looking to buy a sound card

[mtremel]

Hi, this may not be the right spot to ask this, but I was unsure. :P

I am looking for a sound card that will alow me to send all sound out from the computer across a optical/coaxal connection and still allow at least 5.1 sound. (An example is NVidia's sound card the Soundstorm) Downside to that is it is only available onboard and I would really not like to loose my multicpu. I currently have a Hercules Fortissimo III 7.1 which has an optical out, but seems to only allow me sound out the left and right speakers. The sound is being recieved by a sony str-de685. The main reason for this is my computer shares the same set of speakers as my theater system and instead on multiple cables connecting the two, I would like just one.

Any ideas?
Thnx

[Sefy]

I Think the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 and Audigy cards can give you that option

[ipgpe13]

Best Card out there now is the Sound Blaster Audigy 2, in my opinion. Kind of pricey at $100 wuth rebates. I got one and it ids great .

[mtremel]

Thanx for the reply...
I had a sound blaster 5.1, but it would only allow stereo out through the digital out (similar to what i have now). Not sure about audigy. I think what im looking for is a card that will encode to 5.1 given any source. (after reading more about the soundstorm, which does 5.1 encodeing from any source).

Anyone know of another sound card besides the soundstorm that will do this?

[energy80s]

Don't go near SoundBlaster cards, they don't play ball with a lot of motherboards!! Get a Turtle Beach or Yamaha instead. Even Creative Labs have now said that a lot of PC's have problems with their cards. My last SB card ended up in the bin years ago!!

[Craig1394]

I have a Hercules Game Theater XP 7.1 soundsystem.I never had any problems with Creative Labs cards, but I just wanted to try another brand.I am very happy with this setup.One reason I bought it was it has an external box with all the I/O connections that connects to the internal soundcard.The only thing I don't like about it is I have to restart my computer when I change the digital output mode from stereo to 5.1.

[Bob W]

The best sound card IMO is the Turtle Beach Sant Cruz and for low cost the Philips card is a bargin.

[SLICK RICK]

Maybe this would be suit your needs, just bought one 2 days ago.
CLICK HERE

SLICK RICK

PS. You can even use it as a stand alone device and hook it up to your DVD Player through the Coaxial/Optical SPDIF IN for Dolby Digital decoding.

[Blkout]

Don't go near SoundBlaster cards, they don't play ball with a lot of motherboards!! Get a Turtle Beach or Yamaha instead. Even Creative Labs have now said that a lot of PC's have problems with their cards. My last SB card ended up in the bin years ago!!

That's a pretty blind statement.

The Audigy 2 is an excellent card. Every sound card has some incompatibilty problems with some other hardware. Creative has been around forever, if anything, they are the MOST compatible with other hardware.

[SLICK RICK]

Now that I read your needs again, the card I have is exactly what you are looking for. It has a one touch button that instantly up-mixes audio files into 5.1 surround sound.

SLICK RICK

[mtremel]

Thanks for the replies all....

Slick Rick, you have the exitgy? Does it send that 5.1 out through an optical or coaxial?

Thanks again for all the info

[SLICK RICK]

The coaxial connection in the back is the input to connect from your DVD player and I think the optical output in the front connects to your reciever for 5.1.
SLICK RICK

[JamesB69]

dude, your Hercules Fortissimo III should do the job. The thing is though, you only get Dolby Digital 5.1 on DVD's. The rest of the time you are limited to 2 channel sound. Its gonna be like that with all sound cards. You just need to switch to 5.1 in the Audio configuration of PowerDVD or windvd, etc.

[energy80s]

Don't go near SoundBlaster cards, they don't play ball with a lot of motherboards!! Get a Turtle Beach or Yamaha instead. Even Creative Labs have now said that a lot of PC's have problems with their cards. My last SB card ended up in the bin years ago!!

That's a pretty blind statement.

The Audigy 2 is an excellent card. Every sound card has some incompatibilty problems with some other hardware. Creative has been around forever, if anything, they are the MOST compatible with other hardware.

Look the whole Live series were a complete disaster. When the Audigy series came out Creative themselves said that unlike the Live cards it should work on most PC's. That means that for years Creative Labs have been knowingly selling faulty cards. This is not me making something up, this is actual fact from Creative themselves. Creative cards are fine for gaming, but if you want any meaningful sound, go for something else.

[txpharoah]

Creative is one of the only original sound card manufacturers that still exists, having been in the computer sound card business for about 15 years at this point. Why? Because they make great products.

Walk into any animation/video department at a studio. Know what you'll see these days? SB AUDIGY cards! I don't have one at home, because my system came with a 5.1 card, but if you want the best, the AUDIGY is it. At work, I wouldn't have it any other way. The AUDIGY was the only card that could ever compare to my PRO AUDIO STUDIO card from the 90s, and that was a real pro card.

I won't deny Turtle Beach and Yamaha have decent cards, but this post asks for the best, and those newcomers clearly are not there yet.

[mtremel]

dude, your Hercules Fortissimo III should do the job. The thing is though, you only get Dolby Digital 5.1 on DVD's. The rest of the time you are limited to 2 channel sound. Its gonna be like that with all sound cards. You just need to switch to 5.1 in the Audio configuration of PowerDVD or windvd, etc.

Yes, I know...That's why im looking for something else. I was hoping nvidia was not the only one who encoded to 5.1 with thier controler. (it is intergraded on mobos)...

Guess my only option is to use the pro logic 2 function on my reciever...