Very good for what I needed and wanted-connecting to my home stereo
Pros:
Sends Dolby Digital/DTS AND MP3s beautifully from PC to Stereo, ease of install and use
Cons:
none now that I figured it all out
The Bottom Line:
I would definitely recommend this if your needs are similar to mine. For HTPC this thing works great for me. Easy to install, and transfer, and easy to use.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I'm not sure how this thing sound with speakers hooked up to it yet. I wanted to connect my PC to my home stereo, primarily for DVD movies and I wanted to be able to hear it in dolby/dts. I was already using the digital output on my standalone DVD player and wanted that for my cheapskate HTPC. I needed a soundcard that had spdif outputs and found this one at Best Buy which has both coaxial and fiber-optic types. Installing was a breeze; connect USB, install software. Getting it working right, was something else.
This thing, once I figured it out, works great for what I wanted. Intially I was frustrated because I couldn't get the dolby digital to kick in on my stereo. I did some searching and found on the Creative Labs forum how to switch my PC's DVD software to output only spdif. My 4 year old Kenwood AV receiver decodes the audio wonderfully and the movies sound even better than my standalone, which is also capable of 24/96. I could have gotten the internal pci card for $30, but I liked the USB ability. I can now switch it between my HTPC that I keep all my DVD files on and my main PC that I keep all my MP3 files on.
Playing music hasn't impressed me yet, but with some tweaking I'm sure it will do fine for playing the MP3s off my PC. It certainly is now louder than my PC speakers, which aren't shabby, and now I can listen to my MP3s with ease through the whole house. However, the sound of the receiver's radio or playing MP3 CDs through my standalone DVD player sounds better...fuller...more natural. So far playing MP3s off my PC through this device sounds, dare I say it, digital. I'm sure with the right tweaking, or un-tweaking, it can improve. I didn't buy it for that really, so it's not a major concern.
**Update** - After being suggested to make sure dolby was off I can now say that this thing sends music just fine and it in fact now sounds great through my home stereo!
