Best 7.1 Soundcard

EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
edited September 2005 in Hardware
I'm sick of my Audigy and all the pops, crackles and nightmarish drivers and settings that drive me insane, so I'm looking to upgrade to something else but to be honest, I don't want to touch any Creative cards again, I'm sick of their stupid driver system, constant pops, screeches and crackles and the fact that it does stupid things like setting my rear speakers to some pseudo 3D mode or mirrors the front speakers without me even telling it to and with no way of turning it off.

I do a bit of gaming, lots and lots of music listening and some music editing.

Sooo, what is the best 7.1 soundcard out currentl? (excluding any Creative products).

Comments

  • GooDGooD Quebec (CAN) Member
    edited September 2005
    I don't think my next card will be a creative one...

    Im sick of thoses problems too... I give the audigy 2 ZS a chance and i think it have completly failed the test...

    If there's another choice i want to know about it too, because im planning on changing my card this year because mine didnt play rear left sound anymore :shakehead
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited September 2005
    M-Audio Revolution! The only thing I fault it for is that it doesn't always play nice with EAX environment stuff. It works for a couple hours then messes up - I haven't found a remedy, if there is one.
  • zero-counterzero-counter Linux Lubber San Antonio Member
    edited September 2005
    The CHAINTECH AV-710 7.1 based off of the Via ENVY24 HT-S.
    Sample Rate 192KHz
    Digital Audio 24-bit

    No pops or crackles and has the most excellent stereo sound possible for the sub $30 price. I does have an optical out with 4 analog outs as well, but from what I understand, the 7.1 aspect is average.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited September 2005
    I've not actually seen that card for sale anywhere here, I'm also a little suspect about buying such a cheap card.
  • zero-counterzero-counter Linux Lubber San Antonio Member
    edited September 2005
    Enverex wrote:
    I've not actually seen that card for sale anywhere here, I'm also a little suspect about buying such a cheap card.
    Google it for reviews. I purchased mine from newegg...
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829120103

    Seing as how you are in the U.K. , the card I purchased for my HTPC is available and has great reviews as well. The BlueGears X-Mystique 7.1 Gold for its' Hardware Decoding of Dolby Digital EX, DTS-EX.

    But before I continue, do you prefer the use of EAX 3.0 AND 4.0? If so, then this card and many others besides creative's own will work for you.
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited September 2005
    how do you hook that up to a stereo system? with just a bunch of 3.5mm to RCA adapters?
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited September 2005
    My Z-500s came with 3 3.5mm to 3.5mm, since that's what it accepts on the back (among others). You can use 3.5 to RCA, but I don't think a receiver would have 6 RCA plugs on the back, just for one input line :-/
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited September 2005
    zero.counter wrote:
    Google it for reviews. I purchased mine from newegg...
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829120103

    Seing as how you are in the U.K. , the card I purchased for my HTPC is available and has great reviews as well. The BlueGears X-Mystique 7.1 Gold for its' Hardware Decoding of Dolby Digital EX, DTS-EX.

    But before I continue, do you prefer the use of EAX 3.0 AND 4.0? If so, then this card and many others besides creative's own will work for you.

    Again, can't find the Bluegears anywhere in the UK, but it doesn't seem that special, I don't really need Hardware decoding as my processor isn't exactly stressed and I am using the analog outs now so I don't need it's DD encoding feature either (nice to see another card has it though as only the nForce built in one had it initially). I would prefer all versions of EAX, but I'll settle with EAX1 or 2 if I have to.
    pilotwings119 wrote:
    how do you hook that up to a stereo system? with just a bunch of 3.5mm to RCA adapters?

    If the stereo system has a digital in and DD decoding then a single coax or optical out from the Bluegears card to the amp would give all the channels as it encodes all the channels from the PC into a single DD stream which the Amp then decodes, otherwise if you're using analog you'll just get Stereo (assuming the amp only has the two channel inputs).
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited September 2005
    entropy wrote:
    My Z-500s came with 3 3.5mm to 3.5mm, since that's what it accepts on the back (among others). You can use 3.5 to RCA, but I don't think a receiver would have 6 RCA plugs on the back, just for one input line :-/
    I'm not sure, and I'll look when I get home, but I THINK the 5.1 channel part of the receiver has different inputs for Front, Sub, Surround, etc.
Sign In or Register to comment.