Nice to meet a fellow Vandersteenian. Curious have you been able to compare the 1c to the 2ci? When I bought the 1c years ago they were in a much smaller room than now. I'm wondering if bumping up to the 2ci would fill it out more.

Did you really release a sound card that doesn't have the ability for analog surround sound but has RCA jacks? Digital surround is inferior to analog/headphone jacks.   Why would anyone buy this over the latest sound blaster card(AE-5)? What is the purpose of this card? What products even use RCA jacks still?

golddubby
This is garbage! It doesn't have coaxial s/pdif which means it doesn't have sourond support for more than maximum 5.1 through optical (if even).
I understand that the card is aimed at "audio-philes" with the headphone jack and analogue components. The compression and format of audio files on a computer is still digital however so any "audio-phile" who buy this are fake or clueless!

PC soundcards are used by home-cinema-philes ;) who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on tech! We would all love a soundcard like this, but without sourond it holds zero value to us! And the analogue circuits serve no purpose in a computer.

 
How often do you have audio sources with 7.1 or more on a computer? This is such a fringe use case. How often do people even have multichannel flacs on their computer too? Unless your archiving your Blurays, DVD-As, or SACDs, the odds that you're going to build a library of uncompressed multichannel audio are pretty low. Note, this is coming from someone who has an extensive multichannel collection from various formats who backs up QUITE a bit of this collection only for archival purposes, never for playback.
 
Sure if you want to play Blurays on your computer and output the AV to a home theater system, but to be honest here that just adds so much complication compared to just a dedicated bluray player on an HT system.
 
Coaxial and Optical have the same limitations. The only thing you gain with one versus another is based on the available inputs on your external device (external DAC, Receiver, etc) but there are no actual performance differences other than the "potential" ability for Optical to have more resistance to interference.
 
Not sure what you're talking about when you say "The compression and format of audio files on a computer is still digital however so any "audio-phile" who buy this are fake or clueless!" Yes all source material audio on a computer is digital, but it's the said source material that drives the compression. But also don't forget there are formats out there such as FLAC and ALAC that are lossless formats yet are still compressed in the same manner as a Zip file is compressed without losing any of the data within the Zip. Literally same concept. Would be great if you could elaborate on your comment.
 
EDIT: Had to make one additional comment after re-reading your post "PC soundcards are used by home-cinema-philes ;) who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on tech! We would all love a soundcard like this, but without sourond it holds zero value to us! And the analogue circuits serve no purpose in a computer."
 
If you're someone who's spending 100K+, odds are you aren't using a computer to provide your source. If you have a massive digital library filled with lossless FLACS, you're going to have an external hard drive, NAS, SSD in a dock, etc, plugged directly into a device that can read a hard drive such as the Oppo Universal Disc Players (just an example). This is a FAR more optimized approach than introducing a computer into your system components. If that's your style than sure, but I've had significant more success with the approach I call out above. This is actually exactly what I do. I have a SSD filled to the brim with lossless FLACs in a dock plugged directly into a Squeezebox Touch. The Touch is connected to my external DAC which sends the audio to my preamp. It's the best digital audio setup I've ever had by far.
 
Also, the analog outs DO serve plenty of purpose if you don't follow a setup like called out above. If your computer serves as your playback server and your storage device, and you have a collection of Lossless FLACS, the analog outs to a preamp will serve very well. There is nothing WRONG with that at all, it's just not my preference but to each its own.

remidian
Did you really release a sound card that doesn't have the ability for analog surround sound but has RCA jacks?????!!!!! People who buy sound cards usually have a 5.1 setup or very nice headphones. Digital surround is inferior to analog/headphone jacks.   Why would anyone buy this over the latest sound blaster card(AE-5)? What is the purpose of this card? What products even use RCA jacks still?

Again, same thing as above. What benefit does analog multichannel out provide if you don't have a collection of uncompressed multichannel audio? I think people forget that you ONLY need HDMI out or analog multichannel out for uncompressed multichannel, key word is uncompressed. This card will handle Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 perfectly fine.
 
EDIT: Forgive me for saying it but you are incorrect in your statement that digital surround is inferior to analog. What makes the difference is the DAC. The goal is to have the device with the BEST DAC in your system handle the digital to analog conversion. ALL multichannel audio, unless going back to quad command LPs or 8-Tracks from the 70s, starts with digital. There are literally ZERO modern day analog multichannel audio sources out today. It ALL starts from a digital source. Whether it be a Bluray, DVD-Audio, SACD, or even streaming from Netflix which only goes up to Dolby Digital Plus. It's up to the given user to determine what DAC in their system is the best equipped to handle the conversion.
 
