Soundcard buying question

[chros]

Hi everybody!

I have currently a Philips Rythm Edge 4.0 soundcard with a 4.1 speaker system (analogue connection). It's working great on WinXP but no driver support for later OS-s :( (Vista, Win7).

So I want to by a new one, but with the following criterias:
- able to give 4 channel analogue output (for my current amplifier)
- in this mode Winamp can produce 4 channel output !!! (Philips doubles the stereo channel in the driver)
- in this mode ffdshow / ac3filter can produce correct 4ch downmixing
- hdmi output with lpcm/pcm out (for my future amplifiers)
- hdmi output for bitstreaming DTS-HD, EAC3, etc ... (for my future amplifiers)

Can You suggest me a new soundcard? :)

Thanks for thinking with me ....

[chuuey]

hmmm... i don't know about any cards that do have HDMI output and they can bitstream that kind of audio, i might be wrong though..

[twist3d]

If price ain't the issue, Asus has range of Xonar sound cards with HDMI-output. See Asus's website for different models. (http://asus.com/ProductGroup2.aspx?PG_ID=deBXUzMkKnQuGLGK)

[Blue_MiSfit]

Yes, the Xonar cards are the only option if you absolutely must have HDMI connectivity (and bitstreaming, last I recall). If you can give up analog, any current AMD / ATi video card will do 7.1ch LPCM over HDMI without issues. But, it sounds like analog is your main concern for the time being.

I'd imagine most other analog sound cards would be able to output a 4ch signal (granted, this is a tad unusual). Heck, you'd probably get workable output from any onboard audio solution. In fact, I'd encourage you to give it a try, since it's basically free. The sound quality is pretty bad, but is usually worlds better than the old AC97 craptacular stuff most folks are used to hating with a passion.

If you're looking for quality, discrete audio, ASUS has a wide range of Xonar products. HT Omega is another good place to look, as far as audiophile type cards are concerned.

~MiSfit

[CpT]

M-audio or like misfit said HT Omega. I have a claro Plus+ that's far more impressive than I thought it would be.
But the connectivity options the m-audio 1010LT has are nuts. It's really meant for studio setups.
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=PCIinterfaces
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829121011

[Blue_MiSfit]

The windows 7 drivers for the M-Audio Delta 1010LT are less than mature, last I checked.

~MiSfit

[CpT]

The beta's aren't bad. I haven't had a single issue. But I also have yet to fully switch over to my win 7 install.

beta's:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=media.new&ID=1870

The HT Claro +plus is running perfectly on win 7 32 bit, Still have to test on 64.

[Ghitulescu]

If you need HDMI and you have a system having a HDMI you may use a software player (or combinations thereof with routing graphs) to output the audio (decoded :)) using the HDMI. I think PowerDVD can do this natively, though I'm not 100% sure as I never was in need for something like that (and I'll probably never be since I don't like to use my PCs for playing any kind of media).

If your concern is however the 4 analog channels, then you should try to find a profi soundcard (check eBay for used ones because they are much cheaper) mainly because of their [mature] drivers.