Looking for a soundcard with specific stuff

[matthew4mckeever]

Hi
Looking for a soundcard to replace my motherboard onboard one (gigabyte z87x-ud3h)

Was gonna buy a usb dac with a headphone amp on it but then I realised that I want to have the ability to connect my pc to my AVR which I would be able to anyway with hdmi on my gpu, but id much prefer to have to option of the individual 7.1 audio jacks on the back as well as either optical or coax.

I dont care whether its a USB or Pci-e soundcard, just whatever offers the best functionalty with what I want.
I want it to have a headphone amp with a dac that has at least 24bit 192khz, but 32bit 384+ would be preferred for the future.


-Thanks

 

[gamerk316]

So to clarify: The minimum specs you want are:

*) 7.1 analog out
*) Headphone Amp
*) 24bit 192khz support (no one supports 32bit audio yet)

The main problem here is most cards that contain a headphone amp don't support 5.1 analog out. To my surprise, the entire Soundblaster Z lineup only supports 5.1 analog out.

The main contenders:
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy RX
ASUS Xonar Xense
ASUS Xonar STX Essence/Essence II w/ 7.1 daughter board
Auzentech X-fi Forte

The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy series was widely panned for being crap, though it's by far the cheapest option of the bunch. The Auzentech X-Fi Forte is probably the best bang-for-buck card on the list, but has been out of production for over a decade now, and there haven't been official drivers in ages. The ASUS STX Essence/Essence II + daughter board will do the job, but the combo (remember: you need the daughter board for 7.1) will cost about as much as a mid-range GPU.

As a result, I recommend the ASUS Xonar Xense in this case as the most affordable card that meets your specifications. I have one myself and love it personally. That being said, it's been phased out of production, but you should be able to find someone who has one in stock somewhere.

EDIT

Not sure if this is an option for you, but in the worst case you can toggle between a soundcard for the headphone amp, and onboard audio for 7.1 analog out. This is doable [I do something similar: Xense for headphones and NVIDIA HDMI Out for non-headphone usage], though a bit unconventional.

 

[matthew4mckeever]

So to clarify: The minimum specs you want are:

*) 7.1 analog out
*) Headphone Amp
*) 24bit 192khz support (no one supports 32bit audio yet)

The main problem here is most cards that contain a headphone amp don't support 5.1 analog out. To my surprise, the entire Soundblaster Z lineup only supports 5.1 analog out.

The main contenders:
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy RX
ASUS Xonar Xense
ASUS Xonar STX Essence/Essence II w/ 7.1 daughter board
Auzentech X-fi Forte

The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy series was widely panned for being crap, though it's by far the cheapest option of the bunch. The Auzentech X-Fi Forte is probably the best bang-for-buck card on the list, but has been out of production for over a decade now, and there haven't been official drivers in ages. The ASUS STX Essence/Essence II + daughter board will do the job, but the combo (remember: you need the daughter board for 7.1) will cost about as much as a mid-range GPU.

As a result, I recommend the ASUS Xonar Xense in this case as the most affordable card that meets your specifications. I have one myself and love it personally. That being said, it's been phased out of production, but you should be able to find someone who has one in stock somewhere.

EDIT

Not sure if this is an option for you, but in the worst case you can toggle between a soundcard for the headphone amp, and onboard audio for 7.1 analog out. This is doable [I do something similar: Xense for headphones and NVIDIA HDMI Out for non-headphone usage], though a bit unconventional.

I actually did see a Creative one with 32bit audio support, however just like a few of them it's reviews are not too good.