Your asking for a lot. I don't think you will find that in a card under $500.00. I don't know of any that have DTS decoding. If I were you I would buy an interface for audio and continue to use your on board card for games and video.

The E-MU 1212M is a great product and offers better quality sound and value than any other product in it' price range, and even out of it's price range. But it is an audio interface not a soundcard. It won't do dolby or DTS decoding, or the fly sample rate conversion, or play files less than 44.1k, and you will need to use a mixer or outboard for preamp and headphones, but no doubt in it's audio quality and powerful signal routing capability. You also get a lot of various E-MU DSP effects, but that is not that the real strong point.

AudioGaff, post: 300285 wrote: The E-MU 1212M is a great product and offers better quality sound and value than any other product in it' price range, and even out of it's price range. But it is an audio interface not a soundcard. It won't do dolby or DTS decoding, or the fly sample rate conversion, or play files less than 44.1k, and you will need to use a mixer or outboard for preamp and headphones, but no doubt in it's audio quality and powerful signal routing capability. You also get a lot of various E-MU DSP effects, but that is not that the real strong point.

Wow, really. So there isn't a single sound card within my price range that can improve what my onboard sound is doing? Not between M-Audio, E-MU, HT Omega, or anyone? I find that hard to believe and an uneducated statement really. Come on, the card just has to pass through what the codec processes, right?

At least give a little more information than a "You're asking too much".

Can someone kindly explain the difference between an "Audio Interface" and a "Sound Card" ? This is an honest question, because everywhere else no one seems to know what they're talking about. I'm not a techno-retard, I've just haven't had to research the specs on a soundcard in almost a decade. The last time I even bought a soundcard was then they came out with the first Soundblaster Audigy series, if that tells you anything. But back then, I wasn't playing DTS/Dolby Digital movies on my PC or using a music production studio at the same time.

Seriously, do I have to build another pc? Do I have to have multiple sound cards / interfaces? You see the setup I have, so instead of telling me what won't work, how about someone tells me what will work? What specs to look for? Put some effort into the answer, I would greatly appreciate it. I would do the same in return, I've been on the support end of things.

Maybe I'm just reading the attitude here wrong but Native2010 wrote "I find that hard to believe and an uneducated statement really. Come on, the card just has to pass through what the codec processes, right?" Then says "I'm not a techno-retard, I've just haven't had to research the specs on a soundcard in almost a decade. The last time I even bought a soundcard was then they came out with the first Soundblaster Audigy series, if that tells you anything. But back then, I wasn't playing DTS/Dolby Digital movies on my PC or using a music production studio at the same time."
How does one know if the statements made are uneducated when by your own admission you've done no homework on the state of soundcards today and their uses?
Native2010 "so instead of telling me what won't work, how about someone tells me what will work?"

Isn't that exactly what Hueseph did when he said "If I were you I would buy an interface for audio and continue to use your on board card for games and video."

You then ask a legimate question but follow up with this "Put some effort into the answer," Here let me put a little effort into this
[="http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+sound+card"]Let me google that for you[/]="http://lmgtfy.com/?…"]Let me google that for you[/]
[[url=http://="http://lmgtfy.com/?…"]Let me google that for you[/]="http://lmgtfy.com/?…"]Let me google that for you[/]

Maybe like I said this is just me reading your language the wrong way but its doesn't really make me want to jump in and offer some help. I think that you should follow the two links and if you need some clarification or advice try asking in a way that doesn't disparage those whose opinions you are seeking.

As I understand DTS/Dolby Surround, the audio interface isn't going to decode the DTS. That is done either in your software via codec or in the AV receiver. The audio card or interface is left out of the equation unless it is designed for 5.1/7.1/whatever and can output the required number of speaker channels. And if you only have two speakers it's a moot point.

The most latency free interfaces or sound cards are always going to be PCIe or PCI (for older computers). That's just a fact of life. USB is more problematic generally than Firewire but if you don't have a firewire port handy that would be an issue. Know also that interfaces HATE USB hubs. Also, I think $400 needs to be your starting point not $200.

In brief:
Soundcard: Either an onboard chip or addon device that converts digital audio signals to analog and routes those audio signals out of the computer to speakers. Very minimal or nor provisions are made for bringing audio into the computer. Those that do have appalling implementation not only in the 1/8" jacks but the lack of ground isolation etc. Generally these are the cheapest end of things are found on most modern computers. Generally there is zero MIDI capability in a basic soundcard.

