ASUS Xonar HDAV 1.3 deluxe competitor

[gvthisbookahome]

Does anybody know of another card which offers non-downsampled 192kHz Blu-Ray audio besides the ASUS Xonar series?

I'm looking for a professional sound card, a very high-end model. I was thinking of going with a Marantz UD 8004, but I'd rather try out a premium sound card.

 

[s162216]

Azerntech do one but the price is pretty much very similar to the Xonar and is inferior to it when tested in reviews. Plus it doesn't have half the features.

 

[gvthisbookahome]

Yes. I was going to reply earlier to mention that I had already found the Auzen X-Fi HomeTheater HD http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_hometheater_hd.php. Some subjective reviewers felt it did not perform as well as the Xonar series. It's just a modified creative card.

So, does anyone know of any professional sound card designed for playback purposes which can play non-downsampled 192 kHz blu-ray audio? I was browsing B&H's website, and looking at the cards by RME, but they're designed for production and recording. I'm looking for a professional-grade sound card just for playback.

 

[sholling]

You might want to consider the HT Omega Claro Plus+. The only problem us that the rights to the 8788 chipset that's used in virtually every high-end consumer sound card were sold to Asus. As a result how long competitors will have access to chipsets and drivers remains up in the air.

My personal preference is to just output the unprocessed bits from my PC's onboard sound to a receiver in my office via a optical cable. Then I can drive whatever speakers I like instead of relying on amplified speakers.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I've tried the ASUS Xonar HDAV 1.3 deluxe, and I thought it sucked.

I think a $50 ATI Radeon HD5450 card is even better for bitstreaming TrueHD/DTS-HD MA to your receiver/processor - assuming you have Power DVD9 or PDVD10 Ultra.

 

[gvthisbookahome]

No. I forgot to mention in my original posting that I'd be using the analog audio outputs. From there, it would go into my Beyerdynamic A1 headphone amplifier. I'm using the HD 800 by Sennheiser as headphones. I am not bitstreaming into a receiver or processor.

 

[s162216]

Well, that fairly simple then. You don't need any sort of fancy card, the CPU can decode the lossless audio and the soundcard can output through the analogue jacks/headphones.
Basically HDCP protection only works on bitstreaming audio and digital connections. Analogue is fine as the CPU can simply decode it to PCM which can then be converted to ananlogue audio no problem. Of course you need to use a program that can decode the audio, like powerdvd or windvd.

If you want to understand a bit more, read this little guide that I wrote a while back that explains it all:

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57871

 

[sholling]

Well, that fairly simple then. You don't need any sort of fancy card, the CPU can decode the lossless audio and the soundcard can output through the analogue jacks/headphones.

Actually analog output is where you want a really good sound card. The cheapies are fine for sending unprocessed bits across a digital cable but you want top quality DACs when you're running good headphones off a sound card's analog outputs.

 

[gvthisbookahome]

I agree. I'm now considering going with the oppo bdp-83se instead of a sound card altogether, especially considering the fan noise from the PC.

 

[sholling]

Just an FYI until the end of the month Newegg has the Claro Plus+ for $30 off with code SNDCRD715.