Sound card under $75.00 US

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Hi Nice folks,

My on board sound card just lost a channel and I'm looking for a cheap ($75 US or less) solution. It's mostly used for watching movies. 5.1 surround sound is necessary and I'll be using klipsch f-10's and f-20's. I don't have a subwoofer but maybe I'll add one in the future. The amps are a couple of sonic impact 5066's. I've done a lot of googleing but there is so much out there that I'm just overwhelmed. Truth is that I don't know if I should go pci, pciex1, usb or usb dac. Obviously, for 75 bucks it's not critical but if some of you have any favorites in that price range I'd love to know about them. The 5066's do just fine with the klipsch speakers, I've never turned them even half way up. Looking forward to your recommendations.

Thanks,
Arthur
 
You may find a worthwhile PCI card at a computer recycler like Freegeek for five bucks or so. I also found the desirable Live Drive front panel option there (Audigy 2 version, as well as Live).

If the mobo has spdif out, watch out for used Dolby Digital receivers or processors... I've taken home each of those for just $20, though without remotes. If it has hdmi, worthwhile AV receivers can be found new for under $300.
 
Hi,

I bought an ASUS Xonar DG. Cheap, as was suggested by ppp0001 and Asus, as suggested by shredhead. ppp0001 also recommended kx drivers. This sent up a red flag because my OS is arch linux but I dual boot with Win 7 and use it for my DAW (notion 5). I had been using the asio4all drivers for lower latency and I am very happy to report that the ASUS Xonar DG actually has it's own asio drivers. Newegg, $17.99 after rebate. I always check new audio stuff by playing "Joe's garage" by Frank Zappa. Not audiophile quality but very, very decent. Surprisingly decent!

Thanks for your responses!
 
Hi,

I bought an ASUS Xonar DG. Cheap, as was suggested by ppp0001 and Asus, as suggested by shredhead. ppp0001 also recommended kx drivers. This sent up a red flag because my OS is arch linux but I dual boot with Win 7 and use it for my DAW (notion 5). I had been using the asio4all drivers for lower latency and I am very happy to report that the ASUS Xonar DG actually has it's own asio drivers. Newegg, $17.99 after rebate. I always check new audio stuff by playing "Joe's garage" by Frank Zappa. Not audiophile quality but very, very decent. Surprisingly decent!

Thanks for your responses!

I record too and the stock Asus asio will be three times as fast as asio4all
 
There's always the trusty, old AV-710 by Chaintech. It has a minor following as well, but being a 7.1 card it's a little more than you need, and likely more expensive than using an Audigy or Live! 5.1 card.

I used to have an SbLive! which I used with the kX drivers, and replaced the decoupling caps between the DSP and output OpAmps with films, and the filter caps along all the power traces with Panasonic FC's, and it sounded fantastic. But I was only going for stereo on the rear channel.
 
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