[rycon]

I have a z-5500 set up with an onboard soundcard and wish to get something dedicated for the extra sound stage.
 
I was thinking of buying the sonar stx from asus.
 
Do you recommend connecting the 5.1 surround via optical instead of 6 channel?
Which soundcard should i get?
 
Not limiting the options too the asus soundcard range.I have a budget of about 250 euros.
 
Thanks
Rycon

 

[khaos974]

Via the 6 channel out, the decoding on the STX is likely to be better than the one on the z-5500.

 

[rycon]

Thanks for the information about connectivity.
 
Now what about the sound card?
 
Any recommendations at the 250 euro price?

 

[Yukon Trooper]

You'll get way better sound out of the analogue-outs on a quality sound-card.  The DAC inside the Z5500 is poop.

 

[khaos974]

Why not the xonar STX from Asus, a lot of people like it here.

 

[cbear1]

I just purchased an STX after doing lots of research.  It is a pure audiophile card which is perfect for me.   If you are a gamer, I dont think it's what you want, but if you are looking for killer sound on headphones this is the sound card for U,. 

 

[rycon]

Thanks for the reply
 
I use a mix of headphones and speakers (z-5500)
 
For gaming the stx should be fine.

 

[ROBSCIX]

You cannot connect up a STX to Z-5500 using analog for surround.  The card is a 2 channel analog output card.  You can using digital but that is a serious waste of money.
The ST and H6 card will give you what you want but the card is PCI only.
There are other great cards out there also.
 

 

[Meliboeus]

I used to have an audiotrak prodigy 7.1 Hifi, it's multichannel, has solid and flexible driver, it's rather cheap and you can even do some opamp rolling if you want. Sound quality was pretty good, clearly superior to any integrated card.

 

[Yukon Trooper]

Sounds like a Prelude or Forte is what you want.

 

[rycon]

So i should go for the st instead of the stx for better surround sound quality?