[JWatson]

I’ve been meaning to upgrade to Windows 7 x64 for quite some time now, but main thing that has been holding me back is that my old sound card, a TurtleBeach Santa Cruz, is not compatible.  It’s been great for music, movies, and games over the past 7 years, but it’s time to part ways with it.
 
Sound Card Suggestions
Auzentech Cards:
Ruled out unless convinced otherwise of the cracking/popping noise, terrible game support, audio drop out, etc in Windows 7
 
Asus Xonar Series (DS & DX):
These cards have definitely appealed to me due to their affordable price, $40-50 for the DS and $60-90 for the DX.  My biggest question is if I don’t need any of the Dolby Digital features of the DX and just need good analog stereo and an optical out, will the DS deliver that?
 
Also I know you can upgrade the op-amp of the DS to improve the analog sound quality, but is the cost of that more than just buying the DX in the first place and possible get better DAC chipset?
 
I’ll be honest in that I’m a complete newbie when it comes to a lot of the technical details of what chipsets are good, let alone know how to soldering op-amps to an 8-pin adapter and know where to purchase said chips. I wouldn’t be against it, it actually might be quite fun, but once again the overall cost does weigh in on the matter.
 
Other Sound Cards:
Feel free to suggest any other ones that may be worth while in my budget.
 
 
USB DAC Units
The other option, which has also been rolling around in my head is a USB DAC unit that can output to a Digital Coax or S/PIDF  as well as to a headphone jack ¼” or 1/8”. Many people seem to rave that once you use DAC you'll never go back to using an internal sound card. However, it seems the price of most decent USB DAC units are higher than my budget ($100-300). I’m hoping I’m wrong, and someone could point out other possibilities.
 
 
Last thoughts:
I’ll be 100% honest that I simply cannot fathom paying more than 80 bucks for a sound device at least with my current gear. This is coming from a person who has JVC RX700 headphones, which cost less than 40 bucks, and a digital receiver (Sony STR-DE595) that can already decode digital signals to my speakers (HECO Krypton Series Speakers).
 
 
If you have any thoughts, recommendations, or have highly persuasive reasons why I should spend more, I'm all for it
- JWatson

 

[zoob]

Can't say for ASUS cards, but for Auzentechs, where are you getting your information??
 
#1, if you get an X-Fi based card, they're simply the best for gaming support.  You'll need to install Creative ALchemy to translate EAX to OpenAL.
#2, I've setup multiple people on X-Fi Forte cards running Win7 32 and 64bit with no issues whatsoever.  One person has it running in his carputer driving his surround speaker set, another has it in his gaming rig hooked up to an Onkyo 607.

 

[nightanole]

Personaly since you just have stereo, id just get the cheapest optical/coax out sound card that would put out true 44.1khz and not upconvert everything to 48khz.  Your sony can do the rest of the dac work and headphone amplification.  It wont sound as good as a true dac/amp combo, but with $40 cans and $80 budget, its going to sound alot better then what you can get with a usbdac/amp combo.  Though in the forsale section there is a microamp for $90...  Its got an amp and volume control built in, and you wouldnt need to buy a sound card, and could run the uamp to the sound for stereo use...
 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/491066/fs-nuforce-udac-red
 

 

[JWatson]

 
Quote:zoob

Can't say for ASUS cards, but for Auzentechs, where are you getting your information??
 
#1, if you get an X-Fi based card, they're simply the best for gaming support.  You'll need to install Creative ALchemy to translate EAX to OpenAL.
#2, I've setup multiple people on X-Fi Forte cards running Win7 32 and 64bit with no issues whatsoever.  One person has it running in his carputer driving his surround speaker set, another has it in his gaming rig hooked up to an Onkyo 607.

 
I got the information about the crackling/popping/drop-out from various posts on Auzentech's forum.
http://community.auzentech.com/node/13 - Windows 7 Sound Loss & Popping
http://community.auzentech.com/node/31 - Random distortion issues after long idle
 
My friend has a Auzentech Prelude for his XP machine and it runs great. However, he's reluctant to try Windows 7 due to a drivers being in such poor state. After reading the Auzentech forum, I'm rather curious to what drivers you use for your Auzenteh X-Fi cards. I know if can get a Prelude for about 90 bucks plus tax, so if you know of working drivers I definitely wouldn't be against purchasing that.
 