Audio Interface or Computer Audio Interface: These can also be used to route audio out of the computer however the main designed goal of an interface is to convert analog audio signals to digital and bring them into a computer based DAW (record). These are never onboard audio. Interfaces come in all varieties and sizes. Computer connections include PCIe/PCI/USB/1394a&b. Some interfaces also provide DSP capabilities to take processing load off of a computer's CPU. Inputs might range from one mic/line combo jack up to ten or more XLR mic jacks plus multiple ADAT and SPDif jacks. Outputs range from a pair of 1/4" jacks up to eight or ten 1/4" jacks and multiple ADAT and SPDif jacks. MIDI in or MIDI input/output/thru is sometimes included in basic 2-4 channel interfaces but more regularly included in high end interfaces (though not always).

This is about as basic a description as I'm capable of right now. Mendelssohn, a tall glass of Scotch, and my restless baby sapped my energy last night.

Native2010, post: 300319 wrote: Can someone kindly explain the difference between an "Audio Interface" and a "Sound Card" ? This is an honest question, because everywhere else no one seems to know what they're talking about. I'm not a techno-retard, I've just haven't had to research the specs on a soundcard in almost a decade. The last time I even bought a soundcard was then they came out with the first Soundblaster Audigy series, if that tells you anything. But back then, I wasn't playing DTS/Dolby Digital movies on my PC or using a music production studio at the same time.

Seriously, do I have to build another pc? Do I have to have multiple sound cards / interfaces? You see the setup I have, so instead of telling me what won't work, how about someone tells me what will work? What specs to look for? Put some effort into the answer, I would greatly appreciate it. I would do the same in return, I've been on the support end of things.

With what you're using for 'monitors' you'll never hear the difference between 44.1 KHz and 192 KHz sample rates. I suggest for a sound interface you look at an Edirol unit, either Firewire or USB2.0. Either of those interface protocols will give you enough oomph to do what you want with the equipment you have despite what others may say. As to the difference between soundcard and audio interface - a lot of the time those terms are used interchangeably with each other. A soundcard is an audio interface plugged into a card slot in the computer and an audio interface can be either internal or external to the computer chassis.

musicman691, post: 300420 wrote: With what you're using for 'monitors' you'll never hear the difference between 44.1 KHz and 192 KHz sample rates. I suggest for a sound interface you look at an Edirol unit, either Firewire or USB2.0. Either of those interface protocols will give you enough oomph to do what you want with the equipment you have despite what others may say. As to the difference between soundcard and audio interface - a lot of the time those terms are used interchangeably with each other. A soundcard is an audio interface plugged into a card slot in the computer and an audio interface can be either internal or external to the computer chassis.

Thanks for not being a snot about this. It seems as though I'm not going to get the answer I am looking for, and it looks like no one can tell me (No fault of their own I would think) that for my price range I can get what I'm looking for.

I just want a sound card or whatever that will be a bit better than my on-board audio as for latency mainly, without robbing me of the current abilities.

I will look elsewhere for an opinion, since I seemed to have offended some people here with being honest. Oh and FYI, searching on Google for a wiki on what a sound card and what an audio interface is, really isn't much of a help. But thanks for going through the trouble of setting up those cool links, they were really impressive. Now if you could have impressed me with an answer of your own, as I came here for, then that would have been quite a bit more helpful. :) I'm not a 14 year old brat looking to flame, I'm an adult looking to get another adults educated opinion and experience on things. I guess that's too much to ask from someone with such great HTML skills?

TTFN!

If you had left off the desire to record everyone would have told you to just buy some version of Soundblaster to watch DVD's and game. By throwing in a desire to record you are now looking for something beyond the reasonable ability of the average sound card even if it has a "mic" jack. If you adjust either your budget or your expectations then perhaps specific recommendations could be made. You received plenty of responses of all tones and tenor. Apparently you think everyone here treated you the same. So be it. Whether 14 or not, if the shoe fits. You can't always get what you want. But if you try hard and not be so prickly you might just get what you need.

You haven't offended anyone it's simply that you are trying to get an all in one solution where none exists. Although an audio interface is a kind of soundcard. A recording interface is not designed to work with media player. Likewise a gaming soundcard is not designed for recording, despite what others may say. I'm currently using two "soundcards". One is my audio interface. The other is for system sounds, youtube et al. There is nothing wrong with that. It works fine.

