So the sound card doesn't support 5.1 really the receiver will be stuck on PCM. I'm using the same setup with a surround setup and receiver using a SB ZXR. It probably can pass a pre encoded 5.1 signal but that's it.
 
You need the software side to support the DD or DTS for it to be picked up on the receiver otherwise it won't and you'll be stuck with 2 channel on the optical. I don't get it why all these new sound cards are ditching DD/DTS support. I have to use a sound card from 2012 that has it when I'd like to use a newer one but there all headphone focused and leaves the surround setup's out to dry.
 
 
And the reason  that the Sound blaster sounds better is because of the SBX Pro studio and the software that causes the effects. I can ditch  a sound card and use the HDMI out on my GPU to do 5.1 to the receiver but it sounds way worse than the ZXR because of the SBX studio software that does it's thing.
 
 Evga needs to have something similar to creatives SBX Pro studio processing and add in Dolby support otherwise for me anyway there's no point in buying this.
 
 

So it seems that I'm most likely one of a limited target audience for this device. I'm a relatively frequent gamer and also listen to high quality audio (FLAC, DSD) on decent and neutral planer magnetic headphones. Also, I generally don't care about 5.1 on my PC.
 
I received it earlier today and have been testing it out this evening. I'll most likely be setting it up for a return due to interference issues. There's a decent hum/buzz in stereo coming directly off the headphone jack on the back of the card. Worse on the left side passed 50% volume. Also, the microphone input has much worse interference, and that's without using the boost. I think this is due to the small size of my case and it's proximity the other devices in my system. This was tested with a good quality audio cable (no integrated mic or anything).
 
Also, as a gamer that generally plays online with others I'm really used to the ability to run with a 'monitor mode' on the mic so I can get real time feedback on my levels. Having a great DAC that can support this would be a awesome deal for me and was one of the leading reasons I purchased it to begin with. Based on everything I've seen in my audio configuration, the driver, or the card, doesn't support this. There's no volume level on the Microphone on the Output side of the device in any of the Mixers I've checked. This is something my junk $3.99 USB sound card supports fine even if everything else about it is pretty much trash.
 
For those that care I tested DSD over PCM and DSD over ASIO and both worked fine. MQA plays fine but Audirvana is most likely doing some heavy lifting. I told Audirvana to use the DAC as a MQA Decoder and it played a 24/352.8kHz file at 32/44.1 or 24/44.1 in ASIO and WASAPI modes. I'm thinking that should be playing back at 24/352.8kHz but I've only ever messed with MQA a little bit. Not that I can completely ignore the buzzing noises but the audio quality from a music standpoint. Last thing, the analog volume controller is nice if your doing direct decode stuff.
 
Maybe I'll try the next version. And hopefully that will just be USB instead of USB on a PCI Express card.
 
-max

maxinfo
I'll most likely be setting it up for a return due to interference issues. There's a decent hum/buzz in stereo coming directly off the headphone jack on the back of the card. Worse on the left side passed 50% volume. Also, the microphone input has much worse interference, and that's without using the boost.

Thanks for the report. It's disappointing to learn that the card is susceptible to interference. Looking at the rear photo, it does appear that unbalanced headphone and microphone signals are being carried  across the unshielded rear of the card. In particular, the microphone circuit trace is really long, so it's not surprising that it would pick up more noise. Seems like the card really could have benefited from having a backplate.

remidian
Why is this $250 when you can buy a Sound Blaster AE-5 for $140 and it has outputs that people will actually use? Can anyone tell me how EVGA's sound card is superior?  In what setups would someone use a 6.3MM headphone or RCA jacks? I haven't seen a speaker setup that uses RCA jacks in a very long time and I have never seen a headset use a 6.3MM port(headphones in the 80's and 90's had them).  Is this sound card mainly for music? Every single 5.1 and 7.1 PC speaker setup I've looked at over the years uses headphone cables which are superior to SPDIF. You're not going to get true 5.1 and 7.1 audio over a Toslink cable. The bandwidth does not support it.
 
https://www.amazon.com/Creative-70SB174000000-BlasterX-Hi-Resolution-Gaming/dp/B073HT4GM4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1548343810&sr=8-5&keywords=sound+blaster+zxr
 

 
AE-5 is a nice all purpose sound card. It support 5.1 and Stereo headphones/headsets. If you turn up windows sample rate and bit depth, it big difference in audio quality.  The NU audio is only a (Stereo) 2-channel sound card. It's built with higher quality components. The current software for it doesn't have very many features. 
 
