Odd High Def Audio Route

[Nodscene]

Well yes, it's a pre-amp/processor. The only reason I brought that up was the mention of the Parasound which is just a power amp and very expensive. Was just a cheaper for that and the processor and lot better option than the 52a.

I'd suggest check canuckadiomart and see what you can find there for a receiver that supports 4ohms. That way you can just go digital out from your onboard soundcard and let the receiver do the work. That's by far the easiest and cheapest solution.

[3.0charlie]

Yup, one of my saved websites. Canuck Audio Mart Canada's Largest Online Hifi, Audio & Home Theater Classifieds

But thanks for introducing this company, been reading for the last 2 hours. Pretty impressive.

[Nodscene]

My pleasure. I spent a good couple weeks researching and reading the forums before finally making the plunge myself and I'm happy I did. I guess I could be called a fanboy now. I believe Secrets Of Home Theater and High Fidelity have reviews of a few of their units.

Reviews - Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

Now it's just a matter of saving up for their new processor :) Looks to be amazing plus the purchase of my UMC-1 gives me 40% off any new processor. Sweet deal.

[Arinoth]

There really isnt ever much for sale used, checked that site even, due to the lower population of New Brunswick.

I'm still rather tempted to pick up that amp (or try to) and pop in a better sound card for now.

[Nodscene]

It's definitely not the worst choice you can make. You might want to check on the Emotiva forums as there is second hand stuff there as well. If you'd rather not go that route you can call Emotiva as they occasionally have B stock which will save you a few bucks (probably cover shipping) and still have full warranty...which is 5 years btw.

I just did a quick google search and it seems like it shouldn't be a problem. Check near the bottom of this thread and a couple people with the Asus Xonar Essence Xt are doing it.

Connecting PC to Power amp [Archive] - AudioKarma.org Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

[Arinoth]

I just sent them off an email to their sales department asking about possibility of shipping to canada and if they had any B stock in. I'll let you know what they say on both items.

Now to look for one of the nice high end sound cards, like the Xonar Essence XT, onsale.

[Nodscene]

Good luck finding one on sale. I believe I looked for about 6 months for a sale price anywhere and ended up just buying a used STX. So I hope you have better success than I did.

[Arinoth]

I may not bother with the STX since you're paying an extra 50$ for that headphone amp (that'll never be used by me).

I am curious if you need to split some of the output channels, such as typically centre/sub are off the same 3.5mm, would need to get a splitter I suppose or wire one myself?

Also, looking into the STX, it only does 2.1 out, unless you have optical, which the UPA-500 does not.

[Nodscene]

Your best bet then would probably be the Auzentech Prelude as it has all the outputs. Sorry I can't do a ton of research for you as my internet is consistently dropping and can barely surf. That's not hard to find used at all. Hell I'm going to have one for sale shortly as I just picked up the rest of the parts for my new build and have the STX as well as I listen to headphones mostly or strickly 2 channel.

Scroll to near the bottom...

Auzentech, Inc. Sound Cards. Audio You Can Believe In. World First soundcards for Music, HTPC, and Gaming.


Edit: From the webpage...

• Four 3.5mm 8 channel line output connectors in rear panel (FL/FR/C/SW/RL/RR/RSL/RSR)

[Arinoth]

Yeah, seems like that could be a possible card.