Looking for new SoundCard, S/PDIF

Hey folks,

Just some background, I'm running XP and plan to continue that. I don't want to have to drop a lot of money on a sound card. I'm just looking for something that will deliver decent quality sound and send a digital signal to my speaker setup (it's a 5.1 with an s/pdif input for that). I used to use an old Diamond Monster Sound (A3D) when this stuff started coming out, with the two output minijacks for 4 speaker setup. Great old card. Not sure if drivers are supported at all anymore. Then later, got the SB Live! 5.1 and it had the digital output so I could hook up my S/Pdif to it and my 5.1 was set. Since then, I don't have the Live! anymore. I just have that old A3D card sitting in a box. I've been on a laptop for the past few years. So I can either try out the A3D card and live with it until I find something better, or get something now.

I'm just looking for something that is not super expensive and can output digital via s/pdif. Ultimately I'd love for it to be able to actually do Dolby Digital because DVDs are so much more amazing with that actually working. I had an addon card for my DVD stuff (the old realmagic plus, so it did the Dolby sound output itself and had s/pdif). Now I'm looking to hopefully be able to get all that on one card instead. I figure it's been like 8 years, it should be out right? Not sure though.

Basically, just want a card that will let me have dolby output, spdif, and be decent for games and music.

Edit: I think I found a card that may suit my needs. The AuzenTech AZT-XPCINE. It says it has hardware decoding for dolby & dts, has a real spdif output (not just a minijack shared thing). Has tons of connections. Can get it for about $100. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6829156006 - Any opinions on this thing? Good for XP? Vista? Driver support ok? Any known problems?

Very best,

Thanks Dobby,

I'm pretty convinced on the X-plosion or the Prelude. They just have everything I want. The X-plosion cinema has a really good price. The Prelude has the gaming. So I'm trying to decide between the two (but there's a huge difference in price). I've made a different thread on that matter though.

Thanks!

Very best,