1 sound card= 1 amp...

[ARSIS]

i wanna use my p.c. for ht/hifi. i'm looking at getting the asus XONAR ESSENCE sound card. problem one... you can only run 1 amp off the sound card. i planned on using 2 amps for my mains. do you still have to use a sound processor to get mutiple signals to your amps?
pretty much a pc for ht is just for media files?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829132010

[donradick]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

AFAIK, all sound cards only have 1 output for stereo.

Either you can get a receiver with pre-outs for the second amp, or
use a Y cable to drive the 2 amps. Should work fine - the amps are
a "high-z" connection on their inputs.

-don

[Pete Schumacher]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

i wanna use my p.c. for ht/hifi. i'm looking at getting the asus XONAR ESSENCE sound card. problem one... you can only run 1 amp off the sound card. i planned on using 2 amps for my mains. do you still have to use a sound processor to get mutiple signals to your amps?
pretty much a pc for ht is just for media files?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829132010

Go with this one. Let's you connect amps for each of the 8 total channels. This will allow you to do a pair of 4-way active speakers if you wanted to.

Of course, you can always use the headphone output for driving your stereo or dual mono amps.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829132005

[markk]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

Well, I'm not so sure yet...

http://www.audioheuristics.org/markk_wp/?p=64

(Hey look, I have a blog! That was fast.)

[ARSIS]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

Go with this one. Let's you connect amps for each of the 8 total channels. This will allow you to do a pair of 4-way active speakers if you wanted to.

Of course, you can always use the headphone output for driving your stereo or dual mono amps.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829132005

hmmmm... that card has some pretty bad reviews because of the drivers. i think my best bet is to use a y-cable for the asus i mentioned above. too bad that card doesnt have multiple input jacks :(

[tedwilt]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

ARSIS,
Show me a bad review for that ASUS by anyone that knows what they are doing and have a good operating system!
Ted

[ARSIS]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

ARSIS,
Show me a bad review for that ASUS by anyone that knows what they are doing and have a good operating system!
Ted

Pros: Its not made by creative/sound blaster

Cons: Where do i start, this is the worst sound card i had ever used. I was not able to get it to work at all in windows 7 at all. I tried various drivers and NON of them worked. The drivers are not updated very often from what people said on the asus fourms. Now i am stuck back on onboard sound :(

Other Thoughts: I have had an X-fi that i loved but the creative is not the company i used to love. Driver support is a joke just as is with asus. Asus is now another product i will stay away from because of bad products and bad support as well.







Pros: I honestly can't think of many - Windows XP this card works rather well.

Cons: Hands down the most error prone Sound Card I ever owned, PC user for 25+ years. In Windows 7 64-bit, the drivers for this card are horrendous, at best. The DSP mode doesn't even work if you put the sampling rate beyond 48khz, if you have an audio system capable of supporting a higher sampling rate, then the DSP modes will be disabled, if you select 96 or 192! This card hangs on several applications, Empire Earth III, NBA 2K10, sometimes on Crysis among others. The audio will hang and crash your applications, I've uninstalled the card and tried my onboard audio and they were flawless. I TRULY regret buying this over hyped paper weight. The D2X works well on Windows XP, no issues, though it's a nightmare if you are a heavy gamer utilizing Win 7 64-bit. Run as fast as you can away from this card if you are a hardcore gamer. I have this card paired with the Logitech Z-5500s.

Other Thoughts: I would look elsewhere for your gaming needs, there are better and cheaper solutions on here, also this card is REALLY not meant for the gamer. Most games do not use a sampling rate higher than 48khz, and this unit is somewhat of an overkill. ASUS is all but abandoned the support for this card, they have yet to put out a good driver set for Win 7. Please don't buy this if you are into gaming, the D2X is the worst hardware I have ever purchased.







Pros: Its not made by creative/sound blaster

Cons: Where do i start, this is the worst sound card i had ever used. I was not able to get it to work at all in windows 7 at all. I tried various drivers and NON of them worked. The drivers are not updated very often from what people said on the asus fourms. Now i am stuck back on onboard sound :(

Other Thoughts: I have had an X-fi that i loved but the creative is not the company i used to love. Driver support is a joke just as is with asus. Asus is now another product i will stay away from because of bad products and bad support as well.

[ARSIS]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

ARSIS,
Show me a bad review for that ASUS by anyone that knows what they are doing and have a good operating system!
Ted

Pros: Sounds GREAT! for Music, Movie-PlayBack and PowerFULL Audio-play back and im using Z-5500 5.1 Speaker setup.

Cons: Well i had moved on from D2X and from [Creative/which is the worst] the only Con! for this Card i dont see most dont know is:

Audio INPUT & MIC is Super LOW !!! cant even change-MAX it. Even on ASUS -->on its own Web-Site --> 100's of users have the same problem....ASUS wont even FIX the input and MIC issues.... * READ the FORUMS * for yourslef.......

Other Thoughts: So for me i return my D2X, got my $money$ back, so if your never gonna use the MIC/INPUT of this Card buy it. BUT !! If you will......RUN!! get another card.

Oh ya Creative-X-Fi cards are still no--good Still has "Pops and Hiss Sounds !!" started with PCI and PCi-Ex cards, what a shame....






Pros: Sounds great when it works. Lots of colorful lights make me happy? I have never heard music so clear when bridging the computer/receiver gap... Good included software. Good tech support guys.

Cons: Terrible drivers. Slow manufacturer website. Pricepoint. Must be adjusted for every single program prior to starting them.

Other Thoughts: When I first installed this card the initial drivers did not deliver 5.1 through digital coax or optical. After becoming a beta tester for $200 I installed the updates available on their website which had to be the most excrutiatingly slow experience ever. Voila! 5.1 Surround finally! Testing the setup on Master and Commander it sounded incredible when the cannonballs ripped through the ships. Believing everything was AOK I proceeded to test music on the new set of drivers, only to be rewarded with an Alvin and the Chipmunks version of my song(playback was too fast). To remedy this fast playback you must change back to PCM? After hours of installs I cannot conscienably recommend this to anyone for an HTPC but have yet to try games. Goodbye to you ASUS... I have been buying your products for years... after this and your p5n32-SLI onboard audio I think we should just be friends...

[Ryan_M]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

Hey Pete! You use that D2X?

I'm thinking on revamping my setup and using that card but can't find an answer to a question I have. So if you're familiar with it...

[ckmoore]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

I have been running the Auzentech Prelude for over a year. It sounds wonderful for music and games, first on XP, now on Win7 64 bit. It has been rock solid.

[Pete Schumacher]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

Hey Pete! You use that D2X?

I'm thinking on revamping my setup and using that card but can't find an answer to a question I have. So if you're familiar with it...

Not yet. Still using the on-board 24-bit sound of the ASUS MOBO. I'm finding it hard to justify another solution based on the noise levels I've gotten from this setup.

I'm getting ready to do the full 5.1 HTPC with amps and I'll definitely be going with a hardware solution for the sound track decode which requires a sound card.

By the way, the driver issues I saw in the reviews applied to gaming. And if you're not running 64-bit Win7, you should be OK.

But for audio use, this card should be a killer, and I've no doubt that drivers will be coming.

[Pete Schumacher]

Re: 1 sound card= 1 amp...

I have been running the Auzentech Prelude for over a year. It sounds wonderful for music and games, first on XP, now on Win7 64 bit. It has been rock solid.

I really like that card for the simplicity of the output connector. Still may go after it because of that reason.