Sound card with optical

[Lee`]

I need a nice new sound card with opitcal, and I'm willing to spend around £50ish. What do you think would be my best bet?

(I have inspire 5.1 digital 5700 speakers and decoder)

[MadduckUK]

fifty quid? oh nononono.. grab one of these

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/106539/rb/24408921291


info for it here:
http://www.cmedia.com.tw/?q=en/PCI/CMI8768_plus

review for card with same chipset
http://www.atruereview.com/bluegears/index.php

[Clunk]

If its for playing music and getting 5.1 sound over optical, then your best bet is to try and find any of the Auzentech cards. X-Mystique, X-Plosion will do fine

[Daneel]

Most of the Terratec sound cards have optical.

[shaithis]

If your thinking of Vista, best to check around for driver support, especially if your going 64 bit.

[MadduckUK]

If its for playing music and getting 5.1 sound over optical, then your best bet is to try and find any of the Auzentech cards. X-Mystique, X-Plosion will do fine

the one iv linked to is basically a silly cheap version of the X-Mystique.

[kalniel]

If your thinking of Vista, best to check around for driver support, especially if your going 64 bit.

Won't driver support be less of an issue in Vista as most things will be directSound?

[Funkstar]

Most of the Terratec sound cards have optical.

How are the Terratec drivers for reliability and stability?

I've read some interesting threads on the MediaPortal forums about Creative drivers causing really weird problems in HTPC systems.

I'm looking for a card with optical out and can down mix to stereo too.

[Lee`]

It's for playing music really. With having the decoder will I notice a diffrence when going from the Dell onboard opitcal out to a sound card?

[shaithis]

Won't driver support be less of an issue in Vista as most things will be directSound?

DirectSound is only a layer that sits a lot higher up then the driver though. The drivers will still have to be written and as far as sound cards go, 64 bit drivers have always been VERY thin-on-the-ground.

[Clunk]

the one iv linked to is basically a silly cheap version of the X-Mystique.

Yep, sorry, I missed that

[Clunk]

How are the Terratec drivers for reliability and stability?

I've read some interesting threads on the MediaPortal forums about Creative drivers causing really weird problems in HTPC systems.

I'm looking for a card with optical out and can down mix to stereo too.

From past experience, Terratec drivers were absolute garbage, as was the software and the customer support. Its been about 18 months since I ditched my dmx6fire card, so maybe things have changed.

Auzentech for htpc mate

[Funkstar]

fair enough, thanks for the tip

i've not really used anything other than built in sound for years.

EDIT: nice looking cards, but they are a bit more than i was planning on spending. It doesn't help when they are the X-Mystique is $70 on the site, but the lowest on Froogle is £120!

they also list Overclockers as a re-seller, but they are not listen on the Overclockers site.