Soundcard for HT/Games/Music

audiobliss
audiobliss Posts: 12,518
edited December 2006 in Electronics
I have a buddy here looking for a sound card to hook up to his Kawasaki reciever to get 5.1 for HT and games, as well as some music listening.

What kind of sound cards would you recommend? He's looking at the Audigy vanilla. Can he get 5.1 output through the SPDIF output (coaxial)?

If not, or if there are better cards out there for less coinage, what would you suggest?

Thanks.
audiobliss
George Grand wrote: »
Jstas wrote: »
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Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
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Comments

  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited December 2006
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829120103

    Tested and found working, excellent card especially when you consider the price.
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited December 2006
    Thanks for the recommendation. I actually searched the forums really quick before I posted and saw some recommendations for the AV710.

    Any other soundcards worth looking at?

    Thanks.
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
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  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited December 2006
    Does that Chain Tech have an output for a SPDIF coaxial cable, though? It lists an optical output, but I don't see anything about a coaxial output, and he needs coaxial to hook up to his reciever.
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
    In Use
    PS3, Yamaha CDR-HD1300, Plex, Amazon Fire TV Gen 2
    Pioneer Elite VSX-52, Parasound HCA-1000A
    Klipsch RF-82ii, RC-62ii, RS-42ii, RW-10d
    Epson 8700UB
    In Storage
    [Home Audio]
    Rotel RCD-02, Yamaha KX-W900U, Sony ST-S500ES, Denon DP-7F
    Pro-Ject Phono Box MKII, Parasound P/HP-850, ASL Wave 20 monoblocks
    Klipsch RF-35, RB-51ii
    [Car Audio]
    Pioneer Premier DEH-P860MP, Memphis 16-MCA3004, Boston Acoustic RC520
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • TheReaper
    TheReaper Posts: 636
    edited December 2006
    Many (but not all) sound cards with digital/spdif output will work for pcm stereo (music) and spdif passthrough (dvd).

    The key thing you are looking for is multi-channel output from games over digital/spdif. I believe (no experience) the Auzentech "X" (Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect) cards are supposed to be good (hardware encoding). I would check on games forums for what cards work best (if no-one here knows).

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2000360057+50010788&Subcategory=57&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

    Or is this an older system, and you are just looking for pcm stereo from games?
    Win7 Media Center -> Onkyo TXSR702 -> Polk Rti70
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  • pblanc
    pblanc Posts: 261
    edited December 2006
    You can get an optical to coaxial digital converter if necessary for about $25 to $30.
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