Just bought the ASUS Phoebus 7.1, how is it ?

[FrizerIce]

I got it for 130$, im gonna buy a new pair of headphones soon

was the price good ? How is that sound card for gaming ?

I am sure about the buy, that's why I opened this thread

Thanks

[BrianPena]

Uh oh.

[FrizerIce]

Uh oh.

Please explain ? What does "Uh oh" mean ? I have 24 hours to cancel the order

[BrianPena]

Please explain ? What does "Uh oh" mean ? I have 24 hours to cancel the order

I expected a bunch of people to barrage you on the fact that you bought such a high end sound card, but I forgot this forum is a lot nicer than others . Anyways an external dac/amp is usually better than a sound card. I honestly don't know why the Phoebus is so much but it says that it's $300 on amazon normal price. Since you got it for $130 it is definitely a good price, I just don't know if its better than a external dac/amp like one from Mayflower electronics or something. Where'd you get that deal btw?

[creatip123]

This question should have appeared before the purchase, not after. Since it's on its way, just use it, and if you don't like it, re-pack and sell it as open box.

[genkifd]

very good sound card - only draw back is the very poor driver support.

 

former owner of the Phoebus.

[Lays]

Had one, it was not very good whatsoever.  I bought a fiio d3 and fiio e5 off ebay for $38, and it sounded exactly the same.

[ShearMe]

I expected a bunch of people to barrage you on the fact that you bought such a high end sound card

 

[BoredErica]

This question should have appeared before the purchase, not after.

And I'd cancel it.

[GamerDude]

I'm a present owner of a Phoebus, which I'd used for both headphones/headset (HX Cloud) and speakers (Klipsch PM2.1). Before getting an external DAC/AMP. I did hook up my HD800 to it, the Phoebus powered the HD800 easily, though it sounded a tad bright (HD800 tend to be a tad on the bright side with certain soundcards or DAC/AMP's). Not a problem with the HX Cloud since it's closed backed and is not known to be bright. I find the Phoebus to be pretty good for gaming and watching movies, and I have zero issue with the driver, it's been working great since the day I'd installed it in my 2nd rig.

 

For music appreciation, I have a headphone DAC/AMP/PreAMP hooked up to my HD800 playing DSD64 tracks with foobar and it's eargasm. I don't see myself going back to soundcards for audio listening any more. Hence, I've dedicated my Phoebus solely for gaming and movies which it handles quite nicely.

[BoredErica]

...the Phoebus powered the HD800 easily, though it sounded a tad bright (HD800 tend to be a tad on the bright side with certain soundcards or DAC/AMP's). Not a problem with the HX Cloud since it's closed backed. I have a headphone DAC/AMP/PreAMP hooked up to my HD800 playing DSD64 tracks and it's eargasm. I don't see myself going back to soundcards for audio listening any more.

[FrizerIce]

I expected a bunch of people to barrage you on the fact that you bought such a high end sound card, but I forgot this forum is a lot nicer than others . Anyways an external dac/amp is usually better than a sound card. I honestly don't know why the Phoebus is so much but it says that it's $300 on amazon normal price. Since you got it for $130 it is definitely a good price, I just don't know if its better than a external dac/amp like one from Mayflower electronics or something. Where'd you get that deal btw?

Thanks man ! I suddenly saw it for 500 NIS (in Israel) , equals to 130 USD and I was like "dafuk ? it should cost around 250~300$ .. So I instantly got it lol

 

This question should have appeared before the purchase, not after. Since it's on its way, just use it, and if you don't like it, re-pack and sell it as open box.

Good idea, but with 0 experience in audio I won't have anything to compare it against

 

very good sound card - only draw back is the very poor driver support.

 

former owner of the Phoebus.

ty !!

 

Had one, it was not very good whatsoever.  I bought a fiio d3 and fiio e5 off ebay for $38, and it sounded exactly the same.

but your fiio doesn't support 7.1 surround sound right ? I am into competitive gaming

 

And I'd cancel it.

