looking for high end auido card

[killersystems]

hello I am looking for a high end audio card to go with my high end build and would like some suggestions here is my parts list of the stuff I already have

Parts List for "The Reaper" Build

- 2 GTX 980Ti Kingpin Graphics Cards 80% + ASIC

- EVGA Pro SLI Bridge V2

- EVGA Supernova 1600 Watt T2 Power supply

- Leet Case w/ 7" Samsung LCD Screen w/ Full IR Functionality

- Corsair Dominator Platinum 64GB DDR4 2800MHz Timings are 14-16-16-31 Voltage: 1.35V

- CPU Intel 5960X

- Motherboard Rampage 5 Extreme Version 3.1

- M.2 Drive Intel 750 2.5 1.2TB PCIE NVME 3.0 X4

- CPU Cooling EK-Supremecy EVO Elite Edition Intel 2011-3

- Graphics Cards Cooling EK-FC980 GTX Ti Classy KPE-Nickel X2 w/ 2 Red LEDs
EK FC980 GTX Ti Classy KPE Backplate-Nickel

- Ram Cooling EK-RAM Monarch X4-Nickel X2 w/ 2 EK Red Tops w/ 2 Red LEDs

- Motherboard Cooling EK-FB KIT ASUS R5E-Nickel

- Rads 120 mm EK-CoolStream PE 120 (Single) & EK-CoolStream PE 240 (Dual)

- 4 Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC 3000 PWM 120mm Fan sleeved in red

- EK-ACF Fitting 10/16mm - Red

- Tim Thermal Grizzly thermal compound

- Tubing- PrimoChill PrimoFlex™ Advanced LRT™ Bloodshed Red

- EK-FC Terminal

- EK-Ekoolant EVO CLEAR

- SSDS 2 Crucial 180 1TB

- 2 Rosewill RCNC-11044 10 ft. Cat 7 Red Shielded Twisted Pair (S/STP) Networking Cable

- Lighting BitFenix 60cm 30 LEDs Alchemy LED Connect Lit Strip, Re

- KeyBoard Razor Black Widow ultimate Mechanical Chroma Stealth

- Mouse Razor Deathadder Chroma

- Mousepad Razor Firefly Chroma

- Xbox One Elite Controller w/ Wireless Adapter

- Blu ray writer asus Extreme 12X Blu-ray writing speed with USB 3.0

- Custom etched window with grim reaper

- Operating system Windows 10 pro

- Auido marantz av7701 with mm8077 with martin logan elecrostatic speakers

- Video lg ub85000 240mkz 4k tv

- Logitech Harmony Ultimate One Remote


thank u in advance

mark

 

[slipperybidness]

What is your end goal for the sound card? Gaming, Movies, Music?

In general, if I'm using a PC as an audio source for music, then I prefer to use an external DAC instead of a sound card, for several reasons. I would just use the mobo digi coax or optical output and run that to the input on my external DAC. I see that you have a Marantz Processor? Just run the digi coax or optical from the mobo directly to the Marantz! Done.

To answer your question about sound cards, there are 2 that I would be looking at personally, but you need to decide if these would accomplish YOUR goals:

Asus Xonar
http://www.amazon.com/PCI-Express-XONAR-ESSENCE-STX-90-YAA0C0-0UAN00Z/dp/B001OV789U/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1447268008&sr=8-3&keywords=asus+xonar

M Audio 192
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOAP192

Not available at that site any longer. It may have been replaced with a newer model.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Simple answer - None - don't get sound card at all.
Instead if you want clean and accurate sound invest a bit into external (preferably with optical toslink input) audio interface and good speakers.
Some good options:
https://www.jdslabs.com/products/46/standalone-odac-rev-b/
or like mine:
http://audioengineusa.com/Store/D1-24-Bit-DAC

speakers:
JBL LSR305 or Focal Alpha 50

 

[killersystems]

I have a Marantz av7701 and mm80777 with martinlogan electrostatic speakers that I will be using for sound but I was wondering if the gtx 980 will put out dts-ma

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I have a Marantz av7701 and mm80777 with martinlogan electrostatic speakers that I will be using for sound but I was wondering if the gtx 980 will put out dts-ma

Yes, it should be able to bitstream dts-ma on hdmi connection

 

[Tao1]

You don't need need a sound card when you have an av receiver (with a DAC that is probably waaayyy better than that of any soundcard)

At best you could get a Sound Blaster gamer series card for the added DSP/effects. Not sure what they do these days, since environmental sound effects made the switch from being hardware controlled (EAX of old) to software (Windows Direct X) several years ago.

