# whats the best PC sound card out



## wecode420 (Jun 28, 2011)

just wondering whats best price dont mater
togo from the pc audio card to a audioson bitone


is it the ASUS Xonar Essence STX


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

digital or analog?


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## wecode420 (Jun 28, 2011)

t3sn4f2 said:


> digital or analog?


digital


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

All you really need then is a USB to S/PDIF converter. Assuming you don't need to do master volume control from the PC and will be doing it at the Bitone.

There are many many out there. Like this one:

miniStreamer | miniDSP

If you wanna splurge little, there's this one:

Musical Fidelity V-Link USB-S/PDIF converter | Stereophile.com

They are all really going to sound exactly the same though, unless you are someone that can hear the difference in cables; and amps that aren't overdriven. If so, then you'll have to shop around for a bit.

If you plan on controlling volume from the PC then I would suggest a soundcard that has an on-board DSP that can do quality volume control or use the USB to spdif converter in windows7 and control volume from the task bar (NOT the media player, unless the media player controls the windows volume slider directly). Both options will sound the same. Although, a soundcard with DSP that is controlled by a CarPC frontend software will have the benefits of no zipper noise when changing the volume and will also have a soft mute.
You also get the bonus of an analog in/out stage and a digital in. I use an E-MU0404PCI and love it. Works with Centrafuse from XP and has an excellent analog input and output stage. Only ~$100 to boot. It comes out of hibernation just fine _for me _ too, but thats not as guaranteed for everyone as would a typical USB spdif converter with basic drivers.

You'll also want to research the bitone with digital inputs to be familuar with any special funtional needs it may or may not have.


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## ashman5 (Aug 30, 2009)

Also, some mainboards have spdif output connectors. You may need to buy or build an interface cable. May have to consult the mainboard manual if it's not written on the board itself.


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## maKe| (Sep 12, 2009)

HiFace EVO with external power supply. Hands down best usb to spdif.

I use EVO in my home system and had before that Musiland Monitor 02US usb sound card that did 24bit/192kHz asynchronous via usb from PC. It acts as a DAC and a transport also passing digital via coax after usb. Upgraded to better standalone DAC and used Musiland for a while as a transport. Tested HiFace shortly after that and was blown away.

Don't know can you reproduce same kinda impression in a car than home, but I'd be curious to try out CarPC + HiFace to some high end DSP like H900.


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## Ultimateherts (Nov 13, 2006)

USB or PCI or PCI-E? USB offers the lowest possible noise as with PCI and PCI-E you could potentially get noise through the power supply. 

For me I have always wanted to try the Onkyo soundcards.


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## OldSchoolRF (Aug 29, 2011)

I agree. The HiFace Evo is definitely top notch.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Putting my digital source beliefs aside. What is the point of paying so much for a digital source adapter that is going to get mangled by a bitone's analog output characteristics?

Bitone digital input/analog output measurements:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/1320382-post2.html

4 budget digital sources/a budget DAC analog output measurements:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/1399959-post27.html


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## 14642 (May 19, 2008)

I think "Mangled" is too strong a word to describe that performance. Your PC may already have an optical digital output. Many of them use a combination 3.5mm jack that includes optical, but it often has to be enabled in the soundcard properties. 

This is what I use and it's fine and it gets sent to an Edirol 10-channel USB interface. Is the Edirol thing high-end? No, but it's reliable and sounds fine. I made the mistake of getting sucked into the esoteric sound card thing years ago. What a mistake. Bought a TC Electronics interface and it was a nightmare. Might have sounded good if it EVER worked, but alas...no such luck. Now it's a home for spiders in my garage--and a reminder that sometimes less is more.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Andy Wehmeyer said:


> *I think "Mangled" is too strong a word to describe that performance. *Your PC may already have an optical digital output. Many of them use a combination 3.5mm jack that includes optical, but it often has to be enabled in the soundcard properties.
> 
> This is what I use and it's fine and it gets sent to an Edirol 10-channel USB interface. Is the Edirol thing high-end? No, but it's reliable and sounds fine. I made the mistake of getting sucked into the esoteric sound card thing years ago. What a mistake. Bought a TC Electronics interface and it was a nightmare. Might have sounded good if it EVER worked, but alas...no such luck. Now it's a home for spiders in my garage--and a reminder that sometimes less is more.


I know, just trying to stay with the audiophile like essence of the thread, in order to make _the_ point.


