Best 2 channel audiophile sound card.

[imperfectcircle25]

Are there any real good 2channel only soundcards?? m interested in sound quality and not useless features and sorround sound that i will never use. Im looking for something better than the crappy SB cards. The only card I could find that fits my needs is the M-audio 24/96 or 24/192. Are there any others out there?? I will probably end upgoing with an external DAC but was just curious about the soundcards that were available for a real high end 2 channel stereo setup.
Thanks

 

[astrallite]

For a sane price? Not that I am aware of. Several motherboard manufacturers do combine high quality DACs, onboard amplifier, and RCA outputs for studio monitors, but those things cost around $300 and are truly no-frills, but are kinda expensive. No, not really.

If you are getting an external DAC like burr-brown, why don't you just get something cheap (since you are offloading the DAC work anyway) like the Chaintech AV-710 for $20 (this sounds like a broken record, I keep saying it...). The Chaintech does use 106db Wolfsenn DACs, with the Envy24HT chipset like the M-Audio Revo. It's pretty much a no-frills card though.

 

[imperfectcircle25]

So no true "high end:" soundcards are out there?? I guess most people looking for sound quality are gonna go with a high quality external Usb/firewire DAC like the Wavelenth Brick or Apogee Minidac. Thanks for the suggestions but I think we are on a differant page.
Thanks

 

[burgermeister222]

check this:

http://www.stereophile.com/accessoryreviews/280/index.html