I've owned several different audio interfaces. Only one of them supported surround output but only if the DAW supported it. None of them supported Media Player or Power DVD or anything of that sort. I've ALWAYS ran two soundcards. They are each designed for their purposes. Use them for their designed purpose.

hueseph, post: 300443 wrote: You haven't offended anyone it's simply that you are trying to get an all in one solution where none exists. Although an audio interface is a kind of soundcard. A recording interface is not designed to work with media player. Likewise a gaming soundcard is not designed for recording, despite what others may say. I'm currently using two "soundcards". One is my audio interface. The other is for system sounds, youtube et al. There is nothing wrong with that. It works fine.

I've owned several different audio interfaces. Only one of them supported surround output but only if the DAW supported it. None of them supported Media Player or Power DVD or anything of that sort. I've ALWAYS ran two soundcards. They are each designed for their purposes. Use them for their designed purpose.

I considered going with 2 sound cards (1 sound card & 1 interface) as well but didn't see much info on that. For what I'm looking for, I don't think I need to go that route just yet. I just need something with a little more BEEF than my on-board sound, something more dedicated I think. I might have looked to shoot a bit too far I suppose.

Thank you though, I think the latest post I made seems to be working a bit better for me. :)

You already have one soundcard. Just buy an audio interface. If you already know the answer that you want. Don't go fishing for it. Just do what you want to do and no one will be the wiser.

hueseph, post: 300445 wrote: You already have one soundcard. Just buy an audio interface. If you already know the answer that you want. Don't go fishing for it. Just do what you want to do and no one will be the wiser.

Yeah, but then I have to try and get the two working together. I'd rather just find one decent solution honestly. In the near future I intend on building a new PC, and would like to take this solution with me.

You won't be able to plug your current speaker into an audio interface anyway. Not without some mickey mousing. Of course, if what you want to do is mickey mouse, go right ahead. Why don't you buy one of the Soundbasher XFI cards with the 1/4" "mic" input on the front or breakout box. That sounds like it's your speed. It'll do everything you want with the exception of 192k which, as it has been pointed out, is overkill for most people(restricted to a fudged 48k. in actuality 44.1 upsampled). It's what you wanted to hear. Just go do it.

Native2010, post: 300245 wrote: Hello All!

I use my PC for lots of entertainment, from watching movies, recording TV, listening to music, and I dabble in music production.

I'm looking for a reasonable audio interface for under $200 that will suit my needs but not give me buyers remorse shortly after the return policy expired.

Right now my I'm using the on board audio, which has worked fine for just listening to music and watching movies. My PC is hooked up to my surround receiver via SPDIF Coax. It's nothing spectacular, it's an older JVC that supports Dolby/DTS and has both Optical & SPDIF Coax digital inputs, I'm not in the market to buy another receiver just yet, and I'm not looking to buy studio monitors anytime soon. My PC also is plugged in through Component to my TV as well, so I'm not using an HDMI connection (yet...) I would be ok with switching between the Digital and the Analog (Stereo) inputs on my receiver, it's just a press of a button after all. :)

System Specs.
HP M9000T
Intel DualCore 2.33ghz
4gb Ram
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
NVidia 9600GTS (Overclocked) - 2-23" Acer Monitors & Component Breakout to TV

Listening to music - ITunes mainly, or Winamp.
Watching/Recording TV - GBPVR, also watch Movies in GBPVR with K-Lite Codec Pack using ffshow to decode DTS/Dolby.
Music Production - Reason (4.01) along with some other programs, but mainly reason.

Keyboards
Axiom 49 (Just got it, and LOVE it so far)
Radium 49 (Revived now that I can use the Midi ports off the Axiom and daisy chain them!)
Korg Nano-Key (Mostly to dedicate to ReDrum or use on my laptop to toy around with)

I don't use any analog outputs really as I don't have a pair of Monitor Speakers, I use the 2nd speaker output of my receiver with a nice pair of Boston Acoustic bookshelf speakers as my monitors. So basically all of my audio runs out to my receiver.

I don't have a use for a million analog inputs, I may have a friend with his guitar hook up to it from time to time. So something with 2 Stereo or 4 Mono analog inputs is fine with me.