Also, you do realize that the amount of modern day equipment being supplied with multichannel analog inputs is decreasing year over year? Likewise with universal disc players. Sure the equipment still exists, but it is not nearly as common anymore now that HDMI has advanced so far.
 
There are only two arguments I can think of where this would be needed from a PC sound card. You have games with uncompressed multichannel audio capabilities (is this common at all? maybe?), or for production purposes for those who want to master audio in multichannel on their computer which is also a use case for a minority of users.
 
Lot of unwarranted hate going towards this card. It's important to be critical when being critical is due, but to be real it sounds like a lot of said criticism is oriented towards very uncommon use cases and people being unfamiliar with multichannel audio capabilities.

mattman657

golddubby
This is garbage! It doesn't have coaxial s/pdif which means it doesn't have sourond support for more than maximum 5.1 through optical (if even).
I understand that the card is aimed at "audio-philes" with the headphone jack and analogue components. The compression and format of audio files on a computer is still digital however so any "audio-phile" who buy this are fake or clueless!

PC soundcards are used by home-cinema-philes ;) who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on tech! We would all love a soundcard like this, but without sourond it holds zero value to us! And the analogue circuits serve no purpose in a computer.

 
How often do you have audio sources with 7.1 or more on a computer? This is such a fringe use case. How often do people even have multichannel flacs on their computer too? Unless your archiving your Blurays, DVD-As, or SACDs, the odds that you're going to build a library of uncompressed multichannel audio are pretty low. Note, this is coming from someone who has an extensive multichannel collection from various formats who backs up QUITE a bit of this collection only for archival purposes, never for playback.
 
Sure if you want to play Blurays on your computer and output the AV to a home theater system, but to be honest here that just adds so much complication compared to just a dedicated bluray player on an HT system.
 
Coaxial and Optical have the same limitations. The only thing you gain with one versus another is based on the available inputs on your external device (external DAC, Receiver, etc) but there are no actual performance differences other than the "potential" ability for Optical to have more resistance to interference.
 
Not sure what you're talking about when you say "The compression and format of audio files on a computer is still digital however so any "audio-phile" who buy this are fake or clueless!" Yes all source material audio on a computer is digital, but it's the said source material that drives the compression. But also don't forget there are formats out there such as FLAC and ALAC that are lossless formats yet are still compressed in the same manner as a Zip file is compressed without losing any of the data within the Zip. Literally same concept. Would be great if you could elaborate on your comment.
 
EDIT: Had to make one additional comment after re-reading your post "PC soundcards are used by home-cinema-philes ;) who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on tech! We would all love a soundcard like this, but without sourond it holds zero value to us! And the analogue circuits serve no purpose in a computer."
 
If you're someone who's spending 100K+, odds are you aren't using a computer to provide your source. If you have a massive digital library filled with lossless FLACS, you're going to have an external hard drive, NAS, SSD in a dock, etc, plugged directly into a device that can read a hard drive such as the Oppo Universal Disc Players (just an example). This is a FAR more optimized approach than introducing a computer into your system components. If that's your style than sure, but I've had significant more success with the approach I call out above. This is actually exactly what I do. I have a SSD filled to the brim with lossless FLACs in a dock plugged directly into a Squeezebox Touch. The Touch is connected to my external DAC which sends the audio to my preamp. It's the best digital audio setup I've ever had by far.
 
Also, the analog outs DO serve plenty of purpose if you don't follow a setup like called out above. If your computer serves as your playback server and your storage device, and you have a collection of Lossless FLACS, the analog outs to a preamp will serve very well. There is nothing WRONG with that at all, it's just not my preference but to each its own.

remidian
Did you really release a sound card that doesn't have the ability for analog surround sound but has RCA jacks?????!!!!! People who buy sound cards usually have a 5.1 setup or very nice headphones. Digital surround is inferior to analog/headphone jacks.   Why would anyone buy this over the latest sound blaster card(AE-5)? What is the purpose of this card? What products even use RCA jacks still?

Again, same thing as above. What benefit does analog multichannel out provide if you don't have a collection of uncompressed multichannel audio? I think people forget that you ONLY need HDMI out or analog multichannel out for uncompressed multichannel, key word is uncompressed. This card will handle Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 perfectly fine.
 
EDIT: Forgive me for saying it but you are incorrect in your statement that digital surround is inferior to analog. What makes the difference is the DAC. The goal is to have the device with the BEST DAC in your system handle the digital to analog conversion. ALL multichannel audio, unless going back to quad command LPs or 8-Tracks from the 70s, starts with digital. There are literally ZERO modern day analog multichannel audio sources out today. It ALL starts from a digital source. Whether it be a Bluray, DVD-Audio, SACD, or even streaming from Netflix which only goes up to Dolby Digital Plus. It's up to the given user to determine what DAC in their system is the best equipped to handle the conversion.
 
