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I thought my motherboard’s onboard Realtek HD soundcard had digital connectors but it does not; while the chip obviously supports it (digital output is listed as an option in Vista) the mainboard lacks the connectors.

So I’m looking for a sound card. It’s main purpose will be for the digital output, I don’t care so much about the analog since the onboard sound does that fine.

Here’s my requirements:

• Digital RCA and/or optical connection.
• Must support S/PDIF passthrough to external decoder for Dolby Digital AC3 and DTS signals.
• Must support Vista x64.
• Must be available in Japan.

It’s Vista x64 support that is likely to cause issues. The Sound Blaster X-Fi ostensibly supports Vista x64, however my experiences have been less than stellar with getting S/PDIF passthrough to function (I had one on my old system, I’ve been able to get it working exactly once on one specific driver version which is no longer available and I don’t have anymore either). Creative has not impressed me at all with driver support in the past, so I’m very hesitant to go that route again. In fact, the main reason I’m posting this is because I’m looking for an alternative to Creative.

I’ve heard good things about Turtle Beach but they don’t have Vista x64 support and they don’t appear to be available in Japan.

I found two Japanese manufacturers, Onkyo (don’t support Vista x64) and Ego-Sys (have beta drivers for Vista including x64; the fact that their last driver update is half a year old doesn’t inspire me with confidence, one review on Amazon.co.jp isn’t favourable about their drivers either).

The only card I have good experiences with in Vista x64 is the Realtek HD Audio, but I don’t believe there’s a stand alone version of that, and replacing my motherboard just to get digital audio connectors is a bit overkill I think.

Does anybody have any other ideas? All input is appreciated.

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