Is there an ultimate PCI soundcard thread?

[JonnieBlaze]

I've gone through pretty much all the external options in that "Ultimate USB/Firewire/External Soundcard" thread and decided that they are all too big for an all-in-one double din computer.

I'm now looking for a PCI card and have found many options from other threads on the forums but some of the options have been around since those threads started in 2006.

The ones I'm looking at are:

ASUS Xonar D2 - I dont know much about it yet..researching now...
AudioTrak Prodigy 7.1 HiFi - been around for a while..maybe a newer card is better?
M-Audio Delta 1010LT - possible hibernation issues.

I need 7 out puts (L/R tweets, L/R mids, L/R bass, 1 sub channel) from a PCI card. So is there a thread that has a list of PCI cards that I could start doing some research on?

[durwood]

Feel free to make a thread or I suggest do a wiki as well instead and link it to the thread. That way it can be edited by all users as options come and go. At one point I was going to move the USB thread info to the wiki but never followed through.

http://www.mp3car.com/wiki/index.php...PCI_Soundcards

I started to make a thread here a long time ago but that is about as far as it went
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/car-...que-cards.html

I know that ASUS card looks tempting, but really only the two other options are proven to work and less of a headache/less pulling your hair out and scratching your...

[nimikipod]

I can't see any reason to use a pci card inside a double din unit. if you'r going for a pro setup (3/4 way active) why would you prefer running 3/4 rca cables to the amps other than use a firewire card (like the M-AUDIO 410) and carry the signal in a digital way up until it gets right near the amps.

the xonar is much better than the rest. i have also heard good things of the 1820m.

good luck. be sure to update.

[HiJackZX1]

I use the Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtremegamer and it works great. Reason I went with it was for 7.1 surround sound and becuase when playing line in devices it will play through all the speakers. It also has a very very low profile. I use it in my thin case, which is the frame of my car.



If you look to the left side, the X-Fi is almost hidden. Its next to the small C-Media 7.1 virtual card.

[JonnieBlaze]

I'm not actually sure that I'm going to do the double din thing anymore. I'm trying to build it kinda 'universal' so I can put it in my fun-car on the weekends. I thought housing it all in the dash would be smart but I'm thinking that's pretty stupid now. I want it 'universal' so I only have one carputer to keep up-to-date and sync'd and all. But that brings the problem of the sound card. I have the Alpine H701 to use in my first car, but I will not have that in my second one. So I'm going to sell it and do all the processing on the PC so my 'processor' can go from one car to the next. The reason for PCI is so I can keep it compact and sort of an all in one package. Plus I dont see any reason for all the knobs and adjustments on the front of the external sound cards.

Now that the computer will not be in the dash, if I keep it in the back of the car my rca's will be short. So will a PCI card really be that bad then? I've heard they can have a lot of noise interference but I'm really hoping this Audiotrak will not. I need ASIO/VST. Surprisingly I've seen a lot of bad reviews for the Asus card.

[nimikipod]

Hey,

here's my project, i'm jst about to finish it and install it in my car. it includes a xonar hdav deluxe that comes with 8 analog RCA outputs. there are a few modifications to be made at the software level.. (lots of work..)

http://www.carsforum.co.il/vb/showth...=263525&page=3

i can still make some modifications so if you guys see any problems, please share your thoughts..

[HiJackZX1]

I'm not actually sure that I'm going to do the double din thing anymore. I'm trying to build it kinda 'universal' so I can put it in my fun-car on the weekends. I thought housing it all in the dash would be smart but I'm thinking that's pretty stupid now. I want it 'universal' so I only have one carputer to keep up-to-date and sync'd and all. But that brings the problem of the sound card. I have the Alpine H701 to use in my first car, but I will not have that in my second one. So I'm going to sell it and do all the processing on the PC so my 'processor' can go from one car to the next. The reason for PCI is so I can keep it compact and sort of an all in one package. Plus I dont see any reason for all the knobs and adjustments on the front of the external sound cards.

Now that the computer will not be in the dash, if I keep it in the back of the car my rca's will be short. So will a PCI card really be that bad then? I've heard they can have a lot of noise interference but I'm really hoping this Audiotrak will not. I need ASIO/VST. Surprisingly I've seen a lot of bad reviews for the Asus card.

Well you can always buy a mobo that has 5.1 onboard audio. Also buy something like a safety deposit box and put it into that. It will be portable and able to remove it. Another thing is to buy a EEE PC laptop or EEE Decktop box, it is portable and simply use a USB soundcard that is intergrated into the car. So in each car you simply plug in the USB, power and RCA cables.

[JonnieBlaze]

Onboard sound is not ASIO capable right? I'm really looking for the best possible sound and as far as I know Onboard will not cut it. I'll look into those EEE boxes though.

[DarquePervert]

Onboard sound is not ASIO capable right? I'm really looking for the best possible sound and as far as I know Onboard will not cut it. I'll look into those EEE boxes though.

Some onboard sound hardware is ASIO capable. Some isn't.
Read the specs very, very carefully.

[HyperZulu]

I have the Asus Xonar D1. It's an awesome card and half height. It has its own ASIO drivers, but I used the ASIO4ALL driver set along with Virtual Audio Cable and AudioMulch to do a 3way setup.