Compression From Vinyl To Digital Playback And Recording Using Audacity

[Biggie]

Well i'll prob go with the Soundcard route since i have two inputs Realtek Digital Audio and the Speakers/Headphones if i'm going to get good sound quality out of the speakers and the turntable, preamp i have I think a soundcard is the way to go. But what souncards are good in late 2018?? I Know there is not alot to choose from these days since i don't think alot of people go the route i'm going but what do you guys recommend what's the best under $250, 200 and one with the Front Speaker Out, Digital Out, Line-in for recording as well as a headphone jack. So Far i've kept my eyes on the SoundBlasterX AE-5 the software for it is supposedly trash but i don't care about that i just want the SABRE32 DAC inside it since that thing should create super high quality recordings and not 44.1 48khz ones since vinyl goes to about 50khz max i want to save all that even if i can't hear it. What i'm confuesed about and i know this is super simple but the X AE-5 has only a Digital Output now idk why this confused me maybe i need to go back to school for a while but if i'm plugging in the Digital Optical cable from my surround sound i would want a Output on the card right??? I'm pretty sure for me to have sound on the surround sound i need to Output audio from the X AE-5 to the SABT300 and not the other way around i checked which ports im using right now on the onboard stuff and it said Front Speaker Out (Speakers/Headphones) which is the RX5502 setup and the S/PDIF-Out (Digital Output) for the SABT300 so in theory everything should work with the X AE-5. But what do you guys think is the Alienware Auroura R6 compatible with the SoundBlasterX AE-5 and will it be the best for 130 bucks. Please lmk soon thanks