HT Omega Claro soundcard

Anyone who has owned an iriver h1*0 series portable audio player will know what the solution is to the limited space s/pdif i/o problem; dual purpose jacks.

The review didn't mention if you could use both the optical and coaxial connectors simultaneously, but under the (probably fair) assumption that you can't, shared jacks would solve the problem. It does necessitate the use of different optical cables (cf the cables used by Sony's minidisc players) but the coaxial output can be served from the same socket with a simple 3.5mm mono jack to rca adapter cable.

On the other hand, if the intention is to use both sets of digital outputs separately, the best solution I have seen was found on a c-media 8738 pci board; extra pci backplate, ribbon cable.

Originally Posted by Gundam God
This card sounds very tempting but i'll be sticking with my Audigy until I see a decent card with HDMI either alongside or replacing s/pdif.

I want to send my future AVR some yummy dolby truehd and dts hd master from hddvd/blu-ray! ;)

What's the point? HDMI-connections belong to the graphic cards eh? Atleast in my MSI 7600GT there's a HDMI-out. Then there's this cable that you have to connect to the digital output of the sound card.

Need HDMI or some new type of cable since s/pdif doesn't have the necessary bandwidth and i'd rather have a digital connection instead of analogue.

Necessary bandwith for what purpose? :?

Originally Posted by qupada
The review didn't mention if you could use both the optical and coaxial connectors simultaneously, but under the (probably fair) assumption that you can't, shared jacks would solve the problem.

An excellent point on dual purpose jacks! They would be good, but they'd have to include an adapter for it. I fail to see a need for the use of multiple outputs on a PC soundcard. The only thing I can assume comes close is that if you're using it for a HTPC, and even then you're looking at a serious setup.

Originally Posted by Jipa
Necessary bandwith for what purpose? :?

Audio, I'm guessing. :)

Originally Posted by The article

With the Claro sporting the same hardware as the Inferno, but coupled in the solid state capacitors for better power delivery and life, the SNR is at least equal to that of the Inferno at 110-117dB DAC and 111dB ADC.

What is the selected reference signal for these figures? (e.g. 1.228V 1kHz sinewave?) It's like saying my keyboard is on a table 4m high without saying where I'm measuring from.

It would be useful to know this so it can be compared to other cards.