Professional-grade 2 channel sound card with analog out

[gvthisbookahome]

I was searching the web for many hours looking for a sound card which could output non-downsampled Blu-ray audio via the analog outputs. I found the Xonar series and the Hi-Fi Hometheater HD by Auzentech.

I was wondering what you all recommend for a 2-channel solution? One which would play older formats like CD and DVD Since I now plan on building two PCs, I could put the Xonar HDAV 1.3 in the first computer to cover Blu-Ray and a different sound card inside the second computer. (Yes. I know the Xonar will handle formats other than Blu-Ray, but I'm looking for the ultimate sound card for my CDs).

I don't care if I have to spend over $500 for the card.

Right now, I'm using a Beyerdynamic A1 headphone amplifier. It has two stereo analog inputs. For headphones, I'm using the Sennheiser HD 800. So, clearly I would only be needing an analog output.

I browsed B&H, musician's friend, zSounds, and other sites. I found the Digigram company and RME but all those cards are designed for recording and studios. I'm just looking for playback.

I'm also considering the UD8004 by Marantz.

(I have some high-end equipment, Focal JM-Labs, Krells, and so on to get rid of over the next month or two because I'm planning on bulding a new home. I don't want to bring all this older stuff with me. So, in the meantime, I'll be using just a simple headphone setup).

 

[m_vanmeter]

you will not get much better than the Xonar or Creative X-Fi Titanium cards. Your other option is to do the digital to analog conversion externally with a stand alone USB DAC.

 

[s162216]

The Xonar also has replaceable op amps for the analogue output so you can fine tune them to your sound preferences and is supposed to be good for analogue as well.

Bottom line: don't bother building 2 pc's, just get the Xonar and use it from there. Thats likely the best PC soundcard you will be able to get for what you want without spending silly amounts of money for a probably unnoticeable improvement in sound quality.

The other option of course is to just send the CD PCM from the soundcard to a receiver (which is likely to have superior DAC's to any soundcard) by SPDIF or HDMI, and connect the headphones to that