My biggest concern is ASIO & Latency with Midi/Software. You know how annoying it is when you press down on a key and hear the note .5 seconds later? Or when the note comes out short or the beginning is cut off? I like to play stuff live or play along and record it into the sequencer, I hate sequencing with a mouse.

My interface choices are PCI/PCI-E and USB (too many complications with Firewire). I already have a bundle of wire coming out of it. I was hoping to avoid having breakouts, but it seems that most of the USB options are either not good enough (24bit/96khz vs 24bit/192khz) plus latency issues, and problems with the device dissappearing and all.

To give you an idea of what I'm looking at. I've been looking at an M-Audio Audiophile 192, M-Audio 2496, and also the E-MU 1212M PCI-E. A friend of mine has an older M-Audio Audiophile USB (I don't remember exactly what model number) and I have seen Reason work great with virtually no latency issues on his system.

I need the ability to have the Digital output for DTS/Dolby playback of movies, good software / hardware control and a good bit rate (24bit/96khz or better?). I'd also like it to handle the latency issues better than my onboard sound, which that shouldn't be too hard now should it?

Thanks Guys!

Nein.

You do not want to be using a machine for a variety of tasks...

A DAW (digital audio workstation) should not have an internet connection (ideally)
and should have a video card that isn't a gamer's card.

Complications from FW are a result of having the wrong controller...
You can't use chipsets like Ricoh, O2 micro....it's either Texas Instruments or YMMV.

The BEST audio interface (in your price range) is E-MU.
They are synonymous with value and low pricing.

I also suggest getting rid of your computer and building something else.
In this business you have to be realistic about your budget.

Having only a few hundred to spend, when you already have an inferior computer doesn't help your situation out much.

i7 920 minimum should be your goal on a system.
OR you can search slickdeals.net for some outstanding deals on systems.

I've seen C2Q (two C2D's slapped together) for $400.00 or less.
I've seen i7 920 systems as low as $500.00 and as competitive as $750.00

Johnny_B, post: 300475 wrote: Nein.

You do not want to be using a machine for a variety of tasks...

A DAW (digital audio workstation) should not have an internet connection (ideally)
and should have a video card that isn't a gamer's card.

Complications from FW are a result of having the wrong controller...
You can't use chipsets like Ricoh, O2 micro....it's either Texas Instruments or YMMV.

The BEST audio interface (in your price range) is E-MU.
They are synonymous with value and low pricing.

I also suggest getting rid of your computer and building something else.
In this business you have to be realistic about your budget.

Having only a few hundred to spend, when you already have an inferior computer doesn't help your situation out much.

i7 920 minimum should be your goal on a system.
OR you can search slickdeals.net for some outstanding deals on systems.

I've seen C2Q (two C2D's slapped together) for $400.00 or less.
I've seen i7 920 systems as low as $500.00 and as competitive as $750.00

I guess you missed the part where I mentioned that I dabble in music production, and this isn't a money making thing for me.

Thank you for the suggestion of the E-MU, I think that's the route where I'm going to go.

Also I should mention that so far my PC has worked flawlessly for what I've wanted it for with this one exception. I should also mention that a friend of mine has an M-Audio USB Audiophile (Older model) hooked up to a much older HP brand PC running Windows XP Mediacenter, and he doesn't have issues with latency and what not. So telling me that my PC is inferior is a bit much, don't you think? You may be taking this to an extreme here.

Thank you anyways. :)

Native2010, post: 300426 wrote: Thanks for not being a snot about this. It seems as though I'm not going to get the answer I am looking for, and it looks like no one can tell me (No fault of their own I would think) that for my price range I can get what I'm looking for.

I just want a sound card or whatever that will be a bit better than my on-board audio as for latency mainly, without robbing me of the current abilities.

I will look elsewhere for an opinion, since I seemed to have offended some people here with being honest. Oh and FYI, searching on Google for a wiki on what a sound card and what an audio interface is, really isn't much of a help. But thanks for going through the trouble of setting up those cool links, they were really impressive. Now if you could have impressed me with an answer of your own, as I came here for, then that would have been quite a bit more helpful. :) I'm not a 14 year old brat looking to flame, I'm an adult looking to get another adults educated opinion and experience on things. I guess that's too much to ask from someone with such great HTML skills?

TTFN!

