A new PC will be shortly built to get a HTPC with strong audio skills to perform with Frequency Allocator in a stereo setup and surround system. My old TAG McLaren AV32R as external surround decoder will get the job to serve best surround sound.

PC components are:

CPU AMD X2 5000+ Brisbane
mainboard Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H
RAM 1GB Crucial DDR-2 CL5
graphics card Sapphire X1300
soundcard M-Audio Delta 1010 (up to 8 channels)
soundcard M-Audio Transit USB (stereo)
... (--> attachement)

OS Windows XP Pro with SP2.

Primarily I had the plan to send both signals (PCM and Dolby Digital) together to soundcard M-Audio Delta 1010 (alternative 1). However different sampling frequencies 48 kHz (Dolby Digital) and 44.1 kHz (PCM) defeat this idea. The better way is to use digital out of mainboard soundchip (Realtek ALC889A) (alternative 2) or an extra soundcard M-Audio Transit USB (alternative 3).

Which alternative is the solution with best sound?

Ruediger

Meantime I have excluded alternative 1 due to the different sampling frequencies. Later I will compare the direct digital connection via Toslink with an external soundcard solution (M-Audio Transit USB), which delivers additionally the connection possibility for a microphone.