Which sound card for mid-range quality audio

[twilyth]

I have a Yamaha RX-V765 7.2 and NHT N-3B (classic 3-way speakers) front speakers. Rear speakers are Polk RM8's but I'll probably substitute my old NHT Zero's and use the Polks for side speakers. Center channel is also an RM8 which is not currently connected, but I'll probably leave that as is once it is.

Right now I'm connecting to the receiver via HDMI cable from a Geforce 210 video card.

I'm looking at this sound card as a good combination of price and performance - HT-Omega Claro.

Opinions, suggestions welcome.

 

[happita]

That is a great sound card. Pricing is a tad high though IMO.

edit: "If you're a hardcore gamer and play games that make use of EAX, there's no doubt that this will benefit you, because the support is coded into the game's engine. The native support is obviously going to sound better than the post processing / estimation method used by cards based on the Oxygen HD chip. For games that are outside of the advanced EAX features, there’s very little in it since these boards already support OpenAL and EAX 2.0."

^
From the "GAMES" part of this review here.. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/03/09/HT_Omega_Claro/5

edit #2: for gaming, this card is not the one to get, for a full multimedia solution, this is a great card.

 

[twilyth]

That is a great sound card. Pricing is a tad high though IMO.

edit: "If you're a hardcore gamer and play games that make use of EAX, there's no doubt that this will benefit you, because the support is coded into the game's engine. The native support is obviously going to sound better than the post processing / estimation method used by cards based on the Oxygen HD chip. For games that are outside of the advanced EAX features, there’s very little in it since these boards already support OpenAL and EAX 2.0."

^
From the "GAMES" part of this review here.. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/03/09/HT_Omega_Claro/5

edit #2: for gaming, this card is not the one to get, for a full multimedia solution, this is a great card.

I don't game - well, rarely. I'm still trying to finish Riven. And I haven't even run that in at least 6 months.

I'll be using it mainly for music.

I like the current setup with just one HDMI cable for my connections. With a sound card I'll have to get 4 y-adapter patch cables. Not a big deal but will there really be a noticible difference in the sound?

 

[twilyth]

Sorry for the bump but I know a lot of people here have definite opinions about this sort of thing and I'd like to hear them.