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Skanky Sylveon
Skanky Sylveon Skanky Sylveon

https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/creative-labs-shows-high-end-sound-blasterx-ae-9.html

 

Interesting on how Creative is making sound cards again all of a sudden. 

And before anyone starts saying that PCIe sound interfaces are dead.

https://pro.focusrite.com/category/audiooverip/item/rednet-pcier

1090-rednet-pcier-front-rear.png

 

While this isn't consumer oriented, this is an audio interface card that allows up to 128 channels of audio (64 channels when using higher bitrates) through an RJ45 port.

 

So PCIe and audio isn't dead, there is just no real point when USB does just fine for a single, or even multiple channels. 

 

But yeah, once you start getting into the real large scale stuff, you will start to see PCIe devices. 

 

My thoughts on the Creative though?

For the price, I can get a real good DAC and AMP combo and not take up a PCIe slot, which I can reserve for something a bit more useful, like a USB card.

 

So for that scale, I don't really see the point. 

I guess if you need an optical port.

  1. vanished

    vanished

    Optical is nice because it's of course digital like USB, but without creating an actual electrical connection between the devices.  In theory, no ground loop or other weird static or issues should be possible with optical.  How much does that matter in practice?  idk, but it's nice to think about

  2. Skanky Sylveon

    Skanky Sylveon

    @Ryan_Vickers I have heard that optical has issues with higher bitrates sometimes, but I don't have enough experience to really know. 

     

    you should also get longer cables in theory as well, since it's light that's sending the information. 

     

    And to be honest, for that price, you are probably better off just upgrading to a motherboard that supports optical. 

  3. Skanky Sylveon

    Skanky Sylveon

    @Ryan_Vickers Also, I'm pretty sure that ground loop issues don't happen at the PC to DAC level, but I could be wrong. 

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