Asus Xonar U3 or Creative Labs Sound Blaster Play! 2?

[0144walter]

Hi! 😀
I'm looking to buy a USB sound card for PURE gaming. My question is: Asus Xonar U3 or Creative Labs Sound Blaster Play! 2? To a quick look, I think that the Play! 2 is better...

 

[0144walter]

Oh yeah, my headset is Sennheiser PC 320

 

[cyber1]

Hello,
I found this thread because im searching and debating the exact same thing. Which one did you end up getting?
Anyone can recommend which one would be a better choice? The asus one is about 15$ more expensive from what i found

 

[0144walter]

Hello,
I found this thread because im searching and debating the exact same thing. Which one did you end up getting?
Anyone can recommend which one would be a better choice? The asus one is about 15$ more expensive from what i found

So now I've got Xonar U3, and the sound is way more good than integrated audio chip. Many people told me that Xonar U3 has better audio quality than Play! 2. But the negative thing about Xonar U3 is that drivers are pretty outdated (still old BETA drivers for Windows 8.1), but I havent got any problems yet (after 8 months, no problem)

 

[cyber1]

Hello,
I found this thread because im searching and debating the exact same thing. Which one did you end up getting?
Anyone can recommend which one would be a better choice? The asus one is about 15$ more expensive from what i found

So now I've got Xonar U3, and the sound is way more good than integrated audio chip. Many people told me that Xonar U3 has better audio quality than Play! 2. But the negative thing about Xonar U3 is that drivers are pretty outdated (still old BETA drivers for Windows 8.1), but I havent got any problems yet (after 8 months, no problem)

Thank you for replying. Good to know that the u3 is working well. I don't use w8.1, but still, they should move that from beta stage.
The u3 seems to be the most recommended choice i just want something that sound the same or better than the onboard sound card i have on my laptop, so both of them probably do. I just need to really think and decide if the u3 is worth the extra 15$ since i didn't want to spend much on the laptop that is getting a bit old.
The thing with the creative play 2 is that i have read that the software can be a bit heavy on the computer and i don't really want something like that to slow down my computer and that is really making me consider the u3.
Anyway, thank you for letting me know which one you picked and how it turned out!