Your video card (or on board graphics) would have to be compliant with HDMI specs before being available for sale. You should be able to transfer ANY digital audio signal produced on your computer over HDMI. The trick is having a DAC that is licensed to decode those signals (DTS, Dolby Digital, etc).

The other trick is getting PC content that actually bothers to use high end sound signals such as Dolby Digital (let alone lossless formats). Most games use compressed audio such as .mp3 mainly because PC gamers consider audio an afterthought and spend $100 on crappy speakers and can't tell the difference....

The Witcher 3 is the only game I have played that actually has a license for Dolby formats.

 

[slipperybidness]

You don't need need a sound card when you have an av receiver (with a DAC that is probably waaayyy better than that of any soundcard)

At best you could get a Sound Blaster gamer series card for the added DSP/effects. Not sure what they do these days, since environmental sound effects made the switch from being hardware controlled (EAX of old) to software (Windows Direct X) several years ago.

Your video card (or on board graphics) would have to be compliant with HDMI specs before being available for sale. You should be able to transfer ANY digital audio signal produced on your computer over HDMI. The trick is having a DAC that is licensed to decode those signals (DTS, Dolby Digital, etc).

The other trick is getting PC content that actually bothers to use high end sound signals such as Dolby Digital (let alone lossless formats). Most games use compressed audio such as .mp3 mainly because PC gamers consider audio an afterthought and spend $100 on crappy speakers and can't tell the difference....

The Witcher 3 is the only game I have played that actually has a license for Dolby formats.

+1

That's how I'm set up. Asus mobo audio goes to an input on my MSI vid card, which puts it on the HDMI cable. 1 HDMI cable goes to AVR.

Keep the audio in the digital domain until it is OUTSIDE the computer chassis!

 

[shadyJ]

Agreed with everyone. Just use the videocard's HDMI for sound output. Only use sound cards for pro-audio work or certain two channel setups, neither of which look applicable in your case. "Gaming" soundcards are nearly extinct for good reason.

 

[killersystems]

Thank you guys for all your help

 

[Paul Taylor]

Gaming cards are most certainly not dead! If your build is gamer-centric, go with a Creative SoundBlaster Zx. Its Sound Core3D processor does positional audio much better than its competitors.

If it's 2ch music you're after the new Asus EssenceSTXII paired with Burson Supreme Sound Op Amps cant be beat!!! You can add the 7.1 card to it but you're headed to the $600 range. This card will also drive headphones up to 600ohms.

 

[slipperybidness]

Gaming cards are most certainly not dead! If your build is gamer-centric, go with a Creative SoundBlaster Zx. Its Sound Core3D processor does positional audio much better than its competitors.

If it's 2ch music you're after the new Asus EssenceSTXII paired with Burson Supreme Sound Op Amps cant be beat!!! You can add the 7.1 card to it but you're headed to the $600 range. This card will also drive headphones up to 600ohms.

You are still better off to get the signal outside the chassis in the digi domain, then do the D to A conversion. Especially if music and audio quality are the main objectives.

If you just want an all in one gaming rig, then a good sound card may make sense, but you still have inherent problems to deal with inside the chasis. The Asus does a pretty good job of dealing with these problems.

 

[DeadPhishCheeseUmphreys]

This is something I've needed to address for awhile also.

I use my computer to send music to my receiver, MP3 and FLAC. Not so much with video. ALL my files are digital. Right now I use an optical digital cable. I've been trying to convince myself to get a good sound card. Was gonna buy an HT Omega card like this:
http://www.amazon.com/HT-OMEGA-Claro-Halo-Sound/dp/B005OU6HOO

But even a very good audio card isn't the way to go? Converting from digital to analog before going to my receiver is best? Anyone care to explain or link me the thread that does?

 

[slipperybidness]

This is something I've needed to address for awhile also.

I use my computer to send music to my receiver, MP3 and FLAC. Not so much with video. ALL my files are digital. Right now I use an optical digital cable. I've been trying to convince myself to get a good sound card. Was gonna buy an HT Omega card like this:
http://www.amazon.com/HT-OMEGA-Claro-Halo-Sound/dp/B005OU6HOO

But even a very good audio card isn't the way to go? Converting from digital to analog before going to my receiver is best? Anyone care to explain or link me the thread that does?

You are confused here.

An optical cable is absolutely fine for sending 2 channel music to your AVR! You don't need a "good sound card" unless you may have a particular problem that you are trying to correct. If you have an optical connection to your AVR, then you are sending digital info to the AVR, and the DAC inside your AVR is doing the D to A conversion. That is perfectly fine! In this case, you don't have a separate DAC, but your DAC is external to the PC and that is a good thing (in general)! Now, if you wanted to do multi-channel audio at higher resolutions, then you may need to swap to something other than optical.

