Can someone recommend me a good creative sound card for listening to music

Question

Hi all,
I am thinking to buy a Creative sound card for my new PC.
I have browsed the Creative web site but found out that there are just too many options for me to choose from, like X-FI, e-MuRecon3D Fatal1ty Champion, Recon3D PCIe, E-MU 1212M PCIe.
I have no idea which one is the best for me since I like listening to music.
Please give me some advice.
Thanks
Kitty.

Answer 1

It's ultimately going to depend on how particular you are, and what output you're going to be using.
Arguably the X-Fi Titanium HD will give the clearest output of the whole lot. A measurable 122dB SNR means you'll basically have to turn it up to the threshold of pain before you'll hear any noise produced by the card itself. That doesn't mean there won't be any noise at all in the output - just that the card realistically won't add any that didn't already exist in the source material. Further to this, when run in Entertainment mode you'll also have access to the THX enhancements over the standard Creative ones, which I personally find to be substantially better in actual listening. The EMI shield and changeable op-amps are just gravy.
Of course, there's always fine print. The 122dB SNR only applies to the front outputs, for example. That's not to say the rest aren't very good - they're rated at between 115dB and 118dB - just that they aren't as good. Odds are you won't really care but its still worth mentioning. The other major limitation (in my opinion) is the absence of a good headphone pre-amplifier, but that may or may not be a non-issue depending on whether you use headphones or already have an external one (or, like me, you feel inclined to make your own to solve that limitation).
The other good option would be the Recon3D. I wouldn't bother going with any of the upper market ones for music (or for any reason, for that matter) unless the front drive bay or directional microphone are of any particular importance to you (NB I bought the Fatal1ty Champion edition - still not entirely sure why). An argument could be made for the EMI shield, but with so few components on the board it probably isn't stopping a whole heap of noise anyway over the miniature "shield" on the SPU itself. When compared in raw specs to the Titanium HD, at a glance it would appear to be vastly inferior - 102dB SNR ratio (albeit constant across all outputs) is quite a bit lower, after all.
However, it's important to keep in mind exactly what that means. 102dB SNR still means you'll have to turn the volume up quite a bit to get any extra noise added to your output. You're talking around the volume of a power saw at a little over 3 feet, so realistically it's quite loud - and it's over the level which is generally considered to cause hearing loss with sustained exposure (95dB). You also have to remember that this doesn't apply to the S/PDIF outputs (nor does the HD's 122dB) since they're entirely at the mercy of whatever decoder you're using, so if you're using that output than the extra expense of the HD is pretty much entirely wasted. And, as a major plus, all Recon3D cards have what seems to be a pretty decent headphone pre-amp, which makes a very appreciable difference in listening, as well as supporting the various THX enhancements.
The short version:
- If you're listening mostly via stereo analogue speakers, get the Titanium HD.
- If you're listening mostly via headphones, get the Recon3D (I personally think the pre-amp is better than the higher SNR).
- If you're listening mostly via S/PDIF to an external amp, it doesn't matter (but get the Recon3D because it's cheaper).