Request For Speaker Suggestion - Plz be kind enough to drop in ur opinion

[desiibond]

yep. All M-Audio and creative cards will passthrough SPDIF without loss in signal quality. There are few models in Yamaha and cheap cards from local companies that cut the audio quality while passing to SPDIF.

and I think the choice could be Audigy 4 Value. It's dirt cheap and has SPDIF out through 3.5mm but you od need converter to connect it to Digital in of Z5500. Someone having Z5500 should be aware of how to do this.

If you are ready to get new mobo, ASUS P5Q PRO should be perfect for you as this one comes with coax SPDIF out and also has ATI Crossfire support.

Note: This mobo doesn't have onboard GPU and you should have a graphics card.

Product page: *in.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=709&l4=0&model=2269&modelmenu=1

BTW, did some digging and found that some computer games cannot play surround sound over SPDIF and that in this case, a 5.1 analogue connectivity is a must.

PS: The more you dig into SPDIF, the more confusing it is and by digging in google, found that there are lot of issues with SPDIF's surround capability.

Hence, I would rather go for a DTS/Dolby soundcard+Z5500 to avoid any headaches with setup and working of SPDIF.

My verdict: Creative XtremeGamer + Z5500.

Reason: Anyways, you are thinking of changing the mobo just for SPDIF's sake and am not sure if you can get a mobo with SPDIF coax out under 5k. Why not put 7k and get XtremeGamer. Setup SPDIF Passthrough and if your speakers does not give surround or proper sound while gaming or listening to dolby tracks, you can switch to analogue and still enjoy DTS/Dolby audio.

 

[shashank4u]

Also this means that if someone having a high end card + z5500 and if he uses spdif passthru then he will be wasting the soundcard right?

you edited the post later: Thanks for the verdict

 

[acewin]

well with any onboard sound card and low sampling rate, you would be under rating the speakers performance.

 

[emmarbee]

After so much conversation, I've slightly slided towards buying a Sound card (as desi told a point

that, in some situations, like in games SPDIF wont be compatible and at that we have to use

the decoding of either an onboard audio/sound card).
I saw the X-Fi Xtreme gamer card that he had told me, I dont think so it has a port for a

optical / coaxial out. I saw the picture in newegg site.

*c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/29-102-006-02.jpg

But it has a SPDIF_IO connector. I dunno how it works. and of course the specs says it has

SPDIF in and out.
*c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/29-102-006-04.jpg
Will it be like,
I buy the xtreme gamer and then z5500, connect a SPDIF from card to spks through a single wire (with no adapters/connecters/converters), then three analog outs(C,F,R) from card to spks and then I'm all set to some amazing sound or should I have do some work on connections?

Shed some light on this too!

EDIT: And one more thing, I gotta have digital inputs and analog inputs at the same time, so suggest me a card with such outputs.

 

[desiibond]

*www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution71-main.html

It's a rather old card but very good one with coax out.

Not sure about SPDIF and analogue works in parallel. You may have to subscribe to M-Audio official forums and check it out.

New cards from M-Audio:

*www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html (130USD)
*www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile192-main.html (200USD)

 

[acewin]

FOr prices of hese cards you can check ITDEPOT lnks as below

ITDEPOT Soundcard Page

In terms of port availability M-Audio Revolution 7.1 High-Definition 7.1 Surround Sound PCI Card has both normal and S-PDIF,

also it is 7.1 card and not 5.1

 

[emmarbee]

Current Status:
Decided to go in for Z-5500 for sure. Was about to buy that, but my friend who is already having a piece is insisting on getting a source (sound card/mother board) first and then to buy the speakers. He has already ordered for the <<Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Sound Card>> sound card through singapore creative for around 6k.

Even I'm thinking of getting that, but something is bugging me from spending 6k for a sound card. Have to check on budget, If I've got more than enough and buying this set up won't lead me to a bankruptancy, then i'll surely go for this setup.

