Win7\Vista picking the wrong mic output by default..


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## Wile E (Oct 14, 2009)

MKmods said:


> what speakers do you use Wile E?



Mostly My RE1 IEM's. Used to be a pair of MAudio powered monitors. Those got moved to the studio tho. Right now using a Panasonic SA-PM39D shelf system, which surprisingly, sounds strikingly similar to the monitors. As soon as I can afford the speakers needed for a 5.1 setup, I'll be moving to an Onkyo SR-500 receiver (was replaced buy an Onkyo SR-606 in the living room).


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## niko084 (Oct 14, 2009)

Wile E said:


> Mostly My RE1 IEM's. Used to be a pair of MAudio powered monitors. Those got moved to the studio tho. Right now using a Panasonic SA-PM39D shelf system, which surprisingly, sounds strikingly similar to the monitors. As soon as I can afford the speakers needed for a 5.1 setup, I'll be moving to an Onkyo SR-500 receiver (was replaced buy an Onkyo SR-606 in the living room).



Heh now...

Have you ever heard the Shure SE110 or SE210's?
I have been considering them against a pair of RE0's....

Only set I have personally heard are the SE110's which do sound pretty nice but I think I want something a bit smoother in the mids.


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## Wile E (Oct 14, 2009)

niko084 said:


> Heh now...
> 
> Have you ever heard the Shure SE110 or SE210's?
> I have been considering them against a pair of RE0's....
> ...



RE1's blow both away in mid production. When I bought mine, the RE0's weren't on sale, or else I would've bought those. The RE0's are only $99US right now, I'd go for those. They represent the best bang for the buck value in IEM's right now, easily comparing to many $300 sets. I'll be buying them very shortly.

If you want cheap, the RE2's have some really sweet mids, go for $40US, and compare to most $79 - $120 pairs. (I own them as well)

Head Direct is the best value in IEMs going right now.


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