Sound blaster ae-7 to old receiver or power amp

[theshade]

Will a soundblaster ae-7 decode dolby and dts then can i connect it directly to an old receiver? Pioneer VSA-D7ex. My receiver got busted and this is the cheapest I could find. Is this a good idea or just buy a new entry level receiver? The denon 3600 is not available here in my country and prices are way higher than us prices. I will also have to find a way to import a soundblaster ae-7. Only the asus zonar sound cards are available here.

 

[twsecrest]

So your thinking of buying a Sound Blaster AE-7 and connect it to the Pioneer VSA-D7ex receiver.
Is this for 2-channel or 5.1-channel or 7.1-channel audio?
Connect them using optical (digital) cable or analog (wave) connection?
An Asus Xonar DS sound card could be used to connect optically to the Pioneer.

 

[theshade]

It is for 7.1 movies. Dolby digital and dts hd. The pioneer receiver is circa 2000. I could get it about half the price than brand new entry level current year. Around $230. I dunno what connections would be better but probably the toslink than 3 3.5mm to rca.

 

[twsecrest]

S/PDIF optical and coaxial can normally pass 2-channels of digital PCM (uncompressed) audio, 24-bit/96k or 24-bit/192k,
or can pass up to 6-channel (5.1) of 24-bit/48k, using encoding (compression), Dolby can decode Dolby, DTS can decode DTS.
So Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master audio (full Blu-ray audio) can only pass thru optical as 2-channel audio.
With 5.1, audio will be about the same as DVD audio (24-bit/48k).
If you connected using analog (AE-7 to VSA-D7ex), then you should get 5.1-channel 24-bit/192k.
And old Asus Xonar Essence D2X card comes with 7.1 analog output.
Are you using a 7.1 speaker setup?

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

Is this a good idea or just buy a new entry level receiver?

If I were you, I'd just buy an entry level AVR.
230$ + The cost of an AE7 (around 200$) + possible import costs, should put you in the same ballpark as an entry level AVR anyway.