# PC Soundcard for music listening through receiver



## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I'm going to connect my PC to my receiver & TV in the living room this weekend and need a soundcard that's better than what I have (a very basic 5.1 soundcard with no digital out). I'm mainly looking to get a digital out for 2.1 music listening. Budget is as low as I can get within reason and I'd like to pick it up at CC or BB this weekend. Any suggestions?

I don't mind ordering online, but only if I absolutely cannot find something I can get from a local store over the weekend. I'm looking to hook this up while my wife's away. 

Edit: This is the one I'm looking to replace:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829117105


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## felix509 (Dec 17, 2006)

Does your receiver have Optical Toslink or Coax Digital input, or maybe both??

I used a Turtle Beach(can't recall the model) card for many years to do this exact same thing, had no issues at all.. It had a Versa Jack that was a 3.5mm that you could set as digital out. Had to make a cable, but that was easy, just a 3.5mm to a Coax RCA.. 

You could just get an M-Audio transit if you just need digital out, they can be had online for $60 or so and you would have optical out then, some say that this is very important to isolate the computer from the DAC/receiver.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

felix509 said:


> Does your receiver have Optical Toslink or Coax Digital input, or maybe both??
> 
> I used a Turtle Beach(can't recall the model) card for many years to do this exact same thing, had no issues at all.. It had a Versa Jack that was a 3.5mm that you could set as digital out. Had to make a cable, but that was easy, just a 3.5mm to a Coax RCA..
> 
> You could just get an M-Audio transit if you just need digital out, they can be had online for $60 or so and you would have optical out then, some say that this is very important to isolate the computer from the DAC/receiver.


It has (2) of both. Right now I'm using both optical inputs. But I have 2 digital coax available.


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## felix509 (Dec 17, 2006)

I would have to say it all comes down to your budget. I think all of the Sound Blaster cards have digital coax out, some are under $40.

If you are just using the digital out and are not worried about the extra features, I bet there is not much difference in the cards from $20-$120. The clock quality is one of the Main components in digital SPDIF output, My opinion is that unless you pony up some bigger $$$ for pro-type cards there will not be a huge improvement in the clock. 

That being said, I am about to ditch my M-Audio transit for an ESI MAYA just for that reason, Higher quality clocks in the pro cards make for a better digital source.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

What M-Audio piece are you talking about?

I may just pick up a SB card and call it a day. I'd rather not dump more than $60 into this because in a year or so I'll be making this PC an HTPC and be starting all over again.


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## felix509 (Dec 17, 2006)

bikinpunk said:


> What M-Audio piece are you talking about?
> 
> I may just pick up a SB card and call it a day. I'd rather not dump more than $60 into this because in a year or so I'll be making this PC an HTPC and be starting all over again.


M-Audio Transit I am using with my Car Computer.. It is USB sound card with Digital Optical out..


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

felix509 said:


> M-Audio Transit I am using with my Car Computer.. It is USB sound card with Digital Optical out..


Do you have a model # or link?


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## felix509 (Dec 17, 2006)

bikinpunk said:


> Do you have a model # or link?


*M-Audio Transit* is the name of the item.. It is a USB recording interface by design but it works great for digital output. It only has optical Toslink output though, no digital coax output. You could also use it as an analogue out as it has DAC built in also and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Here is is on eBay for a nice price..


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## CBRworm (Sep 1, 2006)

I have had good luck using the spdif output of the X-fi soundblasters that have it. I have an X-Fi eXtreme music card (I think). I have 2 10 channel M-Audio sound cards that work very well too - very good SQ, but very limited tools and drivers; not really suitable for general purpose use.

I am a strong believer in not using the on-board audio for many reasons.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

I would use an E-MU 0404 PCI or a 1212M.

http://www.emu.com/products/welcome.asp?category=505 

They are Creatives high end line and are still affordable. A very good thing about them is that they have a anti-pop feature built in on the analog outs and the software drivers don't resample the audio like regular creative cards do. They also have a standard 2-volt unbalanced output that matches your receivers rated sensitivity input, that way you don't have to mess with the volume, plus its strong enough unlike the transits 1 volt to keep the volume knob down and thus noise at a minimum.

What OS, software, and file types will you be using to play your files. If you are willing to go with Vista and WMP you can get excellent sound quality and you can use windows communicator for windows media center that lets you do basically what you can do in the new Sync equipped Ford cars.

http://www.sayittoplayit.com/

Look at the demo video.


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## ErinH (Feb 14, 2007)

I'm just looking for a cheap setup to run digital out to receiver. I use iTunes for all my music media so that'd be the program I'm going to use.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

K, go with the Transit then. Its more affordable and a lot of people looking for digital out use them. This is the same sound card that Npdang recommends in his measuring setup tutorial.


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