freebsd stable - Jan 2010 - PCIe audio cards: what is tob be preferred with FreeBSD 8.0/9-CURRENT?

Well,
At this very moment I utilise a M-Audio 5.1 PCI-audio board with which 
I'm really satisfied. My next box doesn't have PCI slots at all (ASUS 
P6T6-WS Revolution) and due to the fact I'm using Windows 7 sometimes 
for recreational gaming, I'd like to have a moderate expensive audio 
board with the workstation which is supported by FreeBSD 8/9. In the 
past - means two or three ywars ago, I had problems with Soundblaster 
PCIe boards, so I was recommended avoiding those and choosing the more 
elabotrated M-Audio cards for the PCI bus.
At this moment, I look for the Soundblaster X-Fi range of PCIe cards, 
but I'm not sure whether they are supported by FreeBSd 8/9. Any suggestions?

Regards,
Oliver

O. Hartmann wrote:
> Well,
> At this very moment I utilise a M-Audio 5.1 PCI-audio board with which
> I'm really satisfied. My next box doesn't have PCI slots at all
(ASUS
> P6T6-WS Revolution) and due to the fact I'm using Windows 7 sometimes
> for recreational gaming, I'd like to have a moderate expensive audio
> board with the workstation which is supported by FreeBSD 8/9. In the
> past - means two or three ywars ago, I had problems with Soundblaster
> PCIe boards, so I was recommended avoiding those and choosing the more
> elabotrated M-Audio cards for the PCI bus.
> At this moment, I look for the Soundblaster X-Fi range of PCIe cards,
> but I'm not sure whether they are supported by FreeBSd 8/9. Any
> suggestions?
I would first test on-board HDA codec, placed on that motherboard. They
are free and usually work with FreeBSD just out of the box, using
snd_hda driver. Now snd_hda and snd_uaudio are only two drivers
supporting multichannel playback. If you need analog connection, snd_hda
can usually provide multichannel 24bit/192kHz playback. But also it
supports digital SPDIF I/O, including AC3/DTS pass-through. Together
with SPDIF-connected external audio receiver, even simple HDA codec
could become very interesting high-quality choice.

Personally I am completely fulfilled with combination of simple Realtek
HDA codec, digitally connected via SPDIF to Marantz SR4001 receiver,
loaded to the full-sized Eltax 7.1 speaker set. Previously I was using
Creative Audigy2 ZS, but now it just collecting dust in my table. It
works, but I really don't need it.

PS: If you want to look cool, you may use optical SPDIF connection. :)

-- 
Alexander Motin

"O. Hartmann" <ohartman@mail.zedat.fu-berlin.de>
wrote:
> At this very moment I utilise a M-Audio 5.1 PCI-audio board with
> which I'm really satisfied. My next box doesn't have PCI slots
> at all ... I look for the Soundblaster X-Fi range of PCIe cards, 
It's possible to get an adapter that plugs into a PCIe slot and
provides a PCI slot, which might enable you to continue using
your current card.  I've never actually seen one, so don't know
about the mechanics; it could turn out that it can only be used
by leaving the cover off of the box :(

On 24 Jan 2010, at 17:36, O. Hartmann wrote:
> At this moment, I look for the Soundblaster X-Fi range of PCIe cards, but
I'm not sure whether they are supported by FreeBSd 8/9. Any suggestions?

I'm actually looking for a replacement for my X-Fi (I have the PCI X-Fi
Gamer). The sound quality isn't great and it's only supported in
Windows. I believe there's an effort going on to get a functioning driver on
Linux at the moment.

Besides that, the card I have got some proprietary connectors for digital audio
that you need to buy some kind of dongle for that dangles outside your case. You
can fit a 3.5mm optical jack in the proprietary connector, but the signal
isn't SP/DIF - my receiver has no idea what to do with it.

The more expensive versions probably don't have that problem, they have
plenty of connections for all kinds of signals after all.

Alban Hertroys

--
Screwing up is the best way to attach something to the ceiling.


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