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<blockquote data-quote="Owlsroost" data-source="post: 598652" data-attributes="member: 83973">The big gain with (good) soundcards is generally better analog output quality - I can certainly hear the difference between my HTPC on-board Realtek sound and the (pretty cheap) SoundBlaster Live SE PCI card I now use over multi-channel analog connections to my AVR.If you are bitstreaming AC3/DTS audio to an AVR, this fundamentally must be passed through 'bit-perfect' otherwise it just doesn't work. Anything else normally goes via the Windows sound mixer software so it can be manipulated and mixed with other sounds.ASIO, Kernel Streaming(XP) and WASAPI(Vista/Win7) are all interfaces which aim to bypass the Windows sound mixer etc and send audio data directly to the sound card drivers - whether this comes out 'bit-perfect' at the end is down to the drivers......so place your bets now..... (I've been through several sets of Creative drivers for my card which sound different even via WASAPI....)Tony</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Owlsroost, post: 598652, member: 83973"] The big gain with (good) soundcards is generally better analog output quality - I can certainly hear the difference between my HTPC on-board Realtek sound and the (pretty cheap) SoundBlaster Live SE PCI card I now use over multi-channel analog connections to my AVR. If you are bitstreaming AC3/DTS audio to an AVR, this fundamentally must be passed through 'bit-perfect' otherwise it just doesn't work. Anything else normally goes via the Windows sound mixer software so it can be manipulated and mixed with other sounds. ASIO, Kernel Streaming(XP) and WASAPI(Vista/Win7) are all interfaces which aim to bypass the Windows sound mixer etc and send audio data directly to the sound card drivers - whether this comes out 'bit-perfect' at the end is down to the drivers......so place your bets now..... (I've been through several sets of Creative drivers for my card which sound different even via WASAPI....) Tony [/QUOTE]

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