I just had a great idea. Do you guys all know of AuzenTech, the maker of the X-Meridian sound card? If not look here:
http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-meridian.php
Anyway they are a rather new company and they seem to be geared toward sound quality (look at their about us page and their support page, you will see what I mean), and they even suggest upgrading the opamps on the card to burrbrowns. Anyway they have a suggestion box here:
http://www.auzentech.com/site/support/suggestion.php
So I thought when they heck and sent them this suggestion:
Sound good? I am waiting to see what they say. Anybody feel free to drop them a suggestion backing up mine.
EDIT:
I sent two more e-mails with more suggestions I thought up:
What do you guys think? If I get lucky and these guys come through, we would have one KILLER computer as source/transport sound card, that also would double as an excellent gaming card.
http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-meridian.php
Anyway they are a rather new company and they seem to be geared toward sound quality (look at their about us page and their support page, you will see what I mean), and they even suggest upgrading the opamps on the card to burrbrowns. Anyway they have a suggestion box here:
http://www.auzentech.com/site/support/suggestion.php
So I thought when they heck and sent them this suggestion:
Quote:
| I have some suggestions for a second expansion card to the x-meridian which you could release (the buyer could decide which one he/she wanted). This second expansion card would be geared toward audiophiles and enthusiasts who also like gaming. It should have the following features: 1) A high quality 75ohm RCA digital coax output jack (with proper 75-ohm output circuit) 2) A high quality 75ohm BNC digital coax output jack (again with proper 75-ohm output circuit) 3) A high quality low-jitter internal clock It should also have the following sync features: 1) Word Clock input and output 2) SMPTE input and output 3) MTC output The two onboard coaxial outputs should support bit-perfect digital output alongside ASIO and support 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192 KHz sample rates, along with both 16 and 24-bit output. These sample rates and bit depths should be untouched and not resampled, like it is on the Audigy2 where everything is resampled to 16/48KHz before it is output. Also I am not sure if I am reading the specs of the x-meridian correctly, but it looks as if it only supports 48KHz output and not 44.1 on the analog out as quoted from here "1 pc CMI9780 AC'97 2.3 CODEC for AUX input, CD input, MIC input (16bit/48kHz playback/recording)". You should release an even better sound card that supports true 44.1KHz analog output (soundcards like this are getting rarer and rarer), and with OpenAL support as well (and still support the expansion board outlined above). Anyway I think these are really good suggestions and I would buy this expansion board and upgraded sound card instantly if they were released. |
EDIT:
I sent two more e-mails with more suggestions I thought up:
Quote:
| I have some things I would like to add to my previous suggestion. The digital coax outputs on the expansion board I outlined should be dedicated coax jacks, not combo ones that you can also use as optical. Also for the upgraded x-meridian I suggested, you should use the best DACs you can for the analog output (I would suggest some but I don't know of any multichannel DACs). |
Quote:
| Hi again! Sorry for not remembering this all in one email but I have one last thing to suggest. In the updated sound card I suggested there should be an option via a hardware switch or via software (whichever would be better quality) to disable the onboard amplification and turn the analog outputs into unamped line outs in case you wanted to provide external amplification with a higher quality amp. |
