Guys did you vote on Twitter.
There was 3 options...
 
1. EVGA NU Audio
2. EVGA Z390 Dark
3. EVGA Keyboard
 
I voted for EVGA NU Audio.

xMoac

kcwilsonii
what is your PC setup like? CPU,ram,motherboard.
I have a 6 year old Intel Motherboard (actual Intel Motherboard) with 3570K cpu and 16 GB ram.
Current sound is being handled by a GTX 1060, which I recently added to the setup.
 
Honestly, have never been able to tell a difference sound wise with Graphic cards with built in audio.
I change out for a new graphics card.. they all sound the same. I run the audio through a Yamaha RX-V671
with 2 floor standing speakers.
 
Sound format and processing capability make a big  difference.
 
You are already using a serious set of speakers but only running stereo via the TOSLink
So all the processing would happen back at the card. The output from the Nu Real would be better via
the Stereo jacks as they specifically are designed to handle DSD output.
 
I will be running TOSLink and Stereo output comparisons on this EVGA Audio Card and will post back my comparisons.
Your ASRock has some nice features does it match with a ASRock Motherboard?
Noticed this on the ASrock site "Supports Dual LAN with Teaming function (for motherboards with Broadcom LAN)"
 
My motherboard does Dual Lan teaming, helps with throughput network wise by quite a bit.

My Asrock X79 extreme 9 motherboard came with the Asrock Game Blaster and they work rather well. All I use the sound card for is the optical out for my Kef LSX speakers.

My pc setup is : not a 2019 PC exactly but don’t see much need in upgrading to newer components.
Win 10
CPU i7 4930K
Ram 32GB DDR3
Motherboard X79 extreme9
GPU GTX 980
SSD Samsung 860 Pro 256GB

From what I read on the Kef LSX is that they have a built in Dac and amp in each speaker. There are spec sheets but I have no clue how good they are since I am not that informed on what makes a good sound.

Several have suggested that I would not draw much if any direct sound benefit in updating to the new sound card given I use active speakers that cost (1300 euro) with built custom components. But that it would add is a great solution for headphones via the big audio jack.

Would the Nu sound card offer better (more protected) SPDIF connection?
Or any benefit outside of the headphone use?
I should add that I plan on buying , in fact, made an order on a new toslink cable:
QED Refernce Quartz for 110euro. Is that money wasted or would it benefit having a good toslink cable?

No. And that cable is a massive waste, scam I would say.

GGTV-Jon

Anarion
There's not going to be any difference if he's using toslink. He would be wasting his card because it wouldn't be doing anything really. DAC in it wouldn't be doing anything. It would be a massive waste.

True, the DAC would not get used.
With an aging motherboard could there be signal degradation / noise in the digital end of things? Is that even possible?

No. If it is not broken, no point.

idontthinksotim

EVGA_JacobF
Also... for users who purchase the EVGA NU Audio Card, EVGA will have program where we will be offering 100 EVGA Bucks guarantee that you will be able to hear a noticeable difference between your current sound solution and the EVGA NU Audio Card.
 
Stay tuned for more details!

Notice how he used the word "difference" and not "improvement." Yeah, I'd definitely notice a "difference." The built in HDMI out with my Nvidia card GIVES ME 7.1 AUDIO, and this is only stereo. Sure is different! Wow what snake oil. Don't be a sucker and give them money for this obvious scam. $250 for stereo sound in 2019.

Difference meaning better. Of course the card this card supports 5.1 output via optical so I am not talking about channels.

roscos60
I think I will wait on this sound card as much as I like EVGA products, no surround 5.1 sound I will wait until they make another card for gamers. I still wont buy anything from creative labs they support for drivers or terrible. 

I hear they have other things in the works. My guess it's the external USB solution we seen at evga hotel room during CES 2016.
 

Source

 a more detailed review
 
https://hothardware.com/reviews/evga-nu-audio-sound-card-review
 

MSim

kcwilsonii
 a more detailed review
 
https://hothardware.com/reviews/evga-nu-audio-sound-card-review
 

I wouldn't call that a detailed review. They went over the mfg talking points and compared a $250 sound card to onboard audio. What's next, is HotHardware going to compare RTX 2080Ti vs integrated graphics.
 
 
 

 
LOL

more detailed than the first one I posted

I just ordered the Nu Audio, I currently have a Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 with my Massdrop x Sennheiser HD6XX Headphones, i'll see if there is any difference. (with the AE-5 I use direct audio without virtual surround or anything).

A couple of things While I love the look and idea, I really think you missed the market. When I am looking at a Internal Sound Card I am looking for something that can do 5.1 or 7.1 without the SPIDIF. My current setup runs a Creative Zx and I play with analog 5.1. Worh your setup i need to go buy a decoder and splitter for the 5.1 plus the speakers.
Regards,
Danpapua

Afroman124
I'm deciding between this and a Schiit Stack (Magni 3 and Modi 3). Just curios what you guys think would sound better. I don't care about form factor. 

I was in the same boat and went with this evga card. It's hard to tell without a/b comparing, but I'm happy with this. My other dacs have been a burr brown in an eastern electric tubed cd player and an apogee duet firewire. Most listening has been using the rca outs into rotel amps so far, haven't had a headphone session yet.

Hey,
 
is an ASIO-driver included with the drivers?

jeffswitzer

Introspector
Hey,
 
is an ASIO-driver included with the drivers?

I think so. When I open bigwig or pianoteq, I can select Asio -> evga nu. One thing though that I don’t understand is if I open pianoteq for instance while I have Deezer playing an album, then pianoteq steals the audio muting Deezer. Should it be possible to have both playing simultaneously?

If you use ASIO or WASAPI exclusive then no because those will take exclusive control of the card.

mgremont
I just ordered the Nu Audio, I currently have a Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 with my Massdrop x Sennheiser HD6XX Headphones, i'll see if there is any difference. (with the AE-5 I use direct audio without virtual surround or anything).

I have the HD6XX's too, I'm very curious what you discover. 

carcm700
Is the headphone amp on this card sytrong enough to drive something the Sennheiser HD650?

My wife has a pair of Seinheiser HD 598 SE which are 50 ohm impedance. I plugged them in and the evga card drives them just fine. At 45% volume they are too loud for me.

carcm700
Is the headphone amp on this card sytrong enough to drive something the Sennheiser HD650?

Take this as a subjective review - From testing with my own pair of Beyerdynamic DT990 Premium (600ohm) headphones, they were driven just fine.  I was actually surprised how well they were driven when doing some a/b testing with a competitor's sound card, which really struggled to match the volume level.  I have other headphones I've tested, but due to the impedance, those are easily the hardest to drive.
 
The thing to keep in mind with this audio card is that there's no "gain" button in the software to select the headphone impedance.  Much like a desktop amp with a volume knob, you'll use the headphone volume to raise and lower the headphone volume independently of the OS volume.  That way you can fine-tune the amount of juice you give to your headphones.