Soundcard/Headphones

Widdlecat,

Seems like you are the supreme sound guru on these forums, so I will ask your advice :)  My DS rig is arriving tomorrow supposedly (review and pics to come!), but I did not buy a soundcard because of budget restrictions and the fact that most people think the onboard sound on the nVidia mobo's is alright.

However, I am somewhat of an audiophile, and I plan on getting a soundcard and some 5.1 headphones.  I have the top-end Onkyo 7.1 receiver, some nice PSB tower speakers, and a large HSU subwoofer (he has a factory in Cali) that I am working with.  I was wondering what sound card you think would be best if I was going to try to run a digital signal (optical) to my receiver for my gaming surround.

In the past I have had issues with this.  I had an Audigy 2 Platinum Pro (the one with the front I/O port) and i could never seem to get it to output in-game Dolby to my receiver via the optical output.  I am not a computer guru, so this may have just been a problem with settings.  Is there an easy way to output your onboard or soundcard digital signal to a home theater in a way that it will get the surround encoding?

Also, which card would you recommend for that?  And which pair of 5.1 headphones would you suggest for when I don't want to wake the neighbors with gunshots and explosions?  I was considering the Zalman's with the mic and the Tritton AX360 model.  Is the Tritton really worth the extra coin?

If I can't get the full surround effect from the computer to the receiver, then I'll probably just buy a cheaper set of surround speakers for the computer and attach it analog, but I'd rather utilize my relatively more expensive equipment and have four less cords cluttering my bedroom.

Thanks for any help in advance!  Let me know!