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## wecode420 (Jun 28, 2011)

im just trying to go from 
ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Newegg.com - Open Box: ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

to 3 amps two of them 4 chan and one mono
2way active front center and a sub 
so 7 channels for now will do more later 
i want them all active

i have a audison bitone right now whats the best way to go from the comp to the audison bitone plz tell me
is it 
usb to S/PDIF Out 
or use the motherbourd that has S/PDIF Out built in
or use a pci or pcie card
or is there a better way not useing a external dsp to run 7 channel active on 3 amps

some one show me the best way to run a active system from a comp
programs and hardware would be nice


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## sebberry (May 1, 2008)

wecode420 said:


> im just trying to go from
> ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
> Newegg.com - Open Box: ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
> 
> ...


Ok, if that's the board you have, then you have a couple of options.

*First option (easiest)*
On the back of the board there is an optical S/PDIF output connection. You could simply use an optical "TOSLINK" cable from your PC to the Bit One. 

*Second option*
The motherboard also has an internal header for an S/PDIF connector. You can see the appropriate bracket to use on page 1-30 of the user manual. I don't think that came with the board so you'll have to hunt around for it. This way you can use a coax S/PDIF cable instead of the optical. The Bit One accepts both types of inputs.

Remember, optical "TOSLINK" and coax S/PDIF are both considered S/PDIF interfaces. The difference is in the wire and connection. One is copper, the other is fiber. Not much difference but in a car the optical connection is less likely to suffer from RFI and EMI.


We also have a "bonus" option!

In my experience, even digital on-board sound have a lot of noise. I installed the Asus Xonar Essence STX into my PC and the difference was night and day, especially with headphones as that card has an integrated headphone amplifier.


So it all depends on how much of an audiophile you are and how well insulated your vehicle is for sound.


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## evo9 (Jul 6, 2005)

wecode420 said:


> just wondering whats best price dont mater
> togo from the pc audio card to a audioson bitone
> 
> 
> is it the ASUS Xonar Essence STX




Onkyo Wavio SE300

Onkyo Wavio SE-300PCIE Sound Card with X-Fi Technology | iTech News Net - Gadget News and Reviews

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.


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## 8675309 (Jan 8, 2007)

I like the Onkyo cards 




evo9 said:


> Onkyo Wavio SE300
> 
> Onkyo Wavio SE-300PCIE Sound Card with X-Fi Technology | iTech News Net - Gadget News and Reviews
> 
> ...


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## gregory_ (Sep 7, 2011)

Check out the HT Omega's at Newegg. They're sweet. Very positive reviews and I love mine.


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## Izoton (Apr 28, 2010)

gregory_ said:


> Check out the HT Omega's at Newegg. They're sweet. Very positive reviews and I love mine.


I has a Claro Halo XT.. Excellent sound card!!


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## Sergery (Jan 20, 2009)

Are you set on an internal card? what do you intend to do dac-wise? If you don't mind usb, I think the hi-face is amazing (I have the non-evo). For multichannel there is a device, exaU2I, that looks amazing. async, 8 channels, i2s out, and a reclocking/ fpga controlled buffer. exa found here: http://exadevices.com/exaU2I/Overview.aspx , btw it is around the same price as the 2 channel evo, and reviews seem to indicate that the sound quality is on par. this would allow a 4-way speaker system each with their own dac, seems like this will be my route eventually.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Not a card but.......better.

*CEntrance DACmini*

CEntrance -> DACmini

http://centrance.com/products/dacmini/i/dacmini_case_study.pdf

6moons audio reviews: CEntrance DACmini CX
6moons audio reviews: CEntrance DACmini CX
6moons audio reviews: CEntrance DACmini CX
6moons audio reviews: CEntrance DACmini CX


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## sy0296 (Aug 28, 2010)

i was planning on using the turtle beach usb micro ii to feed the bit1 for the new build
USB Sound Card | Audio Advantage Micro II | Turtle Beach

when used with the iPad and mac mini feeding my home setup (sun fire theater grand II pre-amp to arcam fmj p7 amp) it sounded fine...although i admit i didn't really listen with a critical ear. 

is there really such a big difference between all the different USB->S/PDIF converters? all this talk about adaptive vs asynchronous, low-jitter, etc, etc...

kinda wanna spend the hundred or some dollars to see if music fidelity v-link will be much different to the turtle beach usb micro ii i already have, but what are your thoughts?

signal path for the new build goes a little something this: carpc-->usb/spdif converter-->bit1-->amps-->speakers/subs

very straight forward and simple design, nothing crazy. speakers are morel elate limed edition 2ways running active powered by a single macintosh mcc406m...have not decided on the subs yet.


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