 
Quote:nightanole

Personaly since you just have stereo, id just get the cheapest optical/coax out sound card that would put out true 44.1khz and not upconvert everything to 48khz.  Your sony can do the rest of the dac work and headphone amplification.  It wont sound as good as a true dac/amp combo, but with $40 cans and $80 budget, its going to sound alot better then what you can get with a usbdac/amp combo.  Though in the forsale section there is a microamp for $90...  Its got an amp and volume control built in, and you wouldnt need to buy a sound card, and could run the uamp to the sound for stereo use...
 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/491066/fs-nuforce-udac-red

 
I do have a 4.1 setup, and I watch movies with DTS & DD, but the majority of the time, you're right that I listen to stereo. I actually looked at that nuforce udac before, but it seems a bit too good to be true or am I just crazy for thinking that?

 

[Hybrys]

A uDAC would actually be a great idea.  Here's how that would work to be optimal.  This said, I don't think it can passthrough DD/DTS.
 
Computer --> uDAC  --> Phones
                                 > Coax out to receiver
 
You can have both of them hooked up at the same time.  The Coax Out only activates when the volume control is at zero.
 
Another option is this:
 
Computer --> small USB-Toslink device that can pass DD/DTS --> Receiver --> Separate headphone amp from the receivers line out.
 
$20 USB-->Toslink device, $50-100 for an amp.  A little CMOY probably won't improve much on the receiver's headphone out, but anything beyond that will.

 

[JWatson]

 
Quote:

A uDAC would actually be a great idea.  Here's how that would work to be optimal.  This said, I don't think it can passthrough DD/DTS.
 
Computer --> uDAC  --> Phones
                                 > Coax out to receiver
 
You can have both of them hooked up at the same time.  The Coax Out only activates when the volume control is at zero.
 
Another option is this:
 
Computer --> small USB-Toslink device that can pass DD/DTS --> Receiver --> Separate headphone amp from the receivers line out.
 
$20 USB-->Toslink device, $50-100 for an amp.  A little CMOY probably won't improve much on the receiver's headphone out, but anything beyond that will.

Thanks for your response
 
I looked into the uDAC and it cannot pass DD/DTS, which is something I'd like to do, however I suppose if I can get the Xonar DS cheap, used perhaps, I can have a toshlink to the receiver and purchase a separate DAC for headphone use, like the uDAC later.
 
A question I still have is, if I add change the op-amps on the Xonar DS, will that be the best options in terms of getting a decent analog quality (sound profile I should say) for a far cheaper price than say a soundcard/USB-->toslink + uDAC. Or should I just get the Xonar DX, because, as some say, it already has a better DAC chip than the DS?
 
........
 
Another option that has crossed my mind but I hesitate to even mention, because it is costly, would be to use my Radeon HD 5850 to pass audio to a new home theater receiver.....but I should probably start a new thread because it wouldn't be related so much to computer audio as it would be to home theater systems and receivers with good DAC processors.

 

[Hybrys]

Often receivers have excellent DACs, but poor headphone amps, due to that not being their primary function.
 
I'm wondering now, do you have an onboard SPDIF output?  Sometimes those can send out DD/DTS information.  That way you could go like this.
 
Onboard SPDIF --> Reciever --> Speakers
                                       --> RCA line out --> headphone amp
 
This would offer you the best sound, far and above a DX with changed opamps.
 
Bitstreaming audio via HDMI would be really neat, IF you had any use for the technology.  If I recall, the only real gains you get are allowing larger DD-based bandwidth.  You'd probably notice a difference if you, say, play Bluray movies on your desktop, but I wouldn't imagine it being any better for stereo content.

 

[JWatson]

I didn't realize that most receiver don't have quality headphone amps. I always figured that whatever was processed to the speakers would simply be switched to the headphone, when used, but I guess not.

Unfortunately my motherboard doesn't have a coax or SPDIF output. However, it was a free Micro-ATX motherboard that came with my Phenom II X2 555 so I can't  complain about it.
 
Bitstreaming audio via HDMI was more of an after thought, especially since I'd need to buy a new receiver to accept HDMI. I do appreciate your input in the matter.
 
I'll likely take the suggestion of from nightanole and buy the cheapest sound card, which happens to be the Xonar DS in this group, and perhaps purchase an separate headphone amp when I actually have more money to spend on something decent. I realize my quest for great budget sound card might end up with this decision, but I'm glad I could hear other opinions and get a different perspective.