Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

Auzentech makes soundcards with features aimed at the home theater computer market. Auzentech’s newest soundcard, called the X-Meridian, is based on C-Media’s new Oxygen HD audio chip, which includes the ability to encode Dolby Digital Live and DTS, allowing it to produce multi-channel digital output via a single S/PDIF connection rather than a mess of analog cables. The X-Meridian is one of the few soundcards on the market that can do this, not even Creative’s powerhouse X-Fi soundcard has this feature.

With Microsoft’s emphasis on media center PCs with the release of Vista, Auzentech soundcards may become more popular as computers become the center of a home theater system. On February 7th, Auzentech announced the release of drivers for the 32-bit version of Vista. Click here to download the drivers.

To learn more about the X-Meridian, check out Techreport.com’s review of the soundcard. For the HTPC enthusiast, it is worth a look.