Vista Compatable Sound Card Reccomendations?

[Spud1]

I again need the help of some knowledgable Hexites if you please

I'm getting tired of fighting with my built-in CMI9880 sound card, its served me well for 2 years but i've been having a few..issues with Vista and the optical out recently - and today it seems to have completely given up the ghost Its strange as there is still an optical signal being output (you can see the light) but Vista is refusing point blank to actually send any sound data down the cable.

Soo...this gives me the perfect excuse to replace it with a real, bona-fide sound card.

Thing is i've not looked at sound cards for years, my last one was an audiogy about 4 years ago, so I don't have a clue whats good, whats not and crucially, whats Vista compatable.

I figure its best if I post what I need from a card, and a few links to some i've been looking at - any advice/opinions on these would be greatly appreciated

TOSLINK or COAX Digital Out - supporting at least 5.1 output (7.1 not needed but maybe nice for the future)
EAX support would be nice too, but thats not mandatory.
I am connecting this up to my Hi-Fi which can decode DTS or Dolby so I don't need a decoder, but as long as it can output the correct signal thats good enough for me.
When it comes to input I would *love* to have a socket that can accept a standard guitar cable, but that would just be a bonus ASIO 2.0 support would go hand in hand with this.
It also MUST be 100% Vista compatable.


I have a budget of up to around £50, that can possibly be stretched if you can build a really good case for said card hehe.

Heres what I have looked at so far:


Auzentech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect Sound Card (BGI-HDAXP-D)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=579624

Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card UK Retail
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=503577

Creative X-Fi Extreme Audio Sound Card 24Bit 7.1Ch OEM
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=527290

M-Audio Revolution 5.1: High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Card
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=332498

Thats pretty much it..of those I am thinking that the Auzentech one is the best choice, but i'm not sure really..I've always had creative cards prior to this onboard card, so I also like the sound of them - BUT it looks like none of them have a Coax or TOSLINK connection? So that would mean I would need one with a breakout box which just pushes up the price

Any opinions/reccomendations greatly recieved.

Thanks,

Spud/Pete

edit: I have seen a few other threads on a similar vein..but they talk about X64 which is different

[Agent]

I truly believe that Auzentech will overtake creative if they keep on their game.
Very good cards, drivers seem solid too.

No idea about the M-Audio, but stay away from the X-fi's. Really not that impressive IMO, overpriced too.

[Spud1]

After doing even more reading around I think your right agent - that particular card is getting rave reviews everywhere I look compared to the XFI..I think I might be driving over to scan in the morning Still not seen the showroom yet, this could be a good excuse hehe.

edit - scratch the maybe, ordered now ty

[Agent]

I mentioned this is another thread, but I went from a Aud2/4 (hacked drivers) to an X-Fi, and it was the single biggest waste of money I spent. I ended up selling the X-fi.
It sounded different yeah, but nothing that I couldn't replicate with minimal equaliser changing. I use digital to the amp, with a decent 5.1 set up, so how people claim they are 'amazing' while listening to it through some PC World £9.99 speakers, i'll never know.

I believe creative are 90% marketing, 10% product.
Every time we have a revision from Creative (lets just think about this....Soundblaster, Soundblaster Pro, AWE 32, AWE 64, PCI512, Live!, Audigy 2, Audigy 4, and now X-fi) People rant and rave about how the latest one sounds amazing compared to the last generation.....give me a break.
Even on board today offers very good sound.

Lets also remember that Creative want you to pay for working Vista drivers for non X-fi cards and even re-release products with almost nothing but updated drivers (Audigy 2->4).

Sorry for the rant

[Spud1]

no need to apologise - your right

I had some 'discussions' with various people when I refused to buy a separate sound card for my PC when I got my new motherboard (from hexus!) that had this CMI9880 chipset on it..It sounded perfectly fine to me, used the digital out to give me 5.1 surround and I never had any problems with it.

I'm only replacing it now because of the problems I mentioned above..on board sound is pretty decent these days, especially the IntelHD audio compliant ones