Hello all.
 
I'm expecting to switch to a 64-bit version of Windows 7 soon and I need a change of sound cards. Currently I'm using an Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 HiFi but I would like a new sound card with proper Win7 x64 support. I'm guessing most or even all modern sound cards should have good drivers for that OS but it doesn't hurt to ask.
 
The sound quality has to be good of course as it will be used quite a lot for music. It doesn't have to be anything mind-blowing but it does have to be good (decent DACs, opamps, etc.). I believe the Prodigy cards are like that.
The card must have good driver support - stable and with a good set of features (like for example cloning the output of the first two channels to the rest, like the Prodigy cards could do). Again, probably all cards now have good support but I haven't been following any company's drivers so I really don't know how good they are and what they offer in terms of funcionality.
The card has to have analog outputs as it will be used with 5.1 multimedia speakers (MegaWorks 550D currently). Any digital outputs would be a plus in case I get something more advanced later on, although it's an unlikely scenario. I don't care about digital inputs at all.
The card should also be able to drive my headphones (Sennheiser HD201, Beyerdynamic DTX900 and Creative Aurvana Live!). I'm guessing these aren't very difficult to drive but still...
In terms of interface I don't care much but I'm guessing PCIe and USB are a bit better as they are the newer ones and with a "brighter" future.
I do play games but EAX/OpenAL and other hardcore gaming technologies are not that important to me.
Budget is 100-150 euro (I'm in Europe obviously ).
 
I've been looking at the ASUS' Xonar D2/PM and D2X, and the Auzentech's Bravura and Forte. All of them have similar prices and fit the budget fine. The Bravura has changeable opamps which is nice. Is there some kind of noticeable difference between the D2/PM and D2X or is it just the interface that's different? Also, how do the ASUS cards compare to the Auzentech ones - any of them better than the others at certain tasks or would they be virtually the same for my needs?
 
Any input and other suggestions would be highly appreciated.

The Audiotrak Prodigy and Auzentech Bravura are fake X-Fi cards, like the XtremeAudio, so I tend to disregard them. For Auzentech, that leaves the old Prelude, the Forte, and the HomeTheater HD.
 
If you go for a Forte, try to look for a newer revision that has a heatsink on the EMU20k2 DSP. Less chance of problems that way.
 
I have no experience with the Xonar cards (because EAX/OpenAL really is that important to me), but they're said to be good hardware...with crappy stock drivers, hence these modded drivers.
 
To me, the main differences boil down to the X-Fi APU vs. the C-Media chipset, as well as CMSS-3D Headphone vs. Dolby Headphone and so forth, mostly DSP stuff. In terms of analog output quality, they're likely all within the "competent" range.

Thank you for the quick reply.
Well, the HomeTheater HD is beyond my budget. The Prelude can't be found here so it's also out. This basically leaves the Forte and the D2X. I keep finding posts about how Auzentech cards die rather quickly or they have some annoying issues. Is all this exaggerated or is it true?

My Prelude still works fine, and I've had it for four years.
 
My Forte, while I had it (traded for a Titanium HD) worked fine on the rear outputs, no need to isolate the mounting bracket, but the front-panel output would have this weird noise added every so often, with no sense of predictability. (Not that I'd ever use front-panel audio jacks on a computer case given how much noise they add...) The receipt from the original owner (bought it used) shows that it was purchased in March 2010, and unlike most Forte cards I've seen, it had a heatsink on the X-Fi DSP. That indicates a newer batch to me, one that likely had the problems fixed.

I had a Xonar HDAV1.3 and later on a Xonar STX, The asus stock drivers didn't give me any issues at all in windows 7 64bit, The only reason I install the Uni Xonar drivers because the modded drivers are updated faster then Asus own drivers with Newer C-Media base drivers.  I had a auzentech Bravura my self that  also didn't give me any issues in windows 7 64bit and worked good too for using a Xtreme audio chipset. Tho it major con is that the bravura has a high failure rate. I notice alot of people bravuras die out of the blue.  The one I sold died on some one a year later.