I been searching for reviews comparing $250 NU Audio card to other PCIE sound cards, USB sound cards and/or External Amp & DAC setups around the same price point. The only reviews i have found so far, are ones comparing $250 NU Audio to $25 onboard audio. 
 
 

MSim
No Dolby Digital Live or DTS connect support in the software. Not sure if Dolby Atmos (windows store app ) would give you that or not.

Thank you, I thought as much.

Dolby Atmos is not going to work. Windows Dolby Atmos is either for HDMI or you can have the 'Headphone' version that does a downmix to 2 channels giving 'virtual surround' (kinda defeats the purpose of discrete 5.1 audio channels).

Nereus
Lol, I have no idea about half the stuff you're talking about there, which makes me wonder if you might be more suited to high end gear like Burson which can cost thousands of dollars, as opposed to maybe expecting similar performance and features from a $200 sound card. Again, I am a long way from being an audiophile, so if I'm out of line, please accept my apologies, it's not intended to be offensive/defensive or combative.

Sorry, I am no audiophile at all. I like and enjoy good sound and high quality products, but not at vast expense. Needs to be affordable and practical. Funny, I think most audiophiles would cringe at the thought of using digital audio with SPDIF (think: lossy compression, jitter).

GGTV-Jon
Hrmm, they said it supports 5.1 on the TOSlink - not sure why you didn't see that

I am sure everyone actually did see that.

The issue is that it does not exactly specify how or what anywhere, that is the point I am trying to make here; the available information is unclear and I would even go as far as to call it misleading.

As it turns out it only does 5.1 passthrough, then yeah you can check a box and call this card 'able to output 5.1'. But try it with games that have full support of 5.1 discrete audio channels, or multi-channel FLACs and you will be very disappointed the NU audio only manages to produce stereo output over SPDIF (even worse: does not even have 5.1 analogue output). This is NOT a 5.1 sound card.

The specs should state very clearly: this SPDIF output supports 2 channel audio and 5.1 passthrough, nothing else.



I will hard pass on the NU Audio. I do like the attention they have paid to the hardware (premium components good, PCI-E - USB bridge bad), but at this price point with these features it is just not for me. Hope others will enjoy it.


 

nyxagamemnonAnd the reason  that the Sound blaster sounds better is because of the SBX Pro studio and the software that causes the effects. I can ditch  a sound card and use the HDMI out on my GPU to do 5.1 to the receiver but it sounds way worse than the ZXR because of the SBX studio software that does it's thing.
 
Evga needs to have something similar to creatives SBX Pro studio processing and add in Dolby support otherwise for me anyway there's no point in buying this.

This is also a particular concern for me.  The SBX Pro Studio's 'Surround', Crystallizer and Bass controls really tip my favour towards Creative over the Nu Audio, even if the Nu Audio may have better audio quality.

I'm very happy with the Nu Audio.
Previously i had henry audio qnct 1.1 usb dac, and later xDuoo xd-05 combo dac/amp - which is way better than qnct. Now got Nu Audio and it outperforms both qnct and xduoo dac's.

Like genghiskhanpl, I like this card.  I find it has a very crisp, pristine sound without any hint of hiss or background whatsoever.  Treble is clear without sounding tinny, and bass is authoritative without being muddy.  Slight tweaks to the lower and upper range of frequencies on their graphic EQ and it sounds fantastic in my system for both music and movies.  To keep the spouse happy, I use headphones when gaming,  and adding virtual 7.1 sound with either windows sonic for headphones or dolby atmos for headphones works well.
 
I gave up on Creative after their device stopped being recognized following last April's Win 10 Creators update.  Sure, they published a firmware update, after which windows recognized it again, but it downgraded the sound to 2 channels on my rig and sounded worse than the onboard Realtek chip.  IMO, Creative was pretty decent in the time before Windows Vista, but have struggled with windows drivers since then.  Other users on the Creative forums have similar complaints.

interested in this product since I really like music and even in games, I believe sound has the same importance as visuals. 
 
interested in using this with both headphones and external speakers and amplifier. 

grit621
Okay, I finally did some a/b testing between the AE-5 and the Nu Audio using Sennheiser 660's on the back panel. As a side note, the front panel on BOTH cards definitely (and predictably) gives up detail. Also, I disabled ALL of the Sound Blaster processing (apples to apples).
 
Both cards knock onboard audio on its proverbial butt. If you're interested in digital audio, just use the on-board audio and let the on-board transfer digital audio to some other DAC/processor if you want to use 5.1 etc. If you want or feel that any kind of audio processing makes music sound better, stick with Sound Blaster or on-board audio. It offers what you prefer.
 
