[kilgoretrout]

I have been considering getting an the Emu 0404 USB as an external source. However, I discovered that it can only do digital output if your media application supports ASIO. I am assuming that this is a limitation specific to the Emu 0404 USB. Unfortunately, this limitation is not acceptable for my uses so I need an alternative.

I am looking for a device in the 150-300 price range. I have no preference between USB or Firewire. I do not have Digital Out on my laptop, so I want a device that has the ability to pass-through DTS and Dobly Digital so I can use the device to pass audio to a A/V receiver for home theater use.

I was excited about the Emu because this way I could have decent recording capabilities too. I would like the potential alternative to offer recording abilities, but I can do without it if I must. If the device has a headphone-out with a good quality amplifier, that would be a lovely bonus too.

Any suggestions?

 

[infinitesymphony]

If pass-through is your main consideration, what about the M-Audio Transit?

 

[kilgoretrout]

The M-Audio Transit will not work for me because there are no drivers for Vista x64.

 

[infinitesymphony]

What interfaces support Vista 64-bit besides the E-MU products? I can't think of any off-hand unless they use the default USB drivers.

Edit: I've just checked the E-MU 0404 USB manual and the tip sheet E-MU USB Interfaces on Vista and I don't see any mention of ASIO being required for pass-through. It says, "S/PDIF is only available for recording via ASIO and Kernel Streaming..." That would only apply to the digital input, not the output.

 

[kilgoretrout]

This link explains that ASIO is required for S/PDIF output:
Setting up S/PDIF output with Windows XP based applications.

Quote:

The E-MU 0404 USB is not capable of direct S/PDIF output using Windows applications that are not ASIO compatible. The work around is to do a patch loop from the analog outputs to the analog inputs and then you will get a S/PDIF output.

There is no mention of a change of this limitation in Vista, so I am assuming it exists on Vista as well.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Ah, thanks for that link... I'd heard about the ASIO requirement before but hadn't seen the confirmation from E-MU. That's a bummer.

 

[infinitesymphony]

You may want to ask E-MU about it. It seems like there should be at least one program capable of playing back multi-channel streams over ASIO, or some kind of workaround. The pass-through capability would be worthless if there were no way to digitally output anything but two-channel music.

 

[kilgoretrout]

Well the only way to output multi-channel streams with the 0404 USB is if the content is encoded in AC-3 or DTS and outputted to the digital outputs. There are some ASIO capable programs, but the ones I use do not. Games that support multi channel audio don't support ASIO either. Also, the Emu cannot output ASIO and WDM simultaneously. In addition, only one program at a time may use ASIO
AC3Filter & SPDIF | AC3Filter

I cannot think of a suitable situation that will support multi channel sound without some sort of troublesome limitation.

A device that can output multiple channels to analog is probably the best choice, however, I will be unable to use high quality DACs. Also, I will be limited in decoding options. Are there software options that can decode the following formats?

DTS 96/24, DTS Neo:6, DTS decoder, Dolby Digital, DTS-ES decoder, Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Digital Surround EX

 

[infinitesymphony]

Yeah, I s'pose that wouldn't be an ideal solution. You could get an internal sound card with surround outputs like the AuzenTech X-Fi Prelude or ASUS Xonar D series.

Here's a better option... Get a basic internal sound card to use as your digital transport to your receiver for surround formats, and use the 0404 USB or another interface/DAC for two-channel decoding. Or you could upgrade to a receiver with a good DAC section and solve all of your needs at once.

 

[kilgoretrout]

I use a laptop, and internal options are limited and expensive for laptops. I would need a sound card that has 6 channel analog out for games and other non-DTS non-AC3 multi channel formats, bit perfect optical or coaxial out for movies, and a 0404 USB or another USB interface for stereo.

I am not sure on this, but I believe the bit perfect requirement complicates things because it bypasses Vista's mixer in order to be bit perfect, which forces the computer to allow only 1 application to transmit audio to the receiver. I suppose I would only need to do this for movies, so it is an acceptable compromise.

In addition, it looks like I would be limited to DACs with a USB interface, so I output directly to the DAC rather than going through the trouble of bit perfect digital out to the DAC. Again, I'm not quite exactly sure if this is right.

This seems possible, but overly complicated and somewhat limiting. I assume that there are many 5.1 users on Head-Fi in addition to their headphone setups, so I am curious to hear how others get around this.

 

[jiiteepee]

$50 solution : Sound Blaster - X-Fi, Audigy, Live!, Accessories

jiitee

 

[infinitesymphony]

There's that, or the X-Fi Surround 5.1. I guess either might be suitable for your purpose unless there's a driver issue.

 

[bergman2]

fyi ive tried the m-audio firewire with xp 64 bit and it worked no problem...i believe if you look at the m-audio driver support page it has a driver for vista 64 bit (its just a beta)

 

[kilgoretrout]

I think you have to be accepted as a beta tester by M-Audio to get access to their Vista 64 bit drivers. I saw a beta XP 64 driver available for some devices, but I do not see 64 bit options for the Transit.

 

[kilgoretrout]

Also, can anyone confirm whether X-Fi Surround has unamplified line out?