Any Auzentech sound card owners with Windows 7?

[poohbear]

Hello, im thinking of buying an Auzentech Forte 7.1 or a Meridian G2 as my Creative X-Fi Gamer is not being detected anymore in Win7 & i imagine its dying. I read the Auzentech line are amazing sound cards with excellent quality hardware. However, i also read their Win7 support is abysmal, with sound cards sometimes not being detected 2/10 times and needing a reinstall of drivers to work.

Have any of u owned a Auzentech sound card before & what are your experiences with them and their drivers in Windows 7?


Thanks in advance!

 

[gizbug]

I would stay away from them. I own a Prelude 7.1. Last driver update was 2011.
They basically abandon their products. I will not be buying another product from them. Rather buy a product from a company that continues to support their products with drivers.

 

[nsafreak]

I've unfortunately heard pretty much the same thing about Auzentech cards unfortunately. You may want to consider a card from HT Omega or an Asus Xonar card instead.

 

[billyb0b]

I had a Forte for about 2 years with PAX drivers. Stock drivers where not so great on it. It died a few months ago and I went with a new Asus Xonar instead. The Forte sounded great but I should have gone Asus in the 1st place.

Overall, I would advise against getting a Auzentech card.

 

[Douglaster]

I have an Hometheater HD for 2 years, and 1 year withe latest drivers, no problems whatsoever.

Gaming, music, grabbing the video from my Geforce and putting the sound in it and then send it to my TV, everything is flawless.

 

[thelastjuju]

Depends on the Auzentech you are talking about.. The only Auzentech card I know of that had truly superb sound quality was the somewhat rarer X-Meridian.. it had the C-Media CMI8788 chipset. That's the same exact chipset you'll find in the $200 HT Omega Claro's. Apparently the new Meridian uses the same chip too.

Many of their other offerings were simply the very average VIA chipsets or X-Fi chipsets. Its not like they made their own, they are basically just clones of other sound cards released under Auzentech's brand.. and X-Fi is not exactly excellent quality hardware, its mostly a software/emulation approach to enhance sound quality through artificial means through nonsense like "crystalizers", "3D Audio", and "EAX" ..

You get a card that processes sound like anything with the CMI8788 in it, you don't need any of that simulation garbage altering your sound.. because the sound quality is phenomenal, untouched.

 

[Yuriman]

I have an Auzentech Forte and it's an excellent card when running PAX drivers. I have zero complaints about it, the sound quality is good and there are some perks to having a creative chipset.

I have never used any of the Asus Xonar cards so I can't give a direct comparison.

When running the stock drivers I would occasionally experience sound distortion (crackling, electronicy noise) which would fix itself if I changed from 5.1 to 2 channel and back again. Definitely don't use stock drivers.