Stereo / 5.1 dilemma

daitheflu · 28 Jun 2006 at 22:04

I've recently bought an amp and speaker setup and at the moment i'm using the onboard sound from the mobo.

I've been looking at the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 as a pure stereo sound card. But in the future i would like to have a 5.1 setup. So that would mean i'd need a new card.

Would i be better with the M-Audio or a HDA Digital X-Mystique for example.

squiffy · 28 Jun 2006 at 22:08

If your M-Audio can pass multi-channel Dolby Digital and DTS streams there is no need to replace the soundcard, just buy a AV Amplifier. If it can't you could just add a cheap card just to get digital audio output to the AV amplfiier.

tom_nieto · 29 Jun 2006 at 09:02

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we're talking about surround sound from games and not just from DVD movies.

The X-Mystique or X-plosion cards look good for AV amp users, however if you're fine with connecting everything in analogue, then the X-fi is a pretty good option for games. I'd personally be leaning towards the HDA cards because AV amps tend to be extremely good at decoding and getting a good sound from DD/DTS streams (basically what they're primarily designed for).

You can also use your current stereo amp in conjunction with an AV amp in future. It'll be better for music and pure stereo sound than an AV amp almost certainly. We'll get to that once you've bought an AV amp though.

Codmate · 29 Jun 2006 at 12:31

I'd bypass the 2496 go straight for this:
http://www.maudio.co.uk/products/en_gb/Revolution51-focus.html

I've heard the card and the analogue out is surprisingly good!

It has PCM, plus passthrough of AC-3 and DTS through the digital link, should you wish to go that route later.
Or you can just stick with the analogue 5.1 if you wish.

squiffy · 29 Jun 2006 at 13:25

Codmate said:
I'd bypass the 2496 go straight for this:
http://www.maudio.co.uk/products/en_gb/Revolution51-focus.html

I've heard the card and the analogue out is surprisingly good!

It has PCM, plus passthrough of AC-3 and DTS through the digital link, should you wish to go that route later.
Or you can just stick with the analogue 5.1 if you wish.

That's the one I have. Passes 44.1khz PCM as 44.1khz, Dolby Digital & DTS - all through the SPDIF output. Switching from analogue outputs to Digital is pretty quick, open M-Audio control panel and click the icon.

daitheflu · 29 Jun 2006 at 17:10

After a closer look the 2496 has S/PDIF digital I/O with PCM and AC-3/DTS passthrough. The 2xRCA output should be better than the analog 1/8" outs from the revolution which would require a 3.5mm to twin rca phono lead.

So by choosing the 2496 over the 5.1 evolution i'm just giving up the EAX support which is not a priority whereas music quality is.