Hello. I have available a Soundblaster Live Card and a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.

The creative cards are known to re-sample to 48 even if provided a 48Khz signal from the winamp SSRC plug-in.

1 Does the Santa Cruz do this as well through the SPDIF output? If so, can this be avoided?.

2 Would all of this be avoided with an M-Audiophile USB card?

3 Is their a reasonable priced sound card that will pass an undisturbed 44Khz signal to my audio receiver via SPDIF?

Thanks for any assistance.I have searched the forum and have only gotten more confused.

I can't comment on question 1 and 2, but for the third one I can give you two options:
- Chaintech AV710
- Hercules Fortissimo 4

Both have a chip that allows for untouched optical output.

The MAudio usb has tested bit perfect thru SPDIF.

I have used it, but do not have the "ears" to confirm those findings (LOL).

One thing to keep in mind is whether the DAC's in your receiver are better than those in the Soundcard.

You may be better off sending the analog output to your receiver; I have found very few under $1500 receivers that have "killer" DACs.

The Maudio's DAC is not top-of-the-line but it is very clean. Until I shell out the $$$ for a dedicated DAC to run inline between my card and my pre amp, I prefer the MAudio's doing the conversion.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks. I have noticed a substantial difference in sound on my yamaha receiver when spdif is used over analog, with the spdif sounding better. I think the Yamaha has to reconvert to digital to add DSP so there is just one more conversion to be done.

Whether the Yamaha changes the sampling rate is another question mark.

Can anyone comment on the TBSC's capabilities or workarounds?

The real weak link isn't the DAC. It is the wiring. With an analog signal any interference the wiring picks up becomes part of the sound and you can get hum, ground loop, static, etc. Your sound card may have a killer DAC, but those analog wires can pick up interference on their way to your receiver. That is why I prefer to keep the signal digital as long as possible and convert as the LAST step.

Manufacturer supplied interconnects are usually more than good enough.