The EVGA's card has it's strengths in the DAC and the amps (which is true for most audio equipment).  If you want "fantastical" 2-ch analog audio, THIS is the card!!
 
The EVGA Nu Audio has more control, more detail, and more refinement than the Soundblaster AE-5. If you don't mince hairs and/or don't love audio, get the Sound Blaster. You'll be quite happy. If you close your eyes when you listen to music or listen to music in the dark, you absolutely should give this card a try!!
 
BTW, IMHO, movies and games are pretty easy to reproduce vs. music. After all, can you really tell what a starship sounds like? Or a dinosaur roaring? But music, that's a whole different matter. If you audio device can do music well (like the EVGA NU audio card), rest assured it can handle dialog and gaming just fine!
 
As a side note.. it's not all roses. I had quite a bit of frustration installing the EVGA drivers. They worked fine right away, but I kept getting an error about the card not being detected. Once I wrestled through what I think may have been a firmware update, the errors went away. I believe EVGA will iron this out in the next iteration of the drivers. 

Did you use Direct HP mode on the AE-5? I notice a difference between Headphones 7.1 and Direct HP.

Vlada011
People used to live and play games without detailed sound. I don't understand that.
Special because Sound system (Speakers and sound cards will not be replaced with every configuration, they could be used decade).

Totally agree! 

Hello,
can anyone compare this card to an Asus STX/STX II with regards to music? Thanks

So as I mentioned earlier I'm returning the card due to interference issue which the rep mentioned they will probably subtract a 15% restocking fee. Strange thing is I did finish some a/b testing before returning to see if I could figure out the cause. Looks like the key point of interference is the the EVGA 1080 Ti SC2 Hybrid in my system. I suspect it's the water pump, which with the limited space in my system, is right above the where the sound card goes. Had me wondering if EVGA would do an RMA on a video card for electrically noisy water pump? Doesn't matter I guess. I don't have time to test that theory being limited to 14 days on the return on the sound card.
 
Just giving a heads up for any of you with limited space and perhaps a hybrid cooler on your video card.
 

maxinfo
 
 
So it seems that I'm most likely one of a limited target audience for this device. I'm a relatively frequent gamer and also listen to high quality audio (FLAC, DSD) on decent and neutral planer magnetic headphones. Also, I generally don't care about 5.1 on my PC.
 
I received it earlier today and have been testing it out this evening. I'll most likely be setting it up for a return due to interference issues. There's a decent hum/buzz in stereo coming directly off the headphone jack on the back of the card. Worse on the left side passed 50% volume. Also, the microphone input has much worse interference, and that's without using the boost. I think this is due to the small size of my case and it's proximity the other devices in my system. This was tested with a good quality audio cable (no integrated mic or anything).
 
Also, as a gamer that generally plays online with others I'm really used to the ability to run with a 'monitor mode' on the mic so I can get real time feedback on my levels. Having a great DAC that can support this would be a awesome deal for me and was one of the leading reasons I purchased it to begin with. Based on everything I've seen in my audio configuration, the driver, or the card, doesn't support this. There's no volume level on the Microphone on the Output side of the device in any of the Mixers I've checked. This is something my junk $3.99 USB sound card supports fine even if everything else about it is pretty much trash.
 
For those that care I tested DSD over PCM and DSD over ASIO and both worked fine. MQA plays fine but Audirvana is most likely doing some heavy lifting. I told Audirvana to use the DAC as a MQA Decoder and it played a 24/352.8kHz file at 32/44.1 or 24/44.1 in ASIO and WASAPI modes. I'm thinking that should be playing back at 24/352.8kHz but I've only ever messed with MQA a little bit. Not that I can completely ignore the buzzing noises but the audio quality from a music standpoint. Last thing, the analog volume controller is nice if your doing direct decode stuff.
 
Maybe I'll try the next version. And hopefully that will just be USB instead of USB on a PCI Express card.
 
-max

Line out Op-amp swapped. I chose burson V5i-d amp. Sounds awesome now!

jeffswitzer

genghiskhanpl
Line out Op-amp swapped. I chose burson V5i-d amp. Sounds awesome now!

Nice! I was looking at putting a v6 vivid there. Any idea if it would fit? How noticeable were the changes with the v5i-d and how would you describe the sound difference? I've never op amp rolled before and one of those things where if you look it up on the internet half the people say it doesn't make any difference.

i will fit if you get rid of cover and rgb panel
after rolling: deeper bass (shocked) , improvment in dynamics and sound stage, also little more details
in the future I also intend to buy v6