I'm no longer satisfied with my motherboard's on-board sound card. So I'm looking at dedicated sound cards around the $100 range. I've been looking at several possibilities, but I've never invested in audio before.
I use headphones exclusively while at the computer. I'm in voice chat (Ventrilo, xfire, TeamSpeak, Skype) constantly. Also, I play games such as Call of Duty 4, C&C Zero Hour, and hopefully Vindictus, where accurate sound direction and volume are important. Occasionally I will watch movies or listen to music.
I've gone from cheap dollar store earphones to $20 headsets to an entry-level $50 headset that I have now. Sound and voice chat quality has improved at every step. A dedicated sound card seems like the next step, but I'm not sure what I should be looking for.
Tech and audiophile advice would be very much appreciated.
My computer:
Motherboard: ASUS P5Q PRO TURBO
#I have free slots for both PCI and PCIe x1
Sound Card: VIA VT1708S
Speakers/Headphones: Razer Piranha
# Headphones:
# Freq. response: 18 - 22,000 Hz
# Impedance: 32 Ohms
# SPL (@ 1 kHz, 1 Vrms): 114 dB
# Cable: 3.0 meters
# Microphone:
# Freq. response: 80 - 15,000 Hz
# Sensitivity (@ 1 kHz, 1V/Pa): -38 dB
# Impedance: ~2 kOhms
# Uni-Directional pick up pattern
Operating System: Windows Vista Business 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300 @ 2.50GHz
Memory: OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2X2GB DDR2-800
Video Card: Saphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
Possible Sound Cards:
AuzenTech X-PLOSION Cinema 7.1
$59.99 before $20.00 rebate
Pros: Price
Cons: PCI connection (does that matter?), old drivers
ASUS Xonar DX 7.1
$90.27
Pros: Dolby Headphone (sounds really nice from reviews), PCIe, I'm an ASUS fan
Cons: Price... kinda
AuzenTech Forte
$139.99 before $30.00 rebate
Pros: Headphone Amp, Creative X-Fi signal processing for EAX (Do I need them?)
Cons: Price, no Dolby Headphone
No Creative cards are in the list because I've heard some pretty bad things about them =P Kinda like Dell and Linksys of PC audio.