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[Purchase] Asus Phoebus vs Asus D2X

Stinoo
Level 7

‎10-15-2015 11:55 AM - last edited on ‎03-06-2024 01:49 AM by Community Admin

So my Asus ROG Maximus VII Formula has pretty nice onboard sound, but I think I'd like to use a dedicated sound card.
Now I can either buy the Phoebus or the D2x, both 2nd hand for about 60-65 euro's.

Now reading on these forums I see the Phoebus has a million bugs/problems, so I guess I should take the Asus D2X 7.1?
I've always had Creative but they had the worst possible drivers ever, but it seems Asus also has some WIndows10 problems.

Any advice guys? Would de Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 be a solid choice?
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Tuoni
Level 7

‎10-15-2015 03:30 PM

What are you going to use it with? That 65 euro is better spend somewhere else if you're just going to plug your 30 euro gaming headset in it.
That being said...

D2X uses quality components for all 8 channels unlike the Phoebus which only has TI BB for the headphone and front out, the surround channels are handled by only a so so quality CL. Probably the most important thing is that the D2X can use the UNi Xonar drivers, that alone will make the D2X the winner for me. Only drawback of the D2X is that it needs a floppy connector for power unlike the Phoebus which uses PCIe or Essence series which uses molex. Who has a floppy connector in his/her system in 2015.. you prolly going to need to get an molex/PCIe to floppy power adapter (not included) or run a separate wire from your PSU just for the D2X.
D2X is some years old now but it uses some decent quality components and is only really surpassed by the Xonar STX(II) cards when it comes to SQ.

So in the end it really depends on how important the build in headphone amp is for you. I can tell you now that the D2X can drive all the gaming headsets that are currently on the market without problems. Headphone amp becomes interesting when you are looking at some decent quality headphones (read carefully, i said headphones not headset).

Which leads to my own question; What makes the Phoebus a "gaming" sound card over lets say the D2X? I can't really see what makes the Phoebus a "gaming" sound card other then some software fluff that you can question you need in the first place in a seriously flawed driver package. On the hardware side there is nothing that makes it really different and "gaming" orientated compared with the D2X... except for the headphone amp. But since the Phoebus is aimed at the gaming audience, the same audience that most likely will pair the Phoebus with a gaming headset and not with a high quality headphone where the amp would actually be of any real use.
Guess you can say that i don't really understand the "gaming" aspect of the Phoebus.

My advise: Get the D2X unless the headphone amp is a must have... which in that case you might wonder if you're not better off with something like an Objective2 anyway.
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Stinoo
Level 7
In response to Tuoni

‎10-16-2015 02:17 AM

Tuoni wrote:
What are you going to use it with? That 65 euro is better spend somewhere else if you're just going to plug your 30 euro gaming headset in it.
That being said...

My advise: Get the D2X unless the headphone amp is a must have... which in that case you might wonder if you're not better off with something like an Objective2 anyway.


Thanks for the long, clear and elobrate answer Tuoni.
My starting post was rather short as both cards are second hand, so I have to decide rather quick (today) which one I want, or they might be goners.

I will not be using a headset or headphones, I really don't like the sound of any headphones.
I'll be hooking up a fairly cheap 2.0 speakerset onto the soundcard; a Klipsch B2 2.0 set, powered by an even simpeler Pinoeer A-339 Amplifier.

I really love hi-fi speakersets and I'm hoping to expand my 2.0 speakerset to perhaps a better 2.1 set or maybe a 5.1 set.

Good ingame sound is always nice, but it will mostly be used to listen to music.
I listen to about every genre of music; from hiphop to techno to (punk)rock and classical/older music.

Now my current speakers aren't top notch, they're faily cheap hi-fi speakers.
Combined with a pretty old amplifier I'm not even sure if I will hear any difference between de D2X and my onboard Supreme FX (which is realle just a Realtek 1150 with an Asus software flavor).

But i think € 60,- with shipping included is quite the bargain for a D2X, it's only 2 years old.
It seems like a pretty nice investment for the future, right? 🙂
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Tuoni
Level 7

‎10-16-2015 03:46 AM

So you mostly listen to music and are not interested in high(er) grade headphones... that makes it a no brainer, D2X all the way.

I modded my D2X and removed the LEDS and wiring from the orange round diffuser thingy. There's a lot of light leaking and especially to the top side of the card which didn't look all that good imho. The round orange LED idea is nice but only if that circle is lid up and the rest is pitch black with no light leaking at all. Very easy mod that can be done under 5 minutes 🙂
€60 is a good price for the D2X, I paid quite a lot more for it. Do check the floppy connector when you receive the card. That connector is kinda fragile and might cause all sorts of unexpected behavior from the card if the previous owner broke it or bend it and it doesn't make proper contact anymore.
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Stinoo
Level 7

‎10-16-2015 04:26 AM

I'll ask the seller to make a picture of the floppy connector, they are always terribly fragile and bendable like you say.
Thanks for the info on the orange.. Why on earth would they make it orange, thats insanely hard to match with my other components..
Guess I'll have ot McGuyver the led to prevent light bleeding and perhaps even mod the ledcolor aswell.

I do really hate floppy connectors, so old fashioned. I'd prefer a nice PCI-E 6 pin connector on the D2X.

Im really curious if my sound/music experience will be enhanced with this card, I've read some reviews (Guru etc) and back in the days this card was top-notch.

I think I'll buy it, I'm too tempted to experience it 🙂
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Tuoni
Level 7

‎10-16-2015 06:18 AM

Personally i would like to see a D3X which would be a mix of the D2X's connectivity and form factor combined with the quality components and circuitry of the Essense STX II and to be nice it would have the PCIe connector from the Phoebus but nothing else from the Phoebus 😛

STX II 7.1 is the closest that comes to that description but in depends on the H6 add-on board for connectivity. STX II + H6 is pretty much a dual slot configuration which i simply don't have the room for with my SLI setup and on top of that it comes with a butt ugly grey IDE type cable to connect the STX II and the H6 together... which needs to be connected by twisting the cable as the connection headers on the STX II and H6 do not lineup 1:1 while the IDE type connection cable is 1:1 connectors on both sides >_<

The ALC1150 is a pretty capable onboard unit so you need some decent equipment to be able tell it apart from each other.

And for what it's worth; The D2X consumes about half the amount of energy compared to the Phoebus (5W for the D2X vs. 10W for the Phoebus)
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