And we offended you by us being honest?
Come on, you stated what you have, what you wanted to do, and were told it couldn't be done.
If you want to be serious about your music, you need a serious computer system, not something that's the hub of a home entertainment system. In spite of their promise as 'universal machines' with programmability, there's no one computer that can cover all the bases at one time.

musicman691, post: 300607 wrote: And we offended you by us being honest?
Come on, you stated what you have, what you wanted to do, and were told it couldn't be done.
If you want to be serious about your music, you need a serious computer system, not something that's the hub of a home entertainment system. In spite of their promise as 'universal machines' with programmability, there's no one computer that can cover all the bases at one time.

This can go on for quite some time, but I'll make this short and sweet as possible.

10 years ago, the equipment being used was not even 1/20th of what it is today. The horsepower in todays home PC can run circles around what most top end servers and "super computers" were doing not more than a generation ago, even less. Unless I'm recording 64 simultaneous tracks or more of a symphonic masterpiece, I believe building a modern super pc is a bit over kill for someone who Dabbles. So with being honest taken into effect here, I believe it's severe overkill to tell someone who's "Dabbling" that they should ditch their "inferior" PC which has been doing just about what he's wanted it to do with one minor issue, and spend what, over $2,000 or more on a super PC just so he can mess around and learn his way around some stuff? Right...

I'm not a graduate of MIT, or some NASA grade tech school (I'm more of a hands on work in the tech fields and I'm better at fixing than creating), but that doesn't mean I'm a complete n00b. I've gotten a bit of an impression from SOME (Not all, there are some humble folks here and I appreciate their word very much) people here that happen to think their word is law and if you disagree, then you're just oppositional. No, I just like to make sure I get all of my information.

I've gone a bit out of my budget and ordered an interface, and have already researched it plenty along with finding out that I can use it in conjunction with my current onboard audio. Thus giving me all of the abilities I want, with room to expand. Yes, I plan on building a new PC in the near future, but not right now. I'm learning, and that means I start off small and manageable. To the person (or people) telling me my computer is Inferior, you either have no real clue what you're talking about or you just don't look into all of the facts of what I was looking for. In regards to processing power, data transfer rate, and capabilities, I know for a fact that my PC can handle what I'm looking to do. As I said, it's worked up until now, my only bottleneck was with the lack of proper ASIO/MIDI support that was built in, and yes I wanted some more input options. I'm not looking to re-create ILM here.

Thanks for your time and help those who have contributed positive remarks and advice.

Just curious what did you order? Hopefully not the uneducated Audiogaff's suggestion of an E-Mu card.

jg49, post: 300612 wrote: Just curious what did you order? Hopefully not the uneducated Audiogaff's suggestion of an E-Mu card.

Actually, yes that's what I ordered and it wasn't based off anyone from this forum. To be precise, I ordered the 1616M PCI-E. I would have been fine with the 1212M, however I didn't want cables hanging off of the back, and if I wanted to plug my guitar or my friends guitars into my system to mess around with or any microphones, I needed pre-amps and the 1212M didn't have those. I know I would have complained in the future anyways.

What's wrong with E-MU? They're highly regarded, in some cases more than M-Audio. Those two companies were the only ones who had what I was looking for in my price range to be honest.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with E-Mu. As Audiogaff pointed out they are a great value. So the second reply to your original question was actually the solution? While you picked a slightly different product due to the fact you wanted specific options not originally listed in your OP his idea was on point. AG stated " (it will not) do dolby or DTS decoding, or the fly sample rate conversion." It doesn't does it?

In the interest of mending fences on my part, I hope you continue to use the forum it is a valuable resource whether you dabble or are fully vested in recording. I did take offense when you stated that Hueseph's and Audiogaff's replies were uneducated. You know little of either of them and AG's depth of knowledge of gear and the recording process has certainly earned my respect (perhaps I'm just easy to impress IDK.) You say you were being honest and I would always want you to be, however honesty can be expressed tactfully which IMO was not the case. I think this further borne out by where you eventually ended up. Once again it is my hope you enjoy and use the forum. With best wishes.

Still, considerably more expensive than your original $200.00 budget.

hueseph, post: 300621 wrote: Still, considerably more expensive than your original $200.00 budget.

True, but after much research, I wouldn't have been happy in 6 months with the $200 budget to be honest. A Firewire device was my next option, however I didn't want to mess with a hassle of compatible chips and what not. I like to try and keep things as simple as possible and weight out the options. Portability isn't a huge thing since I don't feel like lugging my recording equipment around really. If need be, I'll buy a cheap 2 chanel input if need be like one of the behringer USB audio devices. I've heard good reviews on those, and for simple low channel recording on my laptop, they would suffice. I'm more concerned with efficient midi control and versitile capabilities on my main and more powerful PC.

jg49, post: 300612 wrote: Just curious what did you order? Hopefully not the uneducated Audiogaff's suggestion of an E-Mu card.

