Have receiver with digital in, looking for good sound card with digital out

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w4ke

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Apr 25, 2005
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Hello,

I have an Onkyo SR302 5.1 amp with optical (digital) in. I am looking to get a sound card that has digital out with optical. What is the best sound card out there thats under $150? Something that would be really good quality for my receiver and speakers.

-scott
 
w4ke said:
Hello,

I have an Onkyo SR302 5.1 amp with optical (digital) in. I am looking to get a sound card that has digital out with optical. What is the best sound card out there thats under $150? Something that would be really good quality for my receiver and speakers.

-scott
Click to expand...

There's no full review out yet but the HDA Mystique 7.1 is the only thing on the market that will do full digital for you. From intial reactions it looks to be awesome though - this is a hot item so I'd either buy now to be sure to get one or risk waiting a long time.

[H]ard Thread

The only game in town.
 
He never did actually mention whether it´s going to be for gaming or not really.

If it is however, yeah, the HDA´s the only one you got.

If mainly for music a Revo 7/5.1 or a Chaintech what the hell was it called? would do awesome.

-wil
 
It is mainly for music. Im not a big gamer. I just want my MP3s to sound GREAT while at my office (8+ hours a day.. blahhh).

I have a pretty nice 5.1 surround w/ HDTV at home.

Im looking for great music on my PC. Looking for digital out sound card, have the Onkyo amp, and now Im also looking for some nice speakers and a sub - I'll possibly be going for studio monitors.
 
Does your onboard sound have a digital output? If not, the Chaintech AV-710 can provide an inexpensive S/PDIF. You might even like the analog better.
 
I have a similar question: I had logitech z-680's connect via analog to my audigy 2 ZS up until last week. I've now gotten rid of it and am trying hook up my audigy 2's digital out to a yamaha reciever that has optical input. Exactly what might I need to accomplish this?

I did some research on Creative's site and came up with the following:

When the Digital Input on a multichannel receiver is connected to the Digital Out of a multichannel Sound Blaster card, such as the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS or any other Sound Blaster with a Digital Out, it will only reproduce 5.1 multichannel audio when playing DVD games, or DVD movies, or standalone AC3 files. Otherwise, it will only output sound in front right and front left channels.

Is there some way to circumvent this problem so I can get true 5.1 sound through my home theater system when playing games and mp3s or will I have to use the pro-logic decoder in the reciever to upmix the signal to 5.1? Thanks a lot

Edit: Here are the inputs on the reciever:
Inputs: 2 optical digital audio, 1 coaxial digital audio, A/V, stereo audio, XM Satellite Radio, 6-channel external decoder input

It has the 6-channel external decoder input so I was wondering if I could connect the audigy 2 via analog to the reciever using these? I'd probably need some sort of y-adapter?
 
If you want 5.1 audio/games from an audigy, your only recourse is to string 6 analog cables to the 5.1 input on your receiver. Just buy a bunch of mini-to-RCA adaptors at Radio Shack, that should accomplish what you are after, as long as you don't mind the crap quality of the cords you'll get there.
 
^^Little bump... I'm about to do that myself. so would one of the minjack to RCA's do the center and sub? Or doesnt the receiver just send out all the low frequencies to the sub? I think I have to buy 3 minijack to RCA cables but I'm not sure of where all 3 will go.
 
Generally you'll depend on your soundcard to do proper bass management, routing the stuff below your crossover to the subwoofer. Some receivers can do bass management on te multichannel analog inputs, but it's far from a common feature.

Bass management on Creative cards is problematic. Ask BO(V)BZ.
 
Hvatum said:
There's no full review out yet but the HDA Mystique 7.1 is the only thing on the market that will do full digital for you. From intial reactions it looks to be awesome though - this is a hot item so I'd either buy now to be sure to get one or risk waiting a long time.

[H]ard Thread

The only game in town.
Click to expand...

why oo thou why wont there be a reviews from popular site for this damn card.
 
If you can find one, the one I am using is the Hercules Fortissimo 7.1. Sounds are great for both music and gaming. Having a Digital out was a plus.
 
mjz_5 said:
why oo thou why wont there be a reviews from popular site for this damn card.
Click to expand...

because it wasn't "officially" released until recently.. I am sure more reviews will come out soon.. heck they just started to become available last week or so. (except people that picked them up under their test release) You can read peoples feedback by looking at all the forums links on HDA's or bluegears website.
 
Get a cheap card with digital out. If you're sending the signal that way the receiver is doing the sound processing anyways. Spending alot on a sound card would be pointless.
 
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