Worth buying? (Driver problems)

[TEAMKlLLER]

Hi guys, i jusr sold my ST-X because i was going for a Phoebus because i like the design,and the Surround sim.
Are the driver problems fixed or should i go with a ZxR? Are there coming any Drivers?

I like 7.1 alot and im using a beyer DT990 Pro.

[Myk_SilentShado]

I have the Phoebus and driver issues aside that have been reported by other users, I love mine. It does everything I want it to do, the sound is good...but can be better, BUT, that is due to me using 10 year old Creative 5.1 speakers. Other than that, it's a fantastic card. And there will be drivers, it's just a matter of when, not if.

[KILLER_K]

The STX was 4 times the card the Pheobus is. You would be downgrading if you do that. The Pheobus is not even better then Asus's Xonar DGX and DSX. Which is $40-$50 dollar sound cards to begin with. Not to mention we can't even get a driver from Asus. You should spend your money on a company that supports products they sale. Not making the end users beta test their crappy drivers. If we are beta testers we should get the product free. Not beta test and have to pay for a unfinished product.

Go buy a Creative Labs ZxR and be happy and have proper working drivers. This is just plan awful for a company to do things like this. We are still stuck waiting for drivers. Do you think asus cares? No, because we still having nothing to show for our high priced sound card with no support. Buy the Pheobus and play the driver support game if you want. But 2 beta drivers in a year isn't my thing.

Review of the Pheobus:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/07/09/asus_dgx_dsx_xonar_rog_phoebus_sound_cards/#.Ue6fYW33RoU

Official/Unofficial? Beta Tester For The Asus Pheobus ROG Xonar 2012 - 2013

[AVtemp]

I do not recommend Phoebus.
It`s not worth your money.

[hingj0n]

You should buy the Essence ST with the extended daughterboard, this will get you surround options. The Phoebus is still too buggy, just as Killer_K said, you would be downgrading if you'd buy the Phoebus.

[Lothos]

I have both the Xonar Phoebus and the Creative ZxR.

Main reason I have both is I am very pissed at Creative for the fiasco they did with the X-Fi series cards from Vista all the way up to Windows 8. It has been a non stop mess from the massive bloatware to the horrible issues with using SSDs.

Due to that I bought the Xonar Phoebus sound card which is actually a good card under Windows 8 with the latest drivers as long as you use it for gaming and music. It seems the drivers are not signed (or whatever they call it) so some people are reporting issues using it with Netflix etc... The compatability with EAX games does not work under Windows 8 (can't confirm for other OSs sorry) and if you are playing to many things at the same time at maximum settings it will lock up (but in its defense you have to play like 6+ movies etc... at the same time).

Because a good chunk of my games use EAX I decided to put the Xonar Phoebus in my daughters computer and I bought the Creative ZxR because it was on sale for $175 on NewEgg (it was not planned but I could not pass up the sale).

Now the ZxR does everything that has been promised by creative. It also appears the redid the software completely so the bloatware from the X-Fi days is gone. I am no longer seing bootup delays (like the X-Fi) and it comes up fine. About the only issue I have with the ZxR right now is about every 2 days when I boot up the sound does not work. I then have to turn off the PC and turn it back on and it works just fine. It is definately a very good card.

Now comparing the two, when not counting EAX its a tough customer as both cards do very well under Windows 8 for gaming. I tested the mic for both of them under EverQuest 2 and noone could tell the difference between the two. Since there is no difference really other than software options (which are way more abundent in the ZxR than the Phoebus).

I know this does not give you a definitive answer as to which card is better. I suspect the Phoebus (hardware wise) is better but the software and options just do not meet up to par with a card in its price bracket. I really want to love the Phoebus but I had to go back to the ZxR. If the software comes I will just put the ZxR in my daughters PC and move the Phoebus back into my PC.

[sobe]

Don't waste money on the Creative ZXR, it is a complete joke. It sounds great in games, it really does, but for anything outside of games, the sound is lackluster. Creative also rates it up to 600ohm for the amp..... It cannot power a pair of DT990 Premium 600 ohm, whereas the Phoebus has no problem with that.

As far as coming from the STX/ST, the Phoebus would be a side-grade, not a downgrade. Those that say otherwise are running into issues with their setup, in which something else is more than likely interfering. If it was strictly hardware related to the sound card itself, it would be an issue for everyone, period. The latest drivers from ASUS fixed majority of driver/software issues related to the card.

The only 2 cards I would suggest for games, would be the Phoebus or the Creative X-Fi Titanium HD. Outside of games, a good Claro card or Essence ST/X would be the go-to card.

[Tellus]

Do not buy the phoebus, the driver is beta at best and the surround features is even worse and lets not mention the eax support or rather the lack of it. It's been a few years since i was this let down by a component purchase as i am with the phoebus. I have gone through a fairly wide range of sound cards over the years (creative, asus and auzentech cards) and this is by far the worst in terms of driver issues.

The worst part might be the lack of response from asus or perhaps that i didnt read up properly Before buying the card (which i never would have knowing what i know now)

[Cageymaru]

Working WHQL Phoebus drivers for Win 8 64 do NOT exist. You can't even use the Microsoft apps that ship with Win 8 64 because the Asus drivers aren't digitally signed. XBOX Live music app? Banned. Netflix? banned.

The sound crackles if you run the card in the highest sampling rate. That's right it sounds like I put on a 33 vinyl album. Leave this $200 hunk of junk in the store. This is the worst purchase I've ever made as far as peripherals for my PC. Never been more disappointed in my life!

Now contrast this with my Asus Sabertooth 990FX motherboard and the love I have for it is unmeasurable. Unbelievable that the same company that makes some of the most feature laden motherboards in the industry can make a pile of crap "audiophile" sound card. The sound card driver team should be fired and replaced with some people from the motherboard driver team.

[dan_ivan]

I'm sorry to hear that you have so many issues with your card Cageymaru; I don't say the card performs well concerning XBOX and Netflix in windows 8 but the quality of the sound at higher sample rates are beautiful without crackling or other issues. That problem isn't caused from drivers