Audio Cards

[starshipwarrior]

I am going to purchase a M-audio high end card soon and would like to hear anyone thoughts on this
The computer I am bulding will be used for video editing, HTPC, games and since I also have a complete component Theather system (HDTV) would like to intergrate both

SYSTEM SPECS: ASUS P4T533/ 2.5 CPU - 512 RDRAM -
all in wonder 9000 Pro - (am thinking of upgrading this card ) to what?
Plextor PX-708A DVD -
39160 SCSI controller with 7 SCSI HDS 5- 36GB - 2 - 18GB - these drives are in an external enclose with their power supply
IT will be a dual boot system with XP PRO used for video and HTPC
XP Home will be on it for use with the games only

This system will not be internet connected and I only will put the sp1a and directx 9 on it.

Thank you for your wisdom - time and kind words

Starship Warrior

[au7usa]

Are you gonna run IDE and SCSI? There's an interesting looking bridge board at:
http://www.addonics.com/products/io/

I don't know how well they work!

[starshipwarrior]

On this system it will be SCSI only but I have two other systems that run SCSI and IDE

I use the IDE for the OS and the SCSI for data - work

[warddc]

startshipwarrior,

I recently purchased the m-audio audiophile 2496 from newegg.com for $149. I bought the card because it has coax digital in and out ports. The card is excellent with one downside. I have not yet got the AC3 audio stream from a dvd to successfully be sent out the s/pdif port to my home theatre receiver for decoding. I can get dolby prologic analog source to work OK but not dolby digital. The audio plays for a few seconds and then cuts out. M-audio tech support has not been very good at trying to help me. I will probably return this card to newegg.com as the whole reason I bought it was to play dvd files from my pc to my HT using DD 5.1 output. The analog in and out works beautiful. An analog signal out the digital port works fine. I just can't get a digital signal out the digital port to decode correctly.

dave.

[muskgrave]

I wanted to add that I have the AIW 9000 pro and I am very pleased with it. It will record video's straight to DVD spec as well as de-interlace on the fly. One thing you may want to do if you are recording from analog source, though:
If you put the stereo RCA's directly into the AIW's breakout box it will amplify it and send it to the line-in of your sound card via a standard mini cable. The only problem is the signal is HOT HOT HOT and when you play it back any loud parts will more than likely distort. I've found the best way to record the audio is to get a dual RCA to mini-plug adapter and go straight from the output of your vcr/etc. into the line-in of your sound card. Then you can edit the audio to amplify it some more or clean it up.

dlv

[J3M]

I've read a lot about these M-Audio cards. They seem to be praised highly by the people who buy them. I personally went with an Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro card, but I wanted the onboard DD and DTS decoding. Since you are only going to be using this card to pipe into an AV receiver, the M-Audio should work nicely for you. Also, I'm not sure of the price for a AIW 9000, but I went with the AIW9600 and it was only around $180 on NewEgg. It's a great card also.

[muskgrave]

from what i've heard the nvidia soundstorm sound chips are the only ones that can actually output the digital stream properly to a ss receiver....i could be terribly mistaken, however.

dlv