Soundcard choices for a dual HTPC/Gaming rig.

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Biggles604

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Nov 23, 2004
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My system setup currently consists of a full tower in my basement that is hooked up to a Logitech 5.1 speaker system, then I have the whole system wired (USB, video, audio) through a wall conduit to my living room where I have a Dolby/DTS receiver. What I am currently doing, is running L/R audio to the receiver (which is currently configured 2.1).

What I would like to do is run an SPDIF (Coax or optical) so I don't have to keep switching audio modes from 5.1 to 2.1 whenever I want to use the computer upstairs.

Currently I have an original Audigy and the AC97 onboard. The Audigy will not output digital and analog at the same time, and the AC97 sounds like crap.

What are the best options for sound cards, given that I do play a lot of games? Full EAX is desirable, but not an absolute dealbreaker.

So far, I've found:
HT Omega Striker 7.1 has all the features, but only EAX2.0

Creative X-FI PCI-E has a very attractive price, but only Toslink out (which is fine), but I am unsure of whether it will simultaneously playback analogue and digital.

The Azuntech X-Fi seems to offer all I want, but is really pricey.

The Azuntech's little brother seems to be good for HTPC, but the lack of EAX is a bit of a dealbreaker.

Am I weighting EAX too heavily? For me, it makes a great difference while playing games, but I'm basing that on my Audigy vs. AC97 5.1 on my P5B.
 
I went with the Prelude, but agreed it is a bit pricey. Audio is half the experience, so I wanted the "best" out there to match my fairly high-end audio system. I chose the Prelude because it has hardware acceleration and the on-board memory like the Creative cards (X-Fi). the biggest selling point to me was the DD Live encoding which encodes game sounds into Dolby Digital so I only need one optical cable instead of 6 analogue rca plugs. The hdmi add-on board will only sweeten the deal. Plus I'm supporting a non-Creative company :) (yes I know that Creative probably gets a slice for licensing "x-fi" to Auzentech)

fyi - be careful on the pci-e version. I don't think it's a true x-fi even though it's marketed as such. you might check that out
 
That's a good bit of advice. So what you are saying about the DD conversion is that on the other cards, the TOSLINK will only act as a passthrough on encoded sources (DVD), and it won't output sound on all other windows (Directsound) applications?
 
Biggles604 said:
That's a good bit of advice. So what you are saying about the DD conversion is that on the other cards, the TOSLINK will only act as a passthrough on encoded sources (DVD), and it won't output sound on all other windows (Directsound) applications?
Click to expand...

Sorry was not available for reply over the weekend.

The other cards will pass through surround encoded sources, yes, but for all other sounds (including games) their output will be 2 channel PCM.

The only way to get full surround (5.1, 7.1) from games with optical is to get a sound card that has DDL or DTS Interactive. This essentially encodes the audio output from games into Dolby Digital or DTS on the fly. For audio like MP3s it will still be 2 channel but in a Dolby Digital format.
 
Thanks. It's amazing that this information is so hard to come by. I would have thought that given the popularity of HTPC, there would be a definitive guide to stuff like this.
 
no problemo. The info is out there, but never could find a source that explained it well enough for a newbie to HTPC. There are several HTPC guides, but most are strictly for movie/music and not gaming. Not sure why. Too bad I didn't understand it until after I got the Elite Pro and was disappointed.

Here are a few places and guides to get you started. Plenty of links to other places from here:
HTPC: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26
HTPC Gaming: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=7&f=145
http://www.missingremote.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
 
Biggles604 said:
Thanks. It's amazing that this information is so hard to come by. I would have thought that given the popularity of HTPC, there would be a definitive guide to stuff like this.
Click to expand...
Well, it's pretty simple. Want an HTPC sound card? Tons to choose from, take your pick really. You want to game? No choice other then a Creative (or the Prelude) card.

Until game makers move away from the BS that is EAX you won't see any other of those fantastic sounds before you're stuck with having to deal with Creative and their crap load of issues (no digital out because everything gets downgraded to two channel audio in games, somewhat flaky drivers for some games, etc).

After that you've got other issues to consider, like the OS. Vista removes the hardware assisted stack that gave EAX such a boost in the first place so EAX doesn't work in Vista. To get around that Creative designed a driver that is able to "trick" Vista's audio stack into accepting and passing along EAX info to their XFi sound cards.
 
Thanks Shagn.

CrimandEvil: You're dead right, and that's what I was afraid of. I was looking for a card that supported my HTPC Needs and gaming needs simultaneously, and there seems to be a disconnect between the two, which left me feeling like an oddity. My PC is the only computer I have, and it's my gaming rig when I am downstairs, then through hotkey macros I made, it turns into my HTPC and I use my living room TV. I also do some gaming through the TV. I don't think there are many people out there that use a similar conifguration as me.

With the popularity gain of the console, I would have thought that PC component manufacturers would have jumped on board with the idea of making the PC more living room friendly with things like a no-nonsense digital audio connection that would at least compete with the X360/PS3.
 
what would be wrong with an XtremeGamer? You have the convenience of front/case pinouts, cheap price, and hardware acceleration
 
tricky0502 said:
it does have digital output. there is a FlexiJack on the back and it can be set to digital output via caox. i used to use it on my sblive.
Click to expand...
Read the thread, this has already been discussed.

He can't use digital out if he wants to game with the card because EAX downsamples itself to two channel audio when used over a digital connection.

You got any more bright ideas? :rolleyes:

The matter of the fact is is that if he wants to game and have EAX audio then he's going to have to go with a Creative card or a Prelude and Creative doesn't exactly make HTPC friendly sound cards. Ideally he would have a reciever and he'd go digital out from the HTPC to it letting the reciever do all of the audio decoding since it has superior DACs then what you'd find in even the best consumer sound card. But he wants to game with EAX which means he has to give that up and let the sound card handle all audio decoding.

Until game makers decide to drop support for EAX and instead offer some sort of PCM/DTS audio file then there isn't going to be a good compromise between gaming and HTPCs.
 
I just bought a Razer Barracuda AC-1 from woot.com for $75 with S&H. For that price, even if it doesn't do what I want it to do, it's a fairly safe bet. It looks like the card can encode DDS, and has EAX2.0, so it will be a decent improvement over my Audigy OEM.
I'll let you know what I think once it's installed.
 
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