PLZ suggest your opinions on this, I mean about buying this particular card. Is it worth the money? Is the EAX 5.0 really worht or just name sake?

*www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...on71-main.html

It's a rather old card but very good one with coax out.

Not sure about SPDIF and analogue works in parallel. You may have to subscribe to M-Audio official forums and check it out.

New cards from M-Audio:

*www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...2496-main.html (130USD)
*www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...e192-main.html (200USD)

I like this card very much. But is it compatible with Vista 32 and 64? Of course the drivers will be available online, but is it a full fledged driver release or just the driver to make the speakers work on vista?

Edit 1: And moreover isn't the M-Audio for audiophiles? Like it does more good for people who is into music more and not computer usage like games for instant. Btw, it doesn't support the EAX 5.0(dunno how far it is good) right?


Edit 2: I just now figured out that the X-Fi Titanium PRO needs a PCI-E slot, which I don't have. So I thought of settling on to X-Fi Xtreme Gamer / X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Pro (Which has XRAM). But now again I caught onto those connectivity issues. But this time I googled it up and found something to cheer me up a bit.

*www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/546

I'm sure this will help people to find out how they could connect their spks thru SPDIF with any of their creative sound card.


Desiibond, In that article it says, I can use the rear panel flexijack for SPDIF using a 3.5 mm converter. But is it possible for me to use the SPDIF and the three analog at the same time? I mean are all four ports flexi jack or is there only one flexijack and that lies in one of the 3 required analog outputs?


Edit 3:
Had been diggin more on this connectivity in google, I think I can use the digital out and the analog at the same time. <<Digital through the flexijack port and the analog thru the line out ports. So both X-Fi Xtreme gamer and X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro both are ok. Also took a look at ASUS XONAR D2 and ASUS XONAR D2X - It's WHOA ! ! !

The only thing is D2X is PCI-e and D2 is not available.

Now I would like to choose between xtreme gamer and xtremegamer pro. So it will be nice if everybody give your opinion on selecting between these two.


P.S: Is ASUS XONAR D2X worth for me to wait for some more time till I change my motherboard which has like 3x PCI-e slots(2 for my SLI)?

Waiting for your suggestions . . .

 

[emmarbee]

yep. All M-Audio and creative cards will passthrough SPDIF without loss in signal quality. There are few models in Yamaha and cheap cards from local companies that cut the audio quality while passing to SPDIF.

and I think the choice could be Audigy 4 Value. It's dirt cheap and has SPDIF out through 3.5mm but you od need converter to connect it to Digital in of Z5500. Someone having Z5500 should be aware of how to do this.

If you are ready to get new mobo, ASUS P5Q PRO should be perfect for you as this one comes with coax SPDIF out and also has ATI Crossfire support.

Note: This mobo doesn't have onboard GPU and you should have a graphics card.

Product page: *in.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=709&l4=0&model=2269&modelmenu=1

BTW, did some digging and found that some computer games cannot play surround sound over SPDIF and that in this case, a 5.1 analogue connectivity is a must.

PS: The more you dig into SPDIF, the more confusing it is and by digging in google, found that there are lot of issues with SPDIF's surround capability.

Hence, I would rather go for a DTS/Dolby soundcard+Z5500 to avoid any headaches with setup and working of SPDIF.

My verdict: Creative XtremeGamer + Z5500.

Reason: Anyways, you are thinking of changing the mobo just for SPDIF's sake and am not sure if you can get a mobo with SPDIF coax out under 5k. Why not put 7k and get XtremeGamer. Setup SPDIF Passthrough and if your speakers does not give surround or proper sound while gaming or listening to dolby tracks, you can switch to analogue and still enjoy DTS/Dolby audio.

Decision Made.
Going to richie street (chennai) now, to buy Logitech Z-5500. Will be ordering X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro for SGD199 (~6k) today and will be receiving it soon!


Thanks desi, madjeri, acewin and all others who have helped me out to make my decision !

Will be reproting soon about the experience . . .