[mojo]

I have a Windows 7 PC with an Onkyo PCI soundcard, based on the Via Envy chipset. I feed it into a C.E.C. DA53 DAC via optical which I'm happy with. Problem is newer mobos are starting to ditch PCI and space is an issue, so I would like to go either PCIe or USB.

One thing that annoys me with the Via Envy driver is that it doesn't switch bitrates automatically. You have to select the bitrate to get bit perfect output via WSAPI, so I end up switching between 44.1, 48 and 96khz a lot. I use Foobar.

Can anyone recommend a good soundcard? Doesn't need to be fancy, but a reasonably good line out would be nice. The main thing is easy bit-perfect output via optical, or maybe coax would be okay too. I know the DA53 has USB, but it doesn't seem to be very good.

 

[mojo]

The Musiland 03 looks ideal. Bit perfect, USB, switches bit rate automatically when WSAPI exclusive mode is used.

 

[NiHaoMike]

Most new (desktop) motherboards will have bit perfect S/PDIF optical output, but on the off chance you get one that doesn't, you can look into using a HDMI audio extractor.