Also, you do realize that the amount of modern day equipment being supplied with multichannel analog inputs is decreasing year over year? Likewise with universal disc players. Sure the equipment still exists, but it is not nearly as common anymore now that HDMI has advanced so far.
 
There are only two arguments I can think of where this would be needed from a PC sound card. You have games with uncompressed multichannel audio capabilities (is this common at all? maybe?), or for production purposes for those who want to master audio in multichannel on their computer which is also a use case for a minority of users.
 
Lot of unwarranted hate going towards this card. It's important to be critical when being critical is due, but to be real it sounds like a lot of said criticism is oriented towards very uncommon use cases and people being unfamiliar with multichannel audio capabilities.

Headphone jacks/HDMI used by current 5.1 speaker PC systems/audio recievers/TV's are superior to toslink cables for 5.1 & 7.1 gaming & movies. That's a fact, end of story.  For toslink cables to even compare the source and output must be Dolby Digital certified and even then analog sounds much better and it's much easier to distinguish direction. That along with this sound card having RCA jacks is questionable. No one is going to buy this card when there are two better options that have been around for years. So the question still stands, who is the target market for this? 
 
 
The digital vs analog argument is an old one.  It's as simple as switching out the cables and seeing for yourself. Toslink/Optical gives fake 5.1 audio(Stereo Surround). 
 
"Optical cables have low bandwith and can only transmit low quality, heavily compressed 5.1 audio. DTS is a common type of low quality, heavily compressed 5.1 audio (the other most common one being being Dolby Digital).
 
PCM is high quality, uncompressed audio. Your PC uses PCM audio by default. PCM audio can be sent to your speakers by using 3x3.5mm cables that will be included in the box with your speakers. (FYI PCM audio can also be transmitted via HDMI, but your speakers don't have an HDMI input, so irrelevant here, but I'm mentioning it for completeness)"

mattman657

remidian
Analog is superior to optical for 5.1 & 7.1 gaming & movies. That's a fact, end of story.  For optical to even compare the source and output must be Dolby Digital certified and even then analog sounds much better and it's much easier to distinguish direction. That along with this sound card having RCA jacks is questionable. No one is going to buy this card when there are two better options that have been around for years. So the question still stands, who is the target market for this?
 
 
The toslink vs analog argument is an old one.  It's as simple as switching out the cables and seeing for yourself. 

Regarding the digital vs analog, again you're not acknowledging that it's the digital to analog conversion that drives the performance. If you have a universal disc player that has both analog out and digital out, and the disc player's DAC is not as good as your receiver's or your external DAC, than it 100% will not sound as good. Vice versa is also true where if your source device does have a strong DAC, as many source devices may have, while your receiver does not, than absolutely analog out from the source device is the way to go. That is without question indisputable.

This applies to any digital connection whether it's Optical, Coaxial, or HDMI. Early HDMI did have issues in transporting digital audio so yes I will give you that, but the technology has advanced and improved so far since the early versions.

Could you elaborate more on distinguishing direction? Also, what isn't Dolby Digital certified these days? It's the most common multichannel audio codec in the world lol.

 
I edited my post. Compressed audio over optical cables does not sound as good compared to uncompressed PCM audio using 5.1 & 7.1. There's nothing that can change that fact. When you setup a new TV & Receiver the best audio options is "Uncompressed PCM".  Optical does not have the bandwidth for uncompressed.  Having the optical option on the sound card is nice and definitely needed for those with that appropriate hardware but to have RCA jacks over headphone jacks is a very odd design choice.  Unless this is filling some niche roll no one is going to need this card.  It doesn't offer anything more than onboard audio does to the general consumer. 
 
You can easily tell the difference in sound quality if you have hardware that supports both options and have decent speakers.
 
 
*The 6.3MM headphone jack is also very hilarious. This card is 10 years late to the party.

remidian
*The 6.3MM headphone jack is also very hilarious. This card is 10 years late to the party.

Out of curiosity what makes you say that? It's extremely common for high fidelity headphones to use quarter inch connections, as well as also being included on dedicated headphone amps. In fact, this is the standard for high fidelity cans. Especially high impedance headphones that require more drive which this card is capable of providing as the headphone amp stage is rated up to 600ohms. Most hifi headphones will have a quarter inch connection but will come with an adapter to 3.5mm so it can be used with the average mobile device.

mattman657

remidian
*The 6.3MM headphone jack is also very hilarious. This card is 10 years late to the party.