The main point is to leave the signal in the digital domain until it is outside the computer chassis, then do the D to A conversion. Why? Inside the chassis is an electronically noisy place and digi is orders of magnitude more immune to noise. Also, many off the shelf computers have puny power supplies that can introduce errors at the D to A conversion.

1 Question for you: Let's assume you bought that OMEGA Sound card and installed it. How would you plan to hook your computer to the AVR? You would still plan to use the optical? Or you would use the analog outs on that card? If you planned to use optical, HDMI, or digi coax, then you would just be throwing money in the trash! You would still be sending a digi signal to the AVR, just like you did before.

I personally currently use a digi coax from my mobo audio to get the digi signal to my AVR. In the past, I have used a cheap sound card for an optical connection, and both solutions worked out great. I also have a 2 channel analog rig where I can plug my laptop USB to a standalone DAC, and it works great too.

 

[DeadPhishCheeseUmphreys]

"1 Question for you: Let's assume you bought that OMEGA Sound card and installed it. How would you plan to hook your computer to the AVR?"

I really don't know, I just have a stock sound card, and figured there had to be a way to increase sound quality. But if All I am doing is sending 2 channel audio to my receiver, I'd like to send whatever channel its recorded in to my receiver. Most of my MP3 is 256 - 320, or converted to V0, but I have FLAC and even some 24bit FLAC. But also live video/audio recordings, from DVD, Blu Ray, and straight downloaded formats.

 

[slipperybidness]

"1 Question for you: Let's assume you bought that OMEGA Sound card and installed it. How would you plan to hook your computer to the AVR?"

I really don't know, I just have a stock sound card, and figured there had to be a way to increase sound quality. But if All I am doing is sending 2 channel audio to my receiver, I'd like to send whatever channel its recorded in to my receiver. Most of my MP3 is 256 - 320, or converted to V0, but I have FLAC and even some 24bit FLAC. But also live video/audio recordings, from DVD, Blu Ray, and straight downloaded formats.

If you bought the OMEGA and installed it, then the ONLY way that it would make sense to connect it would be to use the analog outputs of the card going to the analog inputs on the AVR. If you connect it with any other method, then you might as well throw that money in the toilet and flush it because that will give you the same end result (wasted $)!

But, as I said before, if you install that Omega card and connect it as I said above, then you will be doing D to A inside the computer chassis. It may work fine or it may be worse than what you have now. It very likely won't improve anything though (assuming that your AVR has at least decent DAC, a DAC is a commodity nowadays and can be done well for cheap).

My advice is to save the $ by not purchasing a sound card. Instead, put the $ somewhere that is GUARANTEED to give improvements.

What speakers are you using? Do you have a sub-woofer? The $ would be better spent to upgrade the speakers (depending on what you already have), or adding a sub-woofer.

Edit: I wanted to add 1 more comment that is somewhat related. Many of the mainstream AV mags love to tell us that the best way to connect from a computer to AVR is to use:
1) A DAC with a USB connection
2) A DAC with an asynchronous clock

Don't fall for these fallacies!

 

[DeadPhishCheeseUmphreys]

Well thanks, I actually am upgrading my speakers, the reason I joined the forum. Only reason I haven't upgraded my sound card already, is because my computer is 6 years old.

My receiver is an Onkoyo Tx-NR818, and the first paragraph has this line "The receiver delivers power effortlessly through three-stage inverted Darlington circuitry and 192 kHz/24-bit DACs."

I'll see how I feel after some new speakers.

 

[slipperybidness]

Well thanks, I actually am upgrading my speakers, the reason I joined the forum. Only reason I haven't upgraded my sound card already, is because my computer is 6 years old.

My receiver is an Onkoyo Tx-NR818, and the first paragraph has this line "The receiver delivers power effortlessly through three-stage inverted Darlington circuitry and 192 kHz/24-bit DACs."

I'll see how I feel after some new speakers.

OK. I just took a look at your speaker thread. Those guys will get you set in that thread.

 

[Paul Taylor]

because your receiver has a good dac, id just run the digital out to it. if you're not gonna game save the scratch!

 

[sterling shoote]

I use an external sound card, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD. I also use AirPort Express which provides an AirPlay function. The sound card has features allowing the digitizing of LP's, as well as recording to/from all external media players/recorders, i.e. DAT, CD, compact cassette, reel to reel, etc. That's why you may want to consider the X-Fi HD. That's to say, although you can listen to anything from the internet, you can not download some of what you are listening to; however, with a CD recorder, or DAT recorder you can record what ever you are listening to when your sound setting on your computer is set to output at 16/44.1. After recording, you can use the external sound card to send music back to computer for editing/storage.