I 'got' it.........

Oh how sweet it is when you find out that your advice was correct. If I had known the budget was not really fixed, the E-MU 1616M is what I would of suggested. I have both the PCI and CardBus versions of the 1616M that I have been using for almost 5-years now. Then about two years ago I bought new 2nd 1616M MicroDock from them as a spare. Had to RMA the first one once after I dropped it. They had the right to rufuse me as it was my fault, but they were cool about it and I got a brand new one. I know that they, like other compaines are not always that cool about free RMA for user induced damage.

The 1616M MicroDock, CardBus card and my trusty old Alienware Dual 3Ghz P4 laptop sits behind the front door in my remote recording gig back ready to go like a Fire Truck.

jg49, post: 300619 wrote: There is absolutely nothing wrong with E-Mu. As Audiogaff pointed out they are a great value. So the second reply to your original question was actually the solution? While you picked a slightly different product due to the fact you wanted specific options not originally listed in your OP his idea was on point. AG stated " (it will not) do dolby or DTS decoding, or the fly sample rate conversion." It doesn't does it?

In the interest of mending fences on my part, I hope you continue to use the forum it is a valuable resource whether you dabble or are fully vested in recording. I did take offense when you stated that Hueseph's and Audiogaff's replies were uneducated. You know little of either of them and AG's depth of knowledge of gear and the recording process has certainly earned my respect (perhaps I'm just easy to impress IDK.) You say you were being honest and I would always want you to be, however honesty can be expressed tactfully which IMO was not the case. I think this further borne out by where you eventually ended up. Once again it is my hope you enjoy and use the forum. With best wishes.

I can say this, after my first post, I saw a considerable difference from people and with me calming myself down (Denial sucks, believe me I know! haha) I began to see that I should have just done more research on my part. However I will say that Audiogaff was right. Someone did suggest running 2 cards and I never thought that to be possible but I researched it anyways. I've also been looking through the manual for this card and let me tell you, it's beyond sweet (For lack of a better term I suppose) and it has more than I need right now, but it has what I will be looking for in the near future. No it does not "decode" 5.1 on it's own, but it does support 5.1 & 7.1 surround out (discrete I believe), you just have to map all of the channels through the DSP patch software. I'm still going to probably just run both sound cards, I will hook up my onboard to my AV Receiver as it is now through the digital coax, and this one I can hook into the analog inputs of my AV receiver. So when I want to mess with music production, I just switch inputs on my receiver. When I upgrade my receiver, and I will get one that supports Multi-Source (Or Multi-Room?), I believe you know what I'm talking about, it will be even nicer.

I've already started to look into upgrading my PC. After all, the shelf life of the average PC is 2-3 years, and mine is becoming a senior citizen fast. That doesn't mean it's slow by any means. I just know how I am with building a PC and that will take me time (And lots of money)

I will keep this forum handy, since there are some knowledgeable people here. I just have to keep in mind to have patience, and to also come here armed with thicker skin.

And believe me, once I get the card (It's due in on Monday... :( ) and I get it set up and play with it a little, I'll come here to post my results.

For now, TTFN!

Hello,
it really seems the Original Poster has a really offended attitute... What a pity...
Well, if he's really already turned around, he'll never read my post, otherwise I do hope I can provide some info which could probably be useful...
So, IMHO looking for an interface which, at the same time, has very good pass-through capabilities, AND has very good entertainment / gaming capabilities, is basically a nonsense.
The O.P. should, IMHO, look for the best audio interface permissible by his budget, one which should have at least:
- an SPDIF input (better if coaxial - the consumer optical terminals are most of the time very badly built)
- an SPDIF output (better if coaxial - see above)
- a 2-channel analog output, reconfigurable (i.e. 2x mono lines, or 1x stereo line), better if balanced
- a 2-channel analog input, reconfigurable (i.e. 2x mono lines, or 1x stereo line), better if balanced
- a powerful D/A converter with at least the capability of working at 192 kHz / 24bits
- a powerful A/D converter with at least see above
- the capability to synchronize an external genlock (necessary to monitor digital signals in real-time)
- the capability to provide genlock signal (necessary for other devices to monitor digital loopbacks)
- the capability to work in pure-passthrough, i.e. the capability to route the digital input signals without going through any processing stage, directly to the audio application (necessary to perform HD-recording without signal losses) - especially this function is completely out of the capabilities of the "normal" sound-cards dedicated to gaming, or of the on-board audio built-in on the motherboards
- the capability to "understand" copy-bit, and most of all non-audio codification (together with the pass-through function, it will allow to route any Dolby/DTS signal to an external decoder without losses through the digital link)

