Sound Card Upgrade Suggestions

blaw789 · 02-10-2009, 08:44 PM

Hello-

I am trying to revive my old Dell Dimension Desktop as a rudimentary media PC and want to upgrade my sound card to one that will carry multichannel audio from my PC to my Phillips 5.1 home theater system/stereo. My stereo receiver has both Optical and SPDIF inputs. While searching for an acceptable card at tiger direct I came across two cards (a Diamond and Turtle Beach) that seemed like they would work but some reviews said that the SPDIF or Optical outputs would only carry stereo and not multichannel audio. Dont know anything about PC sound cards but I am familiar with stereo equipment so your help is appreciated! Any advice on the best card/brand for my money (less expensive the better!) Thanks again!

**Pauldo** · 02-10-2009, 10:45 PM

Hi and welcome to TSF!

How old is the Dell? It doesn't have onboard audio with spdif out? SPDIF usually isn't plagued with the same problems as analog output for older onboard audio.

The Riviera will do it, I'm not sure what that guy was doing wrong (maybe not setting speaker output to 2 speakers) but you have to make sure that everything (sound card and software that you are using to play your DVD's) us configured properly. Plus you aren't going to get 5.1 surround sound from non surround audio sources (what is referred to as Dobly Digital Live!). Most cheap cards don't.

Turtle Beach used to be a great company but these days they are almost nonexistent. I am actually surpised that they are still in business. Customer service is not their strong point.

The Diamond should do just fine as it will pass Dolby Digital encoded content to your receiver as well.

As an alternative, Newegg.com has old Creative Audigy cards for ~$30 with free shipping. The problem with Creative is that sometimes you can run into driver problems (and so it seems with Diamond). Shouldn't be a problem with the Audigy card as it is rather mature.

Hope that helps.

Pauldo

blaw789 · 02-11-2009, 07:47 AM

Thanks! I think my Dell is 6 years old so no onboard SPDIF output. I am going to try the Riviera.

02-10-2009, 08:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
blaw789 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 2 OS: Desktop XP/SP3 Laptop Vista 32	Sound Card Upgrade Suggestions Hello- I am trying to revive my old Dell Dimension Desktop as a rudimentary media PC and want to upgrade my sound card to one that will carry multichannel audio from my PC to my Phillips 5.1 home theater system/stereo. My stereo receiver has both Optical and SPDIF inputs. While searching for an acceptable card at tiger direct I came across two cards (a Diamond and Turtle Beach) that seemed like they would work but some reviews said that the SPDIF or Optical outputs would only carry stereo and not multichannel audio. Dont know anything about PC sound cards but I am familiar with stereo equipment so your help is appreciated! Any advice on the best card/brand for my money (less expensive the better!) Thanks again!

02-10-2009, 10:45 PM	#2 (permalink)
Pauldo Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Seattle, Washington Posts: 1,444 OS: winXP Pro sp3 My System	Re: Sound Card Upgrade Suggestions Hi and welcome to TSF! How old is the Dell? It doesn't have onboard audio with spdif out? SPDIF usually isn't plagued with the same problems as analog output for older onboard audio. The Riviera will do it, I'm not sure what that guy was doing wrong (maybe not setting speaker output to 2 speakers) but you have to make sure that everything (sound card and software that you are using to play your DVD's) us configured properly. Plus you aren't going to get 5.1 surround sound from non surround audio sources (what is referred to as Dobly Digital Live!). Most cheap cards don't. Turtle Beach used to be a great company but these days they are almost nonexistent. I am actually surpised that they are still in business. Customer service is not their strong point. The Diamond should do just fine as it will pass Dolby Digital encoded content to your receiver as well. As an alternative, Newegg.com has old Creative Audigy cards for ~$30 with free shipping. The problem with Creative is that sometimes you can run into driver problems (and so it seems with Diamond). Shouldn't be a problem with the Audigy card as it is rather mature. Hope that helps. Pauldo __________________ SystemSpec \| Power Supply Info \| How to Post a Screen shot \| Speedfan[/center]

02-11-2009, 07:47 AM	#3 (permalink)
blaw789 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 2 OS: Desktop XP/SP3 Laptop Vista 32	Re: Sound Card Upgrade Suggestions Thanks! I think my Dell is 6 years old so no onboard SPDIF output. I am going to try the Riviera.