[Culverin]

well, i don't exactly have a hornet yet, but any day now.

i've just sold my X-Fi. stupid upgraderitis.
i still game, so 5.1 is still a requirement. and with a hornet i can skip the emu 0404 USB right?

Right now, i'm looking for a new soundcard which will feed my hornet directly.
i want the option to add a DAC in between the two, digital out is good idea.

is the Chaintech AV-710 a good choice? or is an actual quality difference for digital out between a $30 vs a $150 sound card?

 

[syncmaster68]

I did the same thing (dumped the X-FI). I owned a sound card which - in my opinion - was just too expensive for its sound quality.

Its gaming capabilities being irrelevant to me, the lack of a proper line-out and its bland headphone amp performance made me look elsewhere.

Currently I'm looking for a sound card like Emu 0404 since it will be used mainly for hi-fi, feeding a LD2++ amp.

 

[Joshatdot]

I got a AV-710 mostly of all that I read about it here. Once I flashed it to Prodigy 7.1 and used AudioTrak drivers it works Awesome. But I am only using it as a digital out with TOSLINK. If you are going to use the analog outs (rear DAC is best to use for headphones) then just leave it as is, and use Via Arena's Envy24 drivers.

 

[Culverin]

so what kind of advantages would i be looking at if i use digital out on a card like the emu 0404 (pci) versus a much cheaper card like the av-710?

 

[Joshatdot]

I do not know, but the 0404 PCI is for music/sound recording & producing. While, IMHO, the AV-710 is a value card for playing bit perfect music through either the rear out analogs or as a digital transport through Optical out.