PCIe soundcards on a budget ?

[Peter Korsten]

Op 17-7-2013 21:56, Cyrille Damez schreef:

> Specifically, I'm looking for two different soundcard with slightly different requirements:
> * one is for home use. I need a decent DAC and stereo RCA in-outs are fine (I'd prefer to avoid mini-jacks)
> * one is for a PC handling broadcast automation for the radio I dj for. This one needs either stereo digital in/outs or balanced analog.
> Both need to be recognized on Linux. No need for multiple channels. No need for midi.
>
> Anything to recommend ?

I had a similar issue, in the sense that I wanted to connect both stereo 
speakers (for things like Skype) and 5.1 headphones (for gaming mostly). 
What I had in sound cards was all old, PCI stuff.

So I got myself a SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme, which despite the scary 
sounding name is a pretty standard sound card. It has mini jacks and 
digital I/O. It sounds definitely better than the on-board audio.

Creative have quite a diverse range of cards; maybe there's something 
for you?

http://en.europe.creative.com/p/sound-blaster

No idea about Linux compatibility, but it should be OK I think.

Finally, you might be able to use an HDMI output as a digital output, 
although likely compressed.

- Peter