Recon3D THX PCIe Fatal1ty Sound Card $90+ $18 Shipping USD (around $120AUD Total) from Amazon

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LReSublimity on 06/09/2013 - 16:39 amazon.com (488 clicks)

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Was searching for a sound card and well… this deal looks pretty good.

In total, around $120AUD delivered. Staticice shows around $165 to be cheapest: http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=recon+3d+ch…

Stuff on amazon:

• Powered by Sound Core3D a high performance sound and voice processor for accelerating advanced autio and voice technologies
• THX TruStudio Pro Sound Technology for unprecedented levels of audio realism
• CrystalVoice voice enhancement and clarity technology
• Scout Mode so you can hear your enemies before they hear you
• Dolby Digital Live allows you to connect your home theatre system through a single digital cable

Price History at CamelCamelCamel.

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  shrewduser on 06/09/2013 - 16:50

  +4

  I've heard these cards aren't really that good, better off with a xonar. creative are a pretty hopeless company and i personally will never forgive them for killing A3D.

  • 

    c0balt on 06/09/2013 - 17:15

    +4

    Their driver support is horrible too. Buy a card for XP and if you want to use it on Vista or 7 then it loses 90% of the functionality and a loss of fidelity as a result.

    • 

      ReSublimity on 06/09/2013 - 17:35

      Hmmm.. how long ago was this? Just curious because well.. Im still shopping and i want a decent card thats value for money =)

      I found it funny how this is cheaper on amazon than the card alone with the that from mounted tray thingy lol.

      • 

        GunnerMcDagget on 06/09/2013 - 18:12

        +5

        I have one of these, an Asus Xonar DG, Asus Xonar Essence ST/STX and X-Fi XtremeGamer (all different machines). Both the X-Fi and the Xonar Essence are better than this. The only upside's of this over the X-Fi is that the Recon3d has 2 fullsize optical ports (one input / one output), whereas the X-Fi uses a multi-flex port which means you need a 3.5mm to optical adapter which is cheap but breaks easily. The X-fi also needs extra firmware that you have to buy from Creative (about $5) for 5.1 surround through SPDIF (Optical).

        The Asus Xonar DG is rubbish compared to all 3 cards. No 5.1 SPDIF support, only analog 5.1 and the quality is well below par.

        The headphone amps in the Xonar DG and the Recon3D are both rubbish and not worth buying the card for.

        If you're looking for a cheaper card that's better than the Recon3D get an X-Fi (They're all good), plus you can get good 3rd party drivers for the X-Fi's.

        If you're willing to fork out a good amount of cash go for the Xonar Essence ST/STX. If 5.1 doesn't really matter you can get just the Essence ST without the STX addon.

      • 

        c0balt on 06/09/2013 - 18:48

        Not too long ago. Probably around 2007. I had bought an Audigy 2 ZS card which at the time was a beast (still is, if it would play nice with Windows 7/8) but it just wouldn't play nice with anything besides XP.

        It could encode 24-192 DDL/DTS on the card and pass that through to my Z5500 for 5.1 decoding there. Also had really good tools for upsampling and really increased the soundstage and fullness of music. Once I moved to Vista and then 7, it lost most the functionality and it was like using onboard. I think this was due to the software and driver incompatibility, not just one or the other. There was a well liked modder who repackaged the software but it wasn't the same for me, some things worked and others didn't.

        I just did a Google search and see that some newish drivers came out in 2010 for Windows 7 compatibility, and in 2012 new software came out. I'm going to dust off the card and put it in over the weekend to give the new drivers and software a go.

      • 

        masuta on 07/09/2013 - 11:17

        What you want to look for is PAX audigy drivers:

        http://www.hardwareheaven.com/pax-drivers/

      • 

        hollykryten on 07/09/2013 - 13:24

        I've got an X-Fi Titanium HD which is even older than this Creative card in the topic. No problems at all running under Windows 8.1 Pro Preview using the latest driver which supports Windows 8. Music and games sound superb on the card. But this was a high end sound card in its days.

  • 

    rt1 on 07/09/2013 - 08:48

    +1

    Wow, just read the story behind A3D - Creative really are a bunch of d*cks.

• 

  9674784 on 06/09/2013 - 16:58

  +1 because Dolby Digital Live is brilliant. Have my PC hooked up to my Pioneer surround sound system and could never go back to anything less.

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  deann on 06/09/2013 - 18:01

  +2

  as c0balt said above creative support is crap software and drivers are packaged to the product. when a product reaches end of life all support ceases even when the software and drivers are updated for the next product because their install is locked to the new product. That is creatives so called support - they know about it but try to force you to replace your hardware because they can.

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  Vladdo on 06/09/2013 - 19:27

  +2

  Just be aware that this is the old model and has been superceded by the newer Soundblaster Z range. There is a substantial difference in terms of sound quality between the two models.

  • 

    ReSublimity on 06/09/2013 - 19:51

    Well, it is like 60% off hahah!

    Thanks for the heads up! :)

• 

  OzzyB2013 on 07/09/2013 - 01:51

  This an "old model" (although it still retails in Australia for $299 on creative Australia site)

  I have Asus Xonor Essence STX and support is pitiful (check the Asus Essence forum) no help no driver updates in past 3 years supposed to be audiophile but no recording utility, although I'm quite happy most of time with it.
  Windows 7 i7 920 machine sometimes crashes in windows the error is 9/10 the Asus Essence card
  my next PC a Win 8 machine (when 10 point touch screens freely available) I will get either Creative Z, Zx, ZxR
  my old soundblaster then the audigy worked well on XP machine I will go back to creative but not an old model card like this the basic creative Z is about this amazon price.