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Prelude and Forte
- Thread starter Garretta
- Start date
The Prelude seems to be more expensive outside of the US, I have no idea why, but the mark-up just seems to be through the roof (compare US Newegg to Canadian Newegg, consider the exchange is 1:1.04 right now), so part of it is probably related to that
that said, the Prelude's advantages over the Forte:
- better A/D quality
- better input/output options
- better mic inputs (somewhat)
if you just want a nice soundcard with good outputs and all of the X-Fi jazz, Forte is more than good enough, the Prelude is more of what I'd call a "multimedia soundcard", in that its designed to be a jack of all trades, the Forte is more in the "gaming soundcard" league, its designed to have stellar internal features and output support, and not a lot else, driving cost down (which is 110% perfect for the vast majority of users, hence why they've become so popular)
so the increased price does give you some extra features, but if you're never going to use them, why pay for them?
that said, the Prelude's advantages over the Forte:
- better A/D quality
- better input/output options
- better mic inputs (somewhat)
if you just want a nice soundcard with good outputs and all of the X-Fi jazz, Forte is more than good enough, the Prelude is more of what I'd call a "multimedia soundcard", in that its designed to be a jack of all trades, the Forte is more in the "gaming soundcard" league, its designed to have stellar internal features and output support, and not a lot else, driving cost down (which is 110% perfect for the vast majority of users, hence why they've become so popular)
so the increased price does give you some extra features, but if you're never going to use them, why pay for them?
they're generally regarded to be functionally identical, even if the underlying components are somewhat different
you shouldn't lose functionality, if thats what you're wondering about, as the Auzen amplifier will drive everything within in its rated impedance range just fine (iirc 32-600 ohms, just like the Asus)
it will be the same/indiscernible assuming no malfunction/defective hardware
Lateralus
More [H]uman than Human
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2004
- Messages
- 18,509
I thought the STX does pretty well in games considering the lack of surround sound. Did you just sell it because you need a card that will do surround sound?
I would like to sit down and do a comparison of my STX and Forte for both games and music, and keep the one I like better...but I can't seem to find the time!
I thought the STX does pretty well in games considering the lack of surround sound. Did you just sell it because you need a card that will do surround sound?
I would like to sit down and do a comparison of my STX and Forte for both games and music, and keep the one I like better...but I can't seem to find the time!
the STX can do surround sound via digital
and yeah, it has the Xonar drivers and h/w acceleration with Dolby HT, it should do nearly identical to the Forte under Vista/7