I'm looking for a Dolby 7.1 sound card with optical out (optical in would be nice as well, but that's not a requirement). This is for interfacing with an optical-based sound system to be used for both watching movies and gaming. I don't have any plans for doing professional sound recording/editing at this time. I can't think of any other requirements that I'm looking for out of a sound card.
My system is relatively modern, 32 GB RAM, 4.0 GHz Devil's Canyon, GTX 1080, Windows 10, so I don't think the rest of my hardware will be a limiting factor.
Based on my research currently I'm considering:
ASUS PCI-Express x1 7.1 Channel Sound Card XONAR_DX/XD/A/90-YAA060-1UAN00Z (And here is the ASUS product page)
And
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy PCIe RX 7.1 Sound Card (And here is the product page)
Based on what little I know about sound cards, the ASUS seems to have the better pedigree of features, and the promised conversion of 5.1 to 7.1 seems like a nice feature (Supposedly also stereo to 7.1, but this doesn't seem possible?).
However I'm certainly willing to look at other options; I'd be willing to go up in price some (let's say to the $150 range?) if there's just an obvious better choice and would offer meaningful features that I shouldn't live without.
What's my best option?
My system is relatively modern, 32 GB RAM, 4.0 GHz Devil's Canyon, GTX 1080, Windows 10, so I don't think the rest of my hardware will be a limiting factor.
Based on my research currently I'm considering:
ASUS PCI-Express x1 7.1 Channel Sound Card XONAR_DX/XD/A/90-YAA060-1UAN00Z (And here is the ASUS product page)
And
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy PCIe RX 7.1 Sound Card (And here is the product page)
Based on what little I know about sound cards, the ASUS seems to have the better pedigree of features, and the promised conversion of 5.1 to 7.1 seems like a nice feature (Supposedly also stereo to 7.1, but this doesn't seem possible?).
However I'm certainly willing to look at other options; I'd be willing to go up in price some (let's say to the $150 range?) if there's just an obvious better choice and would offer meaningful features that I shouldn't live without.
What's my best option?
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