That said, you may think that finding out an audio interface with such capabilities is an utopia. NO, it isn't. The very first suggested interface already does everything I said. Another very good example is the Terratec Phase 22, but this product has been, unfortunately, discontinued (really a pity: despite its consumer prize, it guaranteed performances at the level of many "Pro" interfaces costing tens of times more... It had, for example, 2x Burr-Brown A/D converters in push-pull working on a 2-lines analog input BALANCED, with the possibility to enable a 20dB-gain preamp stage, useful in order to directly connect microphones...).
With such an interface, the use for entertainment (watching movies in DTS, for example, is still guaranteed via the routing to the external receiver.

Regards

Oops, sorry...
for some strange reason, when I began writing mine, the posts were clipped at 20/02/2010, and I couldn't read the rest of the conversation... Sorry for the waste of bits...

Regards

cloche, post: 301251 wrote: Hello,
it really seems the Original Poster has a really offended attitute... What a pity...
Well, if he's really already turned around, he'll never read my post, otherwise I do hope I can provide some info which could probably be useful...
So, IMHO looking for an interface which, at the same time, has very good pass-through capabilities, AND has very good entertainment / gaming capabilities, is basically a nonsense.
The O.P. should, IMHO, look for the best audio interface permissible by his budget, one which should have at least:
- an SPDIF input (better if coaxial - the consumer optical terminals are most of the time very badly built)
- an SPDIF output (better if coaxial - see above)
- a 2-channel analog output, reconfigurable (i.e. 2x mono lines, or 1x stereo line), better if balanced
- a 2-channel analog input, reconfigurable (i.e. 2x mono lines, or 1x stereo line), better if balanced
- a powerful D/A converter with at least the capability of working at 192 kHz / 24bits
- a powerful A/D converter with at least see above
- the capability to synchronize an external genlock (necessary to monitor digital signals in real-time)
- the capability to provide genlock signal (necessary for other devices to monitor digital loopbacks)
- the capability to work in pure-passthrough, i.e. the capability to route the digital input signals without going through any processing stage, directly to the audio application (necessary to perform HD-recording without signal losses) - especially this function is completely out of the capabilities of the "normal" sound-cards dedicated to gaming, or of the on-board audio built-in on the motherboards
- the capability to "understand" copy-bit, and most of all non-audio codification (together with the pass-through function, it will allow to route any Dolby/DTS signal to an external decoder without losses through the digital link)

That said, you may think that finding out an audio interface with such capabilities is an utopia. NO, it isn't. The very first suggested interface already does everything I said. Another very good example is the Terratec Phase 22, but this product has been, unfortunately, discontinued (really a pity: despite its consumer prize, it guaranteed performances at the level of many "Pro" interfaces costing tens of times more... It had, for example, 2x Burr-Brown A/D converters in push-pull working on a 2-lines analog input BALANCED, with the possibility to enable a 20dB-gain preamp stage, useful in order to directly connect microphones...).
With such an interface, the use for entertainment (watching movies in DTS, for example, is still guaranteed via the routing to the external receiver.

Regards

No, I'm still keeping my eye out here. After all I did end up making a purchase and am learning it little by little. I've already got it working very well, and it works along side my on board sound so all I have to do is switch inputs on my receiver to the on board sound to watch Movies, then back to the analog inputs for playing with Reason, or even just listening to music. The specs you listed are a bit much beyond my understanding now, but I believe that the 1616m is what I would be looking for in the future AND what I was looking for now. It's the best bang for my buck.

Now I will consider building a PC soon too. Mine is fast enough, but I want a dedicated HTPC with no glitches to worry about from me messing with it while it's recording tv or something. So my current PC will be my HTPC, as it's been working fine for that over the past almost 3 years. I just need to recover from the financial lashing I just gave myself!