springtide
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2005
- Posts
- 18
- Likes
- 0
I'm looking at replacing my DVD and CD Player with a HTPC I'm building. This will (hopefully) be my main source for all CD, WAV, DVD’s as well as acting as a PVR. Also, the other point is that as it’s going to be a “consumer device”, then it should be a setup and forget affair. I don’t want to be having to change settings just to play a CD, DVD etc.
So, I'm looking for a soundcard that will provide:-
- Provide AC3/DTS Pass-though to my A/V Amp (Coaxial SPDIF)
- Output CD Quality analogue to my stereo (as the DACs on my Marantz 7300 A/V Amp aren't as good as my CD Player) via unbalanced (phono) connectors.
The DVD-RW Drive I've been looking at (Plaxtor SATA) appears to have digital out.
I'm not too worried if the card has a external box as long as it's not the 19" rack size (The main point is to consolidate boxes)
I'm down to two:
1) RME HDSP9632
2) E-MU 1820M
I'm also had suggestions about M-Audio 1010LT as well as the EMU 1212M.
Reading the manual, it's not clear if the E-MU 1820M will pass AC3/DTS straight out of the Digital Output (the RME has the "Non-Audio Setting")
I've asked a similar question over on AV Forums (http://www.avforums.com) and they appear to have more knowledge of the RME cards, and most of the posts on Head-Fi are more towards the E-MU cards.
I'm looking for a card that will give a good upgrade compared to my A/V Amp DACs. One post I saw with the RME card was that "If your going to go for the RME you may as well get a DAC-1". In the UK the RME 9632 is approx £275 while the DAC-1 is £1000 which is over three times the price. E-MU 1820M is approx £300.
The M-Audio 1010LT and the EMU 1212M cards are approx £150 in the UK. The
Has anyone had any experience with these cards to compare them?
I have a pair of the Kef iQ7's which are pretty bright, so I don't want anything that will sound too clinical otherwise this will obviously get emphasised by the speakers.
So, I'm looking for a soundcard that will provide:-
- Provide AC3/DTS Pass-though to my A/V Amp (Coaxial SPDIF)
- Output CD Quality analogue to my stereo (as the DACs on my Marantz 7300 A/V Amp aren't as good as my CD Player) via unbalanced (phono) connectors.
The DVD-RW Drive I've been looking at (Plaxtor SATA) appears to have digital out.
I'm not too worried if the card has a external box as long as it's not the 19" rack size (The main point is to consolidate boxes)
I'm down to two:
1) RME HDSP9632
2) E-MU 1820M
I'm also had suggestions about M-Audio 1010LT as well as the EMU 1212M.
Reading the manual, it's not clear if the E-MU 1820M will pass AC3/DTS straight out of the Digital Output (the RME has the "Non-Audio Setting")
I've asked a similar question over on AV Forums (http://www.avforums.com) and they appear to have more knowledge of the RME cards, and most of the posts on Head-Fi are more towards the E-MU cards.
I'm looking for a card that will give a good upgrade compared to my A/V Amp DACs. One post I saw with the RME card was that "If your going to go for the RME you may as well get a DAC-1". In the UK the RME 9632 is approx £275 while the DAC-1 is £1000 which is over three times the price. E-MU 1820M is approx £300.
The M-Audio 1010LT and the EMU 1212M cards are approx £150 in the UK. The
Has anyone had any experience with these cards to compare them?
I have a pair of the Kef iQ7's which are pretty bright, so I don't want anything that will sound too clinical otherwise this will obviously get emphasised by the speakers.