Worth the $, or not?

[Dave McReeferson]

Hey folks,

I am starting to put together a new HT and music system based on my PC (Windows 7). I am planning on 8 channels, and my current intention is to go with Ref_C amps.

The question is how to feed sound from my PC to my amps with the best end result without breaking the bank. I have been looking at this card (probably a good representation of where the high end of my price range is), it has the 8 channels of output I am looking for, and the numbers sound right to me from what I have been reading (though I admit some fogginess there ).

I can't seem to find any discussion of this particular card here though, and this makes me wonder if I am barking up the wrong tree. Maybe my money would be better spent on another solution? Does anybody have any thoughts or suggestions on this?

[Michael Chua]

I'm working on something similar. Just got a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro. My plan is to Toslink my Blu-Ray to the Titanium. From there, all outputs to power amps. I'll be running 5.1 though. No space for 7.1.

Still a long way to go. Will be building the speakers and power amps soon.

[ted4412wilt]

Asus offers the best bang for the buck of any sound card starting with the D1, D2 and the one you are considering. Just depends how much you want to spend for those last few dB of SN. I was short on money so I got the D1
Good luck,
Ted

[infinia]

For HT playback, ie not recording, any ATI 5xxx graphic card should have you set for future proof sound for HDMI pass-thru to the HT receiver / amplifier. I would NOT bother with multiple DACs on-board the noisy PC environment.
start reading here HTPC Software GUIDE for Windows 7 Media Center - AVS Forum

[Dave McReeferson]

Sorry For taking so long to get back to you folks, and thank you for the replies.

Originally Posted by Michael Chua

I'm working on something similar. Just got a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro. My plan is to Toslink my Blu-Ray to the Titanium. From there, all outputs to power amps. I'll be running 5.1 though. No space for 7.1.

Still a long way to go. Will be building the speakers and power amps soon.

Similar indeed. With the exception of the first two lines of your plan.

I will likely be running 5.1 to start, but I don't want to paint myself into a corner, so will leave the door open to 7.1.

Speakers and amps are my first order of business as well, but I don't wish to be caught scratching my head when I have 6 shiny new inputs to populate and nothing to plug into them.

Originally Posted by ted4412wilt

Asus offers the best bang for the buck of any sound card starting with the D1, D2 and the one you are considering. Just depends how much you want to spend for those last few dB of SN. I was short on money so I got the D1
Good luck,
Ted

This was my impression from the reading I have done. It seems that the D2X might offer slightly better performance, but at the same time, the 8 channels of analog output on the HD seem to be just what the doctor ordered...

Originally Posted by infinia

For HT playback, ie not recording, any ATI 5xxx graphic card should have you set for future proof sound for HDMI pass-thru to the HT receiver / amplifier. I would NOT bother with multiple DACs on-board the noisy PC environment.
start reading here HTPC Software GUIDE for Windows 7 Media Center - AVS Forum

The issue with that solution is that pass-thru is not what I am looking for. I want to avoid commercial HT receivers, so it is the decoding that I seek. If this is better accomplished with another scheme, for instance sound card decoding, but with external DAC's, I am open to looking at that option as well (provided it is an option...).

Regarding the linked to thread, I actually have that one in the cue already for some light reading a little further down the road. But, I wasn't diving into it just yet as I am still in the hardware stage, and it appears to me (both from the thread's title and the first few pages of reading) to be mostly centered around the discussion of software, codecs, etc. Is there more there than it at first appears? I am leery of wading through 50 pages looking for something that is not there...

[ted4412wilt]

The ASUS Xonar D2X would be a fine choice and has 8 channels output.
Ted

[Dave McReeferson]

Originally Posted by ted4412wilt

The ASUS Xonar D2X would be a fine choice and has 8 channels output.
Ted

Not sure how I missed that, thank you for pointing it out. That card seems to have better performance the more costly hdav card as well.

[infinia]

Originally Posted by Dave McReeferson

The issue with that solution is that pass-thru is not what I am looking for. I want to avoid commercial HT receivers, so it is the decoding that I seek. If this is better accomplished with another scheme, for instance sound card decoding, but with external DAC's, I am open to looking at that option as well (provided it is an option...).

Regarding the linked to thread, I actually have that one in the cue already for some light reading a little further down the road. But, I wasn't diving into it just yet as I am still in the hardware stage, and it appears to me (both from the thread's title and the first few pages of reading) to be mostly centered around the discussion of software, codecs, etc. Is there more there than it at first appears? I am leery of wading through 50 pages looking for something that is not there...

The linked thread is not all that long when you consider the 1st post is where 90% of the meat is. It's all a system, so it's good to do the research before you buy the HW and SW? yes.
I'm not sure why you would automatically dismiss stand alone decoders from HT audio receivers, unless your DIY chip amps are driving your system design. IMO Sony, Pioneer, and Denon can do audio design much better than 2nd tier PC main board suppliers and chip amps.YMMV I just have issues with lots of messy ( cheap RCA or mini plugs) single ended analog outputs exiting a HTPC. with common mode noise from even cheaper ATX SMPS. I think the future is single HDMI digital cable or optical with streaming content is where it's at.

[tangmonster]

Originally Posted by infinia

. I think the future is single HDMI digital cable or optical with streaming content is where it's at.

precisely!

My current problem is that i am very happy with my 5.1 Amplifiers I built.

At first in my media centre pc used my 5.1 analog onboard out from my sound cards to get audio from my pc to my 6 channel amps. This was fine but very noisy.

I upgraded when i found a second hand rotel (rsp-985) decoder to feeding digital audio from my pc sound card to the rotel. better in every respect. dts , digital and pcm audio works flawless depending if i listen to cd's , dvd's or avi's or mkv's from my media centre pc.

Video goes from the hdmi output on my ati hd5750 to my lcd tv.

About 2 months ago i upagraded and sourced a blu ray rom. Works great. video is awesome, but obviously my rotel can't decode truedts and the new higher bitrate audio. So it detects it as dts and uses the digital data at lower bitrate.

So for my next upgrade I need something that will decode hdmi to 5.1 channel audio.

i don't want to spend 10000000000's of moneys on a decoder , i don't need video switching or 10 aux inputs or a bass and treble or kareoky input.

I need an hdmi to 5.1 channel decoder or a decent sound card that does actually support truedts decoding. most sound card software don't support the newer higher bitrates even if they have 8 analog output.

At this stage the deluxe asus sound card (linked too in first post) looks like the best value for money....

[tangmonster]

One last thing:

For any standard 5.1 sound track the .1 channel is recorded at -10db compared to the other channels. So the subwoofer out should be +10db louder for movie viewing or surround data.

I like using my subwoofer when I am listening to music , it handles the below 80Hz signals beautifully even though my main speakers is large and effective as full range.

The rotel external decoder handles +10db perfectly when it "Sees" a surround bitstream and disables +10db for pcm audio. IT has a specific menu item for this.

Wonder how this will/can be handled in software for sound card analogue output?