[rmp459]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271003
 
Says it actually does 192KHz w/ 8 Channels as opposed to alot of cards i see that only do 192KHz on 2ch and 96KHz on 8ch.
Windows 7 64bit compatibility is a must.
 
I run my sound via spdif to my Yamaha RX-v863 receiver which has burr brown dacs and adcs... with pure direct on it bypasses the enchancements options of the receiver and sounds pretty incredible for my standards...  I switch up between my 5.1 system mounted on the walls around my room w/ subs under couch and my ath-ad700s for gaming... 
 
Everything I do is through my PC so the Essence STX is sort of out of the question since it only does virtual 7.1 w/ DDL and doesnt have true 8ch via spdif.. 
 
Does anyone have any other suggestions ?
PCI or PCI-E is acceptable... i have ample space for either type of card.
 
I just don't see the need for top quality opamps since I dont power my cans with my actual card... or am i completely wrong in thinking it doesnt matter since I use spdif ?
 
Thx.

 

[Kreyson]

some good info here. 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/364721/ht-omega-claro-halo-headphone-only-soundcard/15
 

 

[ROBSCIX]

DDL is only 5.1.
 
You want to continue to use S/Pdif but want surround?

 

[rmp459]

Quote:

DDL is only 5.1.
 
You want to continue to use S/Pdif but want surround?

Sorry I wasn't clear... I want a true 8ch card... but I only have a 5.1 surround system and I prefer SPDIF to my amp.  I don't want to use DDL for virtual surround sound which is what the Essence STX seems to do because im powering my headphones off my yamaha rs-v863 receiver (decent dacs)... I dont see the purpose in buying the best 2ch card when a 7.1 card w/ spdif to my amp should be doing the same thing if not better... 

 

[ROBSCIX]

Ok, you can only get encoding for games and other audio through DDL or DTS-C other then this you get passthrough from DVD's etc.
Your audio needs to be encoded to be sent over S/Pdif for use on your receiver.  Aside from that S/Pdif is a stereo routine...

 

[rmp459]

I just use ffdshow to encode to AC3 for any movies I download that arent already AC3 so I can get mutichannel on my amp...   does that qualify as passthrough?  I did all the research on this over a year ago and im at the issue all over again because my new motherboard doesnt have onboard...   Will the Essence STX pass through 5.1 via spdif to a receiver ?  or only DDL ?
 
Im usually not sure if the 7.1 spec on a sound card means only 7.1 analog... or if its multichannel for both analog and digital out
 
If the essence STX will passthrough 5.1 from ffdshow then is there a way to make sure DDL only works on 2ch streams and games and doesnt re-encode my 5.1 ac3 streams from movies ?

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

I just use ffdshow to encode to AC3 for any movies I download that arent already AC3 so I can get mutichannel on my amp...   does that qualify as passthrough?  I did all the research on this over a year ago and im at the issue all over again because my new motherboard doesnt have onboard...   Will the Essence STX pass through 5.1 via spdif to a receiver ?  or only DDL ?
 
Im usually not sure if the 7.1 spec on a sound card means only 7.1 analog... or if its multichannel for both analog and digital out
 
If the essence STX will passthrough 5.1 from ffdshow then is there a way to make sure DDL only works on 2ch streams and games and doesnt re-encode my 5.1 ac3 streams from movies ?

That qualifies as encoded media being passedthrough.  The STX will passthrough encoded audio yes...I would suggest that if you are into movies..etc and want to go with a receiver, what about the HDAV 1.3 or the HTHD 7.1?
Are you looking for another card, is that why the quesiton on the STX?

 

[rmp459]

Quote:

That qualifies as encoded media being passedthrough.  The STX will passthrough encoded audio yes...I would suggest that if you are into movies..etc and want to go with a receiver, what about the HDAV 1.3 or the HTHD 7.1?
Are you looking for another card, is that why the quesiton on the STX?

 
Yes I currently have a X-fi Xtreme Audio... which is terrible in itself before I even get into a rant about creative drivers and windows 7....Prior I had the onboard Realtek ALC889 which was on my old motherboard...
 
I have almost 2 tb of video (std & hd/ 2ch & 5.1.. its all a mix..) and another 100-120 gigs of audio... I game from time to time.... I have my 2 22" monitors and a 32" hdtv attached to my PC and the spdif going to my yamaha rx-v863 receiver... I either run my 5.1 system when im watching movies or xbox on my TV and then plug headphones into the front jack on the receiver when im gaming... 
 
I had no need for 8ch analog connections as my entire sound system is handled by the receiver and its own amps.. It can handle ac3, dts, dd ,but not aac... hence me setting up ffdshow decoder to resample and encode everything except the aforementioned (which are passthrough) and 2ch pcm/mp3...   I havent used the front panel on my case and honestly dont really plan to... but it gets a little use on occasion when I need to hear something with a movie on and dont feel like changing my input on the receiver...  The receiver also handles a video distribution system which has digital audio and hdmi.. I just love using my cans for my PC, but need the ability to also unplug them and instantly have my surround sound speaks working..  so far the amp has solved that problem... but my current sound card lacks many functions and qualities that I previously had such as 96KHz or higher output to my receiver (which will handle 24/192KHz)...  
 
I just want to know that if I have DDL set up for games and music will that try to also encode my AC3 output from my movies...
 
Im just trying to paint a picture here... any recommendations would be appreciated... I dont have a specific budget as I tend to do thing "right" the first time... I just dont want to be messing with 2ch desktop amps and dacs when my receiver does more than enough for me atm... 
 
Also most of my media is archived and encoded on my pc... my disc collection is very limited and i removed my BD drive from lack of use... so I dont think the Xonar HDAV is really what Im looking for... 
 
Update:  In case anyone actually read anything... which i seriously doubt lol    I ended up getting a Xonar Essence STX and running coax spdif to my receiver.  It took a fresh win7 install to get the drivers to work properly though... As much as I tried to clean out my OS install and get it installed properly, I could not get the drivers or the interface to really work correctly.  Luckily I had everything backed up since Im just finishing up a PC rebuild and a OS install took me another 30-45 mins off my usb stick...
 
Afterwards I installed chipset/raid/blah blah ur typical drivers... and the sound drivers... reboot. and 100% perfect.   I decided to step down from the heavier codec packs ive been using and just letting MPC-HC handle all the decoding and multichannel audio passthrough... My only issue is that im doing to have to disable AAC in MPC-HC and use ffdshow as an external filter to re-encode the AAC to like AC3 so I can get dolby dig on alot of these HD files I have... 
 
Thanks for the input.
 
BTW.. DDL sound absolutely terrible compared to say 2ch PCM via foobar2000+wasapi @ 192KHz... Passthrough is more than enough multichannel for me... and if I ever need to upmix mp3 to 6ch ill just let ffdshow handle it for my media files...   Music is going to stay 2ch for quality.