Part of the problem here was trying to understand what you wanted to do... I think now that we understand - we can help to point you in the right direction.
We are all here to help - but there are limits to what can be done over the internet on a user forum.
The problem is that if someone here says - 'go buy xyz device' then you put it on a gig and it fails and then you gig fails catastrophically - who are you going to turn round to and try to blame?
... its going to be us!
So you will never find anyone willing to 100% commit themselves to a recommendation - they will only make a suggestion and say that you should test it.
There are 1000's of servers around the world running different versions of the software all with different configurations and OS and devices and drivers - connected to all sorts of external kit. There is no way of knowing whether a suggested external device will work with your configuration compared to someone elses... There are too many factors to consider.
Those of us who do offer suggestions, have probably thoroughly tested them and done the research, so are confident of any results.
BUT YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO TEST STUFF YOURSELF
Many manufacturers will lend equipment for this purpose - why should I spend my money testing a bit of kit on your behalf?
That said - we do spend money on testing the most common equipment that users may find useful.
I do this for FREE -
you are lucky that I even tried to understand what you were trying to achieve... I have spent about 4 hours on this post in total over a weekend with my family. Now that my children have gone to bed I am still trying to answer your queries... Many wouldn't bother! and if that's your attitude - I'm not surprised that I'm the only person who answered you. (except Ian )
As Ian mentioned above - Catalyst DOES playback audio files - you need to use playmode 70-75. So long as you have the system preferences audio correctly configures - it will output if the movie has sound.
Catalyst can also frame syncronise playback across a network to as many catalyst servers that are connected. This would include audio playback, but there is usually little requirement to syncronise audio playback between servers...
I would suggest that you try and book on to a Catalyst training course which will teach you how to use the system and show you many features that you may wish to use.
For a beginner - it can be difficult to understand all the concepts at the very start. Training will help as will experience.
Please feel free to contact me if you need further support
regards
Simon