Help me pick out a reciever or a sound card

[RavenGuard]

So, I own a pair of Turtle Beach EarForce HPA-2 headphones. So far, so good. I really like them and I've never owned sound hardware of this quality. (I know audiophiles will still tell me it's crap but they beat the crap out of any low-budget headphones or sound systems.) Anyways, because I run both an Xbox 360 and a PC I would like to be able to use the headphones for both.

What is my best choice for a budget audio receiver or sound card that I could decode Dolby 5.1 over optical from my Xbox 360, and also connect my PC with stereo/RCA connectors?

My original thoughts were to purchase a sound card with an optical input, but who'd of known, all of these sound cards with "Dolby Digital" written all over them don't decode Dolby Digital, and thus I can't sent my Xbox 360 output to my PC, decode and output to the headphones.

Any help finding a sound card that could do this, or any relatively cheap audio or A/V receivers that could solve this problem would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Tiamat]

I was able to do this with my old SB Audigy Platinum EX and Playstation 2. Is the Audigy Platinum out of your price range?

 

[Slick5150]

If you can find a Creative Extigy external sound card, I think it would do what you're looking for (if I'm understanding what you want right).. You'd basically have it connected to your PC via USB, and you could also connect the Xbox360 to it via optical, and then your headphones would plug into it and get sound from either.

 

[RavenGuard]

The most important factor: Whatever the Xbox 360 outputs the audio to must be capable of DECODING Dolby Digital and then outputting the decoded audio.

I purchased an X-Fi card that claimed it had Dolby Decoding but upon installation I was unable to use the feature because it was apparently cut in the Windows Vista drivers, and they never plan to implement it again. I was also dissatisfied that my on-board audio is of a higher quality than that X-Fi card.

To give you guys an idea of a setup that would work:

PC -> Dolby receiver
Xbox 360 -> Dolby receiver
Dolby Receiver -> Headphones

The PC would just pass the 5.1 audio through the receiver to the headphones because it is not Dolby. The 360 audio would be decoded by the receiver and then passed to the headphones.

My problem is finding a cheap receiver to do this, and if I can find a capable sound card I would prefer it because it would be less clutter and likely less chance of ruining the sound quality.

I checked Audigy cards and none of them seem to have an optical input. I have to point out that the PS2 didn't have an optical output or Dolby Digital 5.1 so you likely didn't have a setup anywhere near what I'm looking for.

 

[Slick5150]

Check out the extigy, it does what you're looking for (dolby decoding, both PC and Xbox can be connected to it, etc..)

The only question is Vista support for it. I have no idea.

 

[RavenGuard]

Originally posted by: Slick5150
Check out the extigy, it does what you're looking for (dolby decoding, both PC and Xbox can be connected to it, etc..)

The only question is Vista support for it. I have no idea.

Hmm. The Extigy looks like it could be what I'm looking for, but is it wrong of me to believe that a USB sound device is likely of a much lower quality than standard soundcards or even on-board audio?

On top of that, is this thing USB 1.1?

Also, I can't seem to find anywhere that sells it.