Out of curiosity what makes you say that? It's extremely common for high fidelity headphones to use quarter inch connections, as well as also being included on dedicated headphone amps. In fact, this is the standard for high fidelity cans. Especially high impedance headphones that require more drive which this card is capable of providing as the headphone amp stage is rated up to 600ohms. Most hifi headphones will have a quarter inch connection but will come with an adapter to 3.5mm so it can be used with the average mobile device.

+1
mattman657 you have been making some great posts here

True.
I would imagine trying to conform to content protection and paying royalties for the different formats would be a challenge for anyone dipping a toe into trying to provide something more then the basics on a moterhboard
 
This product is not marketed to people wanting their 11.2 theater realistic sound () it is for people that want cleaner sound for their headsets without having to revert to something like https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/play/
Which if you look at it it is still hooked into the system via usb
 
Has anyone seen a price mentioned for this yet?

Hi everyone, 
 
I know we haven't been doing a great job answering your questions the last few days.  Unfortunately, that's a byproduct of having multiple launches in a week (lots of post-launch stuff to do too!) and having Jacob over at CES.  Hopefully, Jacob and I will have some time to go through this thread over the next few days to answer some of the questions you have about our NU Audio Card.  

Are the Outputs individually addressable? Can I output different applications to the RCA than the 6.3mm headphone jack or Optical?

GGTV-Jon
True.
I would imagine trying to conform to content protection and paying royalties for the different formats would be a challenge for anyone dipping a toe into trying to provide something more then the basics on a moterhboard
 
This product is not marketed to people wanting their 11.2 theater realistic sound () it is for people that want cleaner sound for their headsets without having to revert to something like https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/play/
Which if you look at it it is still hooked into the system via usb
 
Has anyone seen a price mentioned for this yet?

One website said it will cost $200 for evga elite members and $250 for non-elite members. The pictures of the software on the product page look very basic.    
 
If you want cleaner sound, wouldn't it be better to have a external system. People always talk about it's not good to have the sound card inside a PC.
 
 

MSim

GGTV-Jon
True.
I would imagine trying to conform to content protection and paying royalties for the different formats would be a challenge for anyone dipping a toe into trying to provide something more then the basics on a moterhboard
 
This product is not marketed to people wanting their 11.2 theater realistic sound () it is for people that want cleaner sound for their headsets without having to revert to something like https://www.bursonaudio.com/products/play/
Which if you look at it it is still hooked into the system via usb
 
Has anyone seen a price mentioned for this yet?

One website said it will cost $200 for evga elite members and $250 for non-elite members. The pictures of the software on the product page look very basic.    
 
If you want cleaner sound, wouldn't it be better to have a external system. People always talk about it's not good to have the sound card inside a PC.
 
 

If it is in the $250 range then it is right there with that Burson Audio Play unit I linked
 
Here is my take on it in regards to being in the case.
 
Like the Burson Audio Play and any external dedicated sound device that is connected via USB you run the chance of introduced ground noise on the USB line. Yes it can be mitigated with USB ground loop devices or messing with adding / removing the ground splices in the cable but that is a bit of work.
 
With an PCIe slot device your data is passed through the PCIe interface. Yes the EVGA Nu Audio still has USB in the data path but it is all on the same PCB = it has the same power / ground source as the rest of the audio components.
 
On the software front - for me at least it seems like they could cut half the features out that most of the audio software guys put in and I would still be happy. They pack way too much extra junk features in there (looking at the Creative Sound Blaster software for the audio on my X299 Dark)

There was nothing in the pictures for an included front panel.
They do have the hookup like a motherboard for a case front hookup.

After looking into it a bit more, there seems to be a lot of processing power on the card just for EQ settings. EVGA could have added some sort of HRTF like how Creative runs their DSPs on their cards' DSPs (although I know there is probably a lot of patent encumbrance with that). This is cheaper than a good DAC and headphone AMP combo. I'm interested to *see* how it sounds.

jll544

dasniper
Are the Outputs individually addressable? Can I output different applications to the RCA than the 6.3mm headphone jack or Optical?

Not for analog, as the AK4493 DAC has only 2 channels (L+R).  Optical, it might be possible?
 
Also, in the photos (next to the Maxim DS1882) you can see a relay that probably switches the output between the headphone path and the RCA path. So, it would appear that only one analog output can be active at any time.

Took me a bit but I think I found the picture you were looking at, and if you were referring to the box to the right of the DS1882 I don't think that is a relay. In that shot they also said the headphone out had a separate volume control.
The headphone out and line out have separate opamps