[Maverick0984]

Well, I heard about this place from OCforums and figured it was a good place to ask this type of question. I'm basically a noob in terms of this sound card phenom.

However, I do love my sound in the home theater field.

I have an Onkyo receiver with an HDTV, xbox1, and xbox 360 hooked up to it, and that hooked up to a set of 5.1 Definitive Speakers. I'm at work, and they are about 6 months old now, don't quite remember model names and numbers, but all equipment while not "top of the line" certainly does a very damn good job.

I'm looking for the best possible experience for audio coming from my computer and obviously crappy onboard audio isn't the answer. My only requirements are it has to be optical when it reaches the receiver and something < $400.

Obviously DTS/AC3/etc are pretty easy to do, but from what I hear the X-Fi series is subpar in this field and more built for gaming? But then the optical feed will lose much of the EAX capability? I do a decent amount of gaming, but I'll say I'm predominantly on the 360 instead of a PC.

So while I want the best experience I can get for gaming, my preference would be top notch Movie and Music playback. I've seen and looked at cards like the:

Prelude, Asus Xonar, b-Enspirer, and Creatives Fatal1ty/Elite Pro but get more or less lost in alot of the options. I've heard of "modding" the X-Fi's with different chips that produce better quality. If something like that is the best option, I'm sure I can do it, I'm a Computer Engineer by training. Although, I would prefer to stay away from this. While the Elite Pro is getting a little on the expensive side for me, I might be swayed to it.

Any suggestions?

 

[Spiricore]

I, for one, can absolutely not recommend any Sound Blaster card when it comes to connecting an Xbox 360 via optical. They are plagued with popping, clipping, crackling and latency issues that haven't been addressed by Creative since...I don't know when. I've had the exact same issue on both my Audigy 2 ZS and my X-Fi Fatal1ty cards (using the optical in port on the front I/O drive). That's at least five years and no fix by Creative. Check their forums, it's pretty sad.

I've been considering the AuzenTech X-Fi Prelude, but I'm a little worried about the fact that they're using Creative's drivers. It'll be shipping on the 28th, I believe, so I'm waiting for reviews of it before I give it a shot.

As of now the problems I've had with the optical connection between my 360 and both of my SB cards have caused Creative to lose a customer.

 

[Maverick0984]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spiricore /img/forum/go_quote.gif I, for one, can absolutely not recommend any Sound Blaster card when it comes to connecting an Xbox 360 via optical. They are plagued with popping, clipping, crackling and latency issues that haven't been addressed by Creative since...I don't know when. I've had the exact same issue on both my Audigy 2 ZS and my X-Fi Fatal1ty cards (using the optical in port on the front I/O drive). That's at least five years and no fix by Creative. Check their forums, it's pretty sad. I've been considering the AuzenTech X-Fi Prelude, but I'm a little worried about the fact that they're using Creative's drivers. It'll be shipping on the 28th, I believe, so I'm waiting for reviews of it before I give it a shot. As of now the problems I've had with the optical connection between my 360 and both of my SB cards have caused Creative to lose a customer.

Well, I mentioned 360 in my post, but I guess I should have clarified. My 360 goes straight to my HT. I've no need to run it through a PC sound card as I have an HDTV it goes to. I was just saying movies/music take priority over games for my PC, since I send that to my HT also, but requires sound from the PC to be sent to the receiver. I will still play games on the PC, but only those that don't come out on the 360 basically. So I'd like the EAX 5.0, but it isn't 100% necessary.

I've been told though, since it's just optical S/PDIF passthrough, that any soundcard will be just as good as any other sound card because it is just digital and bypasses all the important aspects of the card. This meaning that my onboard P5K Premium optical out is virtually identical to something like the Auzen Prelude or Asus Xonar.

Money isn't an issue, so if I'm totally wrong, correct me, I'm not just creating an excuse in my head to save money

So, will the Auzen Prelude be able to output the EAX5.0 w/o any loss over optical and out of my HT system? Whatever it might need to do, whether it's convert it to Dolby or DTS (no clue if that's even possible) wouldn't be a big deal.

 

[ecclesand]

Look into the Chaintech AV-710. It is cheap...has optical out...and is capable of bit-perfect output.

 

[Maverick0984]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecclesand /img/forum/go_quote.gif Look into the Chaintech AV-710. It is cheap...has optical out...and is capable of bit-perfect output.

That won't have EAX 5.0 though, that's really what concerns me, if most digital outs are going to be the same.

 

[Pixel Eater]

The answer is yes, you're going to be able to output 192 KHz optical with excellent quality on the Auzentech. Like its predecessor, it's still geared towards music. You'll have your EAX.