 

why would you

I'm a present owner of a Phoebus, which I'd used for both headphones/headset (HX Cloud) and speakers (Klipsch PM2.1). Before getting an external DAC/AMP. I did hook up my HD800 to it, the Phoebus powered the HD800 easily, though it sounded a tad bright (HD800 tend to be a tad on the bright side with certain soundcards or DAC/AMP's). Not a problem with the HX Cloud since it's closed backed and is not known to be bright. I find the Phoebus to be pretty good for gaming and watching movies, and I have zero issue with the driver, it's been working great since the day I'd installed it in my 2nd rig.

 

For music appreciation, I have a headphone DAC/AMP/PreAMP hooked up to my HD800 playing DSD64 tracks with foobar and it's eargasm. I don't see myself going back to soundcards for audio listening any more. Hence, I've dedicated my Phoebus solely for gaming and movies which it handles quite nicely.

Thanks a lot

[creatip123]

Well, if it's used more for competitive gaming, then I guess it's ok.

 

The thing is, PC's sound card and/or onboard aren't originally intended to be used with either headphones or passive speakers. It's somewhere in-between a headphone amp and a speaker amp, I think.

 

For passive speakers, there are obviously not enough juice to push those speakers.

 

For headphones, the output impedance is too high (for low impedance, portable headphones), vulnerable to EMIs, and sometimes it can't give out enough currents for driving some types of headphones. 

 

It's originally meant to be used with powered speaker sets, 'multimedia speakers' type. 

 

They can be used for headphones, that's for sure. It's just an external dedicated headphone dac/amp will almost always give better results. 

[BoredErica]

 

why would you

 

Because why are you getting one in the first place? If you're not 100% sure what you're getting it for then I'd hold off. The sound quality is inferior to a good dac/amp solution, most of the stuff on the Pheobus are gimmicks. I don't know what surround sound with Pheobus is like, but STX was horrible. SBX was much better and so was Razer Surround which is free.

[FrizerIce]

Because why are you getting one in the first place? If you're not 100% sure what you're getting it for then I'd hold off. The sound quality is inferior to a good dac/amp solution, most of the stuff on the Pheobus are gimmicks. I don't know what surround sound with Pheobus is like, but STX was horrible. SBX was much better and so was Razer Surround which is free.

I bought it so I can use it with the headphones im gonna buy as I did write .. I didn't buy it "cuz it was on sale" .. I knew I wanted one, and the price of the one I got was good..

Thank you

[FrizerIce]

Well, if it's used more for competitive gaming, then I guess it's ok.

 

The thing is, PC's sound card and/or onboard aren't originally intended to be used with either headphones or passive speakers. It's somewhere in-between a headphone amp and a speaker amp, I think.

 

For passive speakers, there are obviously not enough juice to push those speakers.

 

For headphones, the output impedance is too high (for low impedance, portable headphones), vulnerable to EMIs, and sometimes it can't give out enough currents for driving some types of headphones. 

 

It's originally meant to be used with powered speaker sets, 'multimedia speakers' type. 

 

They can be used for headphones, that's for sure. It's just an external dedicated headphone dac/amp will almost always give better results. 

but a DAC/AMP won't give you the features (like Dolby 7.1) that a sound card will come with .. Also I am not sure if it was meant to "be used with powered speaker sets, 'multimedia speakers' type. "

Thank you

[BoredErica]

I bought it so I can use it with the headphones im gonna buy as I did write .. I didn't buy it "cuz it was on sale" .. I knew I wanted one, and the price of the one I got was good..

Thank you

Ok FrizerIce, we know you intend to use the sound card with headphones, that wasn't the question. What exactly are you looking for that made you do the purchase? Better sound quality? Or what? 

 

but a DAC/AMP won't give you the features (like Dolby 7.1) that a sound card will come with .. Also I am not sure if it was meant to "be used with powered speaker sets, 'multimedia speakers' type. "

Thank you

All Dolby 7.1 is is some type of virtual surround, and it is not the only virtual surround tech to exist, as I've mentioned before SBX or Razer Surround exist, which is either free or probably better IMO.

