Hi Gary.

Well, thank you for the idea, but i somehow not comfortable with it.

I have to buy this thing, even if it's inexpensive, i will have to pay good amount of money for delivery. I am looking around 20 euro, not counting price for device itself. Than again, i have to buy new card and pay for delivery there. To make things worse, none xfi sound cards are no longer produced by creative labs and i really don't like idea of second hand sound cards(even though you have to be very skillful to break one of those).

So it simply makes sense to pay a bit extra(i was loosing those money with that pcie to pci extentsion and its delivery anyway) but to get that card I was referring before, Asus Xonar DX I know it's supported by alsa, because of this: http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Asus I am just double checking, since this specific card is really promising one and i really feel like buying one. But again, i am opened for other options.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts. I have kinda got used to USB cards by now myself and all those troubles they cause :)

gary wrote:

Having spent an ungodly obscene amount of time trying to get two different USB audio cards to work in 64 bit opensuse, I suggest not trying to be a pioneer. I solved my need for multiple sound cards (exceeding the number of PCI slots I have) by using a PCI bridge.

For one soundcard, you can try thing: http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=JJ-000111-S1 It doesn't list linux in support unfortunately. However, the latest linux kernal might recognize the card. Then pick a soundcard from the list of supported devices.

For my particular situation, I bought a Magma PCI expander on ebay. I plugged it in and it worked with the soundcards I had on hand (Diamond 5.1 using C-Media chipset). With the shipping, it worked out to be about $39 a PCI slot. [My time, about 10 minutes, not counting searching ebay.] Thus the price for the SIIG seems reasonable if you only need to run one card. However, I can't vouch it will work. The Magma boxes do work, but are obscenely expensive new and bulky.

Dmitri Seletski wrote:

...

Hello Guys I am thinking to buy pci express sound card. Nothing fancy, just something with dolby surround 7.1 and decent sound quality, rather inexpensive, i am not audiophile.

I have noticed that there are not that many sound cards out there which have descent support in Linux(unlike many forums claim). I have had MAJOR problems with pci xfi card from creative labs(fatality gamers edition), my buddy still has a lot of problem with it, like major issues with input. No mic - no skype or other voip, you know yourself...

I have found source of asus xonar dx(namely ebay), it is not that expensive compared to many other pci express cards out there, still is expensive enough, from alsa matrix it appears to be quite descent. Question is, is it worth buying? Is it painful to get it running?(probably nothing unusual, matter of loading module), does it work fully(does microphone work, does surround sound 7.1 work?)? Is there something better for similar money?(EUR 73 or £65 or $97) Please do not propose incompletely supported cards(while i wouldn't mind submitting issues to mail lists if i come across bugs, i wouldn't want product that doesn't work)

I appreciate any comments.

Thank you in advance. Dmitri

---

Register Now & Save for Velocity, the Web Performance & Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media. Velocity features a full day of expert-led, hands-on workshops and two days of sessions from industry leaders in dedicated Performance & Operations tracks. Use code vel09scf and Save an extra 15% before 5/3. http://p.sf.net/sfu/velocityconf _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user

---

No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.13/2091 - Release Date: 05/01/09 17:52:00

---

No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.15/2093 - Release Date: 05/02/09 14:23:00