Sony AVR just isn't working for me...

[richardm]

50 watts. That's the idle power consumption of a warmed-up STR-DN1080. 68 volt-amps if we want to be pedantic. I've hit the breaking point for heat producers in my home office.

Fortunately I bought it used for an exceptional price and have uses for it elsewhere in the house.

I plan to return to bargain-basement class-D but not the motherboard audio (terrible quality jacks).

Can anyone suggest a bargain-basement 5.1 or 7.1 external sound card (DAC) that qualifies as acoustically transparent to those of us lacking golden ears? I see the Sound BlasterX G6 going for $100 and it tested quite well here on ASR. I'm eyeballing some of the under $50 stuff on Amazon thinking this what a reference design for one of these ICs should cost (and that's being generous).

I'm also weeding through the amp reviews trying to determine if any of them were four channel (or more) while priced under $150. There are several with audiophool pricing but...

Thanks for any advice you might have.

 

[Dunring]

If you can do an internal card, the Soundblaster AE-7 is excellent and there's some deals to be had on the used market. Also the EVGA NU Audio is a great card. The CEO of EVGA is an audiophile, so they put some good hardware into it. I've had a few but they're discontinued and good prices are out there sometimes. Creative is out of stock on the G6 for $69 with free shipping, no tax and warranty

Refurbished - Creative Labs (United States)

All refurbished products come with a 90-day limited hardware warranty.

us.creative.com

They do restock, but it might be a wait on it. The AE-5 is good, it was tested too. I just wouldn't get the SB-Z, it's pretty lame. If 3.5mm to RCA is ok for cables, the Soundblaster X1 is really terrific, and 2.4 volts as a DAC when it detects over 120ohm of resistance, so it's full tilt plugged into an amplifier. The surround is 5.1 or direct stereo mode. I've had those a few times and with Yougreen 3.5mm to RCA it worked great into an amplifier. It even powered the Beyerdynamic DT880 600ohm loud enough at 95 percent volume. For $50 and maybe less at Aliexpress during the sale this week, can't beat it.

 

[DVDdoug]

but not the motherboard audio (terrible quality jacks).

Terrible how? Sometimes there is noise, but distortion and frequency response are usually better than human hearing.

...I had a soundcard once that made noise when the hard drive was accessed.

 

[richardm]

Terrible how? Sometimes there is noise, but distortion and frequency response are usually better than human hearing.

It's the crappy jacks (physical issues). I'm fine with the audio quality. It's a Realtek 887 or 892 or some such (I'd have to look) and it's well-behaved with no thumps or pops. No detectable hiss unless I put my ear right up to the speakers. I just hate the jacks.

 

[richardm]

If you can do an internal card, the Soundblaster AE-7 is excellent and there's some deals to be had on the used market. Also the EVGA NU Audio is a great card. The CEO of EVGA is an audiophile, so they put some good hardware into it. I've had a few but they're discontinued and good prices are out there sometimes. Creative is out of stock on the G6 for $69 with free shipping, no tax and warranty

Refurbished - Creative Labs (United States)

All refurbished products come with a 90-day limited hardware warranty.

us.creative.com

They do restock, but it might be a wait on it. The AE-5 is good, it was tested too. I just wouldn't get the SB-Z, it's pretty lame.

I gotta go USB. All my PCIe slots are either consumed or covered-up.

If 3.5mm to RCA is ok for cables, the Soundblaster X1 is really terrific, and 2.4 volts as a DAC when it detects over 120ohm of resistance, so it's full tilt plugged into an amplifier. The surround is 5.1 or direct stereo mode. I've had those a few times and with Yougreen 3.5mm to RCA it worked great into an amplifier. It even powered the Beyerdynamic DT880 600ohm loud enough at 95 percent volume. For $50 and maybe less at Aliexpress during the sale this week, can't beat it.

I need four or more channels. I'm doing software DSP with EqAPO (xover/time-alignment/etc). My current obsession is how many subwoofers it takes to fill the nulls in my office. The need for more amp. channels is what drove me to buy the Sony AVR in the first place.

I've got my eye on some of the $20-40 CM6206-based USB boxes. I don't think I need the Sound Blaster feature set. Again I'd be happy with integrated Realtek audio if only there were a header on the mainboard that'd let me avoid the manky rear panel jacks.