SOLVED Need help deciding (sound card purchase)

[Kosay1991]

At the loads I will be using (and volumes) I doubt I will be blowing out any mosfets on the board from overloading. And the new sound card is hopefully going to provide a clean signal .

@6 HDMI ports WiFi support and remote app control I'm very happy at this price.

This model just lacks alot of fluff unnecessary features such as automatic speaker calibration (I always do that manually anyway) and upconverting which I don't even need my receiver to do for me. I'm happy with the deal I got .

 

[NiHaoMike]

Running at excessive volume shouldn't damage the MOSFETs in a well designed amplifier. The overcurrent protection should be able to dial back the PWM or cut the drive signal altogether. What tends to blow them is a short circuit, which can cause the current to ramp up very high before the overcurrent protection has time to react. (The design of the overcurrent protection is a delicate balance between reacting fast enough even with a dead short and rejecting noise that can cause false trips.) Check all connections to make sure they cannot short (tin wire ends so a stray strand doesn't accidentally bridge a connection) and double check with a multimeter just to be sure. That's good practice for any amplifier, but it's especially important for one that uses surface mount HVICs or MOSFETs since those are harder to replace if they fail.

If the amplifier is well designed, there shouldn't be any way for the PC to damage it. (I did remember reading about some Denon that was infamous for exploding the IPM during sample rate changes, but hopefully all the manufacturers test for that now!) Do check if there's a "game mode" for minimizing latency, or you might wonder why your gameplay suddenly got so poor.

 

[Kosay1991]

Thanks for the great advice Mike alot of stuff in there I wasn't aware off (especially the whole game mode latency thing).

I'm going to keep this thread open for one more day if anyone has anything else to add. After that I'm going to close the thread since everything has been resolved and all the relative purchases have been made.

Its been a pleasure OC Forum members thanks for the help!