Sound Card with Optical SPDIF IN

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LiquidEnforcer

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What I want to do is take my optical 5.1 connection from my Xbox 360 and take it through my soundcard and have my soundcard output to my Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers either via optical or analog connections. I want to be able to hear 5.1 sound from both my PC and my Xbox without having to switch between one or the other. I want to be able to play music from my PC while using my Xbox and be able to hear email/IM notifications. My OS is Vista 32bit.

I would prefer a PCI Express card for this, simple and compact. Otherwise PCI or if necessary some kind of external device. Is there any device that can do this, if so what would be my best bet for accomplishing my goals? I already bought the Turtle Beach Montego DDL and have had no luck. Any first hand experience or recommendations would be very much appreciated.
 
I don't know of any PCIe cards that will do this but I the X-Fi Elite Pro has optical in. I believe it can decode DD and maybe even DTS which some of your Xbox 360 games may use. I don't know how Vista driver support is for the Elite Pro and all of the features but I'm sure others will chime in.
 
The Claro and Claro+ both have S/PDIF in and out, along with DTS, DOLBY Digital, and DOLBY Pro Logic IIx. I haven't tried running sound from both an external optical source and Windows simultaneously. I've got everything running through an AV receiver, so I typically just switch source on there. I can check this out tonight though.
 
don't know about PCIe but my Emu 1212M has balanced, optical in/out, coax digital in/out. I found it on the FS/T section for $65. I think the only thing it doesn't have is analog.
 
yagisencho said:
The Claro and Claro+ both have S/PDIF in and out, along with DTS, DOLBY Digital, and DOLBY Pro Logic IIx. I haven't tried running sound from both an external optical source and Windows simultaneously. I've got everything running through an AV receiver, so I typically just switch source on there. I can check this out tonight though.
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I'd really appreciate if you could test it and let me know how it goes. What operating system do you use by the way?
 
magnetik said:
don't know about PCIe but my Emu 1212M has balanced, optical in/out, coax digital in/out. I found it on the FS/T section for $65. I think the only thing it doesn't have is analog.
Click to expand...

That card looks nice, I might even be able to plug my guitar in to it. I just need to know whether it'll mix the sound form the optical in with windows audio and play it through the optical out under Vista. Would you happen to have any insight on that?
 
Thanks for the info so far, I don't really care whether its PCI-E or just PCI I just wanted to try and free up my last PCI slot for future use but I'm not really worried about it.
 
I wish..They are really nice cards..Just bought an Xfi off the FS forums for my second rig. Need something that makes noise so I can listen to RadioParadise. And you are right, they are TSR's.
Oops sorry for hi-jackin the op's thread
 
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