[Nenso]

Hey you guys, first post in a long time.. I'm getting a new computer and I want a soundcard that has an optical in/out

Does the Emu 1212M have an optical slot? (most important question)

If not do I have to get the 1616M which I won't be using much since I don't record..

What else can I get?

Thanks

 

[poo]

Yes, the 1212m has optical.

If you plan to use optical to bypass the DAC and use an external, there are heaps of cheaper options. What are you using it for and how do you plan to connect it?

 

[Nenso]

I have an audio technica amp ATH-25D i think.. it has an optical slot that I would like to connect to my computer. I want something that is decent.. is the 1212M good? What do you think?

 

[poo]

Yeah, it's great, but for what you want to achieve it's also overkill. If you have money to burn, then go for it.

Most suggest that optical is optical - it doesn't matter what you are using because the signal being transmitted will be the same (I have not proven this to myself, only read what others have found). Based on this, for what you want to do, you may as well buy the cheapest card you can find with optical out. Using a digital connection will bypass the DAC of the card, and use the DAC from the amp.

If you also plan to use an analogue connection for other devices (thereby using the DAC of the sound card) you need to consider a card that has a higher end DAC, which is when you would look towards something like the 1212m.

 

[d-cee]

E-MU 0404 PCI has optical and is much cheaper

Chaintech AV-710 also has optical and cheaper still

If it's out of a computer, some of the new motherboards also have optical

 

[Culverin]

yeah, my mobo has optical out.

but i thought to the whole point of not using computer as transport was that i creates load on the system? like how an emu 0404 usb sucks up resources?

however, if that isn't the case, wouldn't skipping the soundcard entirely with a optical out capable mobo be the optical ideal? less crap in between = cleanner?

 

[Alexander1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d-cee /img/forum/go_quote.gif E-MU 0404 PCI has optical and is much cheaper Chaintech AV-710 also has optical and cheaper still If it's out of a computer, some of the new motherboards also have optical

I'm in the same boat as the author of this thread. I'm buying a new DAC and amp soon, but I'd like to find a pci card with coax out. I'm stunned by the cheap price of the Chaintech and if there are no alternatives that have on-board coax out then I'll go with that.

Is there a cheap PCI card with coax out that you know of off the top of your head? Thanks

 

[d-cee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Culverin /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah, my mobo has optical out. but i thought to the whole point of not using computer as transport was that i creates load on the system? like how an emu 0404 usb sucks up resources? however, if that isn't the case, wouldn't skipping the soundcard entirely with a optical out capable mobo be the optical ideal? less crap in between = cleanner?

the CPU load would be negligable, unless i'm mistaken here. the benefit of a dedicated card is usually the associated software. problem is, most on board optical isn't bit perfect, and this is fairly important. at least imho. a lot of the motherboards like to resample to 48kHz and more times than not
Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm in the same boat as the author of this thread. I'm buying a new DAC and amp soon, but I'd like to find a pci card with coax out. I'm stunned by the cheap price of the Chaintech and if there are no alternatives that have on-board coax out then I'll go with that. Is there a cheap PCI card with coax out that you know of off the top of your head? Thanks

m-audio revolution 5.1 comes to mind