[swifty7]

in terms of sound quality, how do you guys compare the phoebus to the creative titanium hd?

[EmoRarity]

in terms of sound quality, how do you guys compare the phoebus to the creative titanium hd?

Both are pretty much the same. You could also argue that they are also like paying for more onboard audio, but I digress.

[BoredErica]

The sound quality should be very close, and if you're getting a sound card for a good reason (eg, for a specific surround sound tech you're looking for), that's an irrelevant question.

[FrizerIce]

Ok FrizerIce, we know you intend to use the sound card with headphones, that wasn't the question. What exactly are you looking for that made you do the purchase? Better sound quality? Or what? 

 

 

All Dolby 7.1 is is some type of virtual surround, and it is not the only virtual surround tech to exist, as I've mentioned before SBX or Razer Surround exist, which is either free or probably better IMO.

I am looking for better sound quality than my G930 Headset by Logitech, and better surround sound in games.

Edit: better sound stage for games

[BoredErica]

I am looking for better sound quality than my G930 Headset by Logitech, and better surround sound in games.

If your top priority is surround sound and you've tried Razer Surround and you're not happy, I would recommend an SBX card instead. You can try to pick them apart with Youtube comparisons. I have a negative view of all Dolby sound processing. That's really what you're doing with buying a sound card, buying it for the surround sound tech. Not necessarily "better" than a free solution like Razer surround. In terms of audio quality, the improvement should be quite marginal, and if sound quality was your top priority, external dac/amp would be best but for most people such an upgrade is not even worth it because the difference is surprisingly small. It also depends on what motherboard you have, if you have one from over half a decade ago, maybe the onboard sound isn't as good as it should be.

 

I don't think it makes sense to have sound cards that cost more than the headphones. Money spent on the sound card could have been spent on the headphones where it will make a larger difference, which is why I suggested you cancel the order.

[creatip123]

but a DAC/AMP won't give you the features (like Dolby 7.1) that a sound card will come with .. Also I am not sure if it was meant to "be used with powered speaker sets, 'multimedia speakers' type. "

Thank you

 

I am looking for better sound quality than my G930 Headset by Logitech, and better surround sound in games.

 

Razer surround gives just that, for free download, and majority of games nowadays, especially FPS, already got their own built-in virtual surround sound engine. But ok, if you think you'll find what you're looking for in that phoebus, then it's all good. It's already bought anyway, so the common sense is just put it to good use. 

 

That's why in the first post, I said, this question should be asked before purchase, not after. All the different opinions will only give you something to think about, about something that's been done anyway (purchased). Read the majority opinions. Should you choose to:

 

- listen to them, you'll have second thoughts on your purchase, that 'cancer in the back of your head that you can't quite shake it off'

- ignore them, then this topic loses it's point

[creatip123]

If your top priority is surround sound and you've tried Razer Surround and you're not happy, I would recommend an SBX card instead. You can try to pick them apart with Youtube comparisons. I have a negative view of all Dolby sound processing. That's really what you're doing with buying a sound card, buying it for the surround sound tech. Not necessarily "better" than a free solution like Razer surround. In terms of audio quality, the improvement should be quite marginal, and if sound quality was your top priority, external dac/amp would be best but for most people such an upgrade is not even worth it because the difference is surprisingly small. It also depends on what motherboard you have, if you have one from over half a decade ago, maybe the onboard sound isn't as good as it should be.

 

I don't think it makes sense to have sound cards that cost more than the headphones. Money spent on the sound card could have been spent on the headphones where it will make a larger difference, which is why I suggested you cancel the order.

 

Dolby surround is quite nice. It's the dolby headphone that's kinda crappy.

[t0wer]

I am looking for better sound quality than my G930 Headset by Logitech, and better surround sound in games.

Edit: better sound stage for games

 

 

sorry if a newer headphone(set) was mentioned but If you are using G930's with usb, you will not be using the sound card at all, you will be using logitech's usb sound card