[K2e2vin]

After looking at some receivers and sound cars, the HT Omega Claro Halo has what I like.  The receivers didn't support Dolby Headphone(or at least ones that were in a reasonable price range for me), and the HT Halo is the only one I can find that has optical input; though it seems Asus cards may sound better.
 
Reason I want optical-in is to hook my Xbox 360 up to the PC(right now I'm using stereo/line-in); and take advantage of Dolby Headphone technology.  The only Asus cards I can find were the Home Theatre ones which most (1.3) were discontinued and the Slim 1.3 does not have a headphone jack at all.
 
Are there any other cards worth looking at?  It just seems odd that I can only find 2 cards that fit what I need, and one happens to be discontinued.  I'll consider receivers but I don't want to spend +$300 on one; plus are the headphone outputs even good since speakers are their main focus?

 

[Xaborus]

Auzentech X-Meridian 2G
 
Please note: This card is not released yet, and has an early December release date.

 

[K2e2vin]

Thanks, I'll look into that!
 
BTW, I found out the optical-input on the HT Omega cards are stereo only; that defeats the purpose of why I want them so I guess that narrows down my decision.

 

[cladisch]

the optical-input on the HT Omega cards are stereo only

So are the digital inputs of the X-Meridian and the Xonars.

 

[MrKazador]

There are no sound cards that accept multichannel audio through optical/coaxial. Your only options are the astro mixamp or jvc su-dh1

 

[K2e2vin]

I've actually decided on just using a receiver that supports Dolby Headphone or Silent Cinema.

 

[mcnoiserdc]

why don't you get the turtle beach dss or astro mixamp?

 

[K2e2vin]

I don't want to deal with physically switching input/outputs all the time(not dedicated to gaming).  Pretty much the receiver is much more versatile and simplifies switching.  Not only that but I can finally use HDMI out and take advantage of surround sound-supported movies on PC and Blu Ray/DVD player.

 

[Xaborus]

Quote:

I don't want to deal with physically switching input/outputs all the time(not dedicated to gaming).  Pretty much the receiver is much more versatile and simplifies switching.  Not only that but I can finally use HDMI out and take advantage of surround sound-supported movies on PC and Blu Ray/DVD player.

What receiver did you choose?
Not many receivers have dolby headphone.. i'm quite interested.

 

[K2e2vin]

I'm going to Best Buy tomorrow to look at Yamaha receivers(V467 or V567; Silent Cinema); I'll probably purchase on the internet since it should be cheaper(no taxes and free shipping if possible).  I believe Sherwood, Harmon Kardon, and Marantz have Dolby Headphones.

 

[ROBSCIX]

There used to be cards that would accept encoded 5.1 audio through the S/Pdif input.  Most of the older Creative cards had the feature BUT, I am pretty sure the DRM in VIsta and Win7 put a stop to it.
There was also another issue with this as there can be a large latency involved, which made gaming with such a system impossible.

 

[mcnoiserdc]

yeah, like you say.
I have experience with creative extigy and creative audigy zs2 notebook, but, no lag that would affect gameplay...
 
Quote:

There used to be cards that would accept encoded 5.1 audio through the S/Pdif input.  Most of the older Creative cards had the feature BUT, I am pretty sure the DRM in VIsta and Win7 put a stop to it.
There was also another issue with this as there can be a large latency involved, which made gaming with such a system impossible.