Chaintech 7.1 Channel PCI Sound Card w/Optical Digital Out

[Smokin Gunn]

Linky

Reseller Rating

Product Review #1

Product Review #2

Latest Drivers

Don't use the drivers on the CD make sure to dload the ones off the link above.

This soundcard was not designed for games, but is awesome for music playback.

Features/Specifications
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chaintech 7.1 Channel PCI Sound Card


General Features:
VT1721 ENVY24 HT-S Chipset
New Multi-channel sound chip
PCI 2.2 I/F with bus mastering and burst modes
7.1 Channel Speaker support
Compatible with SB16 (Sound Blaster)
24-bit resolution audio format support
Sampling rates up to 192KHz
Supports Mic In / Line In / 4 Line outs & Digital
Optical output
2 separate CD audio stereo inputs
ACPI and PCI PMI support
Windows WDM drivers


External Connectors:
Microphone In
Line In
Line Out
Surround Out
Center/Bass
Surround Back
SPDIF Out


Internal Connectors:
CD-In
Aux-In


Retail Package Includes:
Sound card
User's Guide
Driver CD
WinCinemaPro includes InterVideo WinDVD4 and WinRip
SPDIF cable

 

[lsman]

look like good price against M-Audio Revolution, 7.64 resellerrating.

 

[konakona]

FYI, the card can be flashed with prodigy 7.1 bios for bit perfect digital out. a fine card that could be couple with a quality DAC like benchmark DAC-1 to bring any analog sound card to its knees.

 

[tr1kstanc3]

VanillaH, could you please provide more information on how to flash the chaintech bios and where this prodigy 7.1 bios can be found. i use optical out and what you're saying sounds tempting =P

 

[VirtualLarry]

Here's some more info on that "Prodigy 7.1" sound card:
http://www.gamepyre.com/reviewsd.html?aid=319&p=1
http://www.audiotrak.net/

I'm not entirely sure that they use the same chipset though, Via released several different versions of the Envy24, and the one in the Chaintech and the MadDog board is the lower-end one.

I'm not sure how somehow "flashing a BIOS" would magically convert 16/18-bit DAC hardware into 24-bit DAC hardware.

 

[konakona]

virtualLarry, i am not sure about the technicality, but when there are numerous success reports i assume it does work.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm guessing that what you're talking about, is to change the PCI/PnP ID from the Chaintech to the Audiotrak, and therefore allow their drivers to install. (They do look impressive.) Also, my comments were about the analog onboard DACs, not the digital out, so I guess they were irrrelevant to what you were talking about, which was the SPDIF out.

 

[konakona]

maybe that explains the loss of analog capability with flashing. makes sense.

 

[Goosemaster]

Analog and gaming are supposed be be quite harsh from this one, but digital out is supposed to be fantastic once you get the drivers squared away.

The only problem i would have with this is gaming and DVD-A support.

 

[konakona]

analog isnt really harsh. did you use the wolfson DAC when you were using it? i can vouch for it, it sounds very good for its price. gaming is fine as long as you dont use 3d EAX (headphones are better for HRTF type of effects anyway) and DVD-A doesnt have enough titles to matter for most people.

 

[Wedge1]

Is this the same card?

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: Wedge1
Is this the same card?

that would be correct.

 

[EtOH]

I have this sound card, picked up a few months ago from Newegg for $29.

Card has AWESOME sound quality, for under $30 you can not beat this card.

Just be aware that sometimes the drivers/card lose the rear channels and you have to reboot. Not sure why but still working on it. Could easily just be mine and not a common problem.

EtOH

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: VanillaH

Originally posted by: Wedge1
Is this the same card?

that would be correct.

The reason I ask is because one this page shows 4 different models (24PT, 24HT, 24HT-S, 24). The one at Zipzoomfly is the 24PT, according to the specs. The first link I provided says the PT samples 96KHz, while the Zipzoomfly says 192Khz. So now I'm confused. I ordered 2 of these from Zipzoomfly as gifts for family members a couple days ago and I would like to know what I'm getting (a good card or the sub-standard version?).

 

[VirtualLarry]

I was going to post about the differences too, but I canceled my post. Both the OP's and the other link to the Chaintech, claim to be the AV-710 model, but one page's description says 24PT, and the other says 24HT-S. Nether picture shows the Wolfson 24-bit DAC onboard, and both of the Chaintech boards appear different than the Prodigy 7.1. So I have no idea. The differences among the Envy24 variants are confusing.

 

[JohnDoh]

I got this card, pretty simple use the digitally signed drivers from windows update, dont use the ones on the cd or the ones on chaintechs website or via's. The ones on the cd are old, the ones on the website are old and there website is slower then fricken hell downloading drivers.......... and via's well thats what you want mine as well get the windows update ones. http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

 

[corinthos]

I've used the optical out and found I got better sound that way, but the 7/8 analog out that uses the Wolfsen sounds pretty good as well.

As for DVD-A, I don't think even the Revo officially supports that.

This is a great card, and rebate free. If you want to mess with a $30 rebate, Microcenter has the Mad Dog Entertainer 7.1 (uses the same or similar Wolfsen DAC as this one and includes an optical-in) for $39.99 before $30 rebate.

 

[VirtualLarry]

corinthos: that's just it, the pics as shown for the Chaintech card, don't even hint that the Wolfson DAC is onboard. Also, you mention "7/8 analog out that uses the Wolfsen" - that's not true, the Wolfson is only a 2-channel 24-bit DAC. If you are using 7/8-channel output modes, then you are using the inbuilt Via 1616 8-channel 16/18-bit DAC instead. (AFAIK, at least, from reading about these cards recently. I could well be wrong.) I'm thinking about the MadDog one myself, I miss my Vortex2, and a good-quality card with 24-bit stereo would be good enough for me.

Edit: Thanks for the clarification, VanillaH, now I think I understand. If you select "7/8" in the software, it routes all sounds through those two channels, which utilize the Wolfson 24-bit DAC. Got it. Still don't see where it is in the board pics though. Who knows if those pictures are an accurate depiction or not though, oftentimes online sites use mfg stock photos instead.

 

[konakona]

no virtuallary, he is right. on the chaintec, you need to select 7/8 channel (rear channel only) mode which they conviniently call 'high quality output' or whatever. keep in mind the card comes with two DACs and the wolfson dac can only be used with 2 channels.

 

[Smokin Gunn]

More info

Graphical Chaintech AV-710 setup guide for use when using with the Foobar2000 player

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: EtOH

Just be aware that sometimes the drivers/card lose the rear channels and you have to reboot. Not sure why but still working on it. Could easily just be mine and not a common problem.

EtOH

I have this problem too. Only happens when I use high quality rear 2 channels.

 

[huesmann]

This board does not have the same chip as the M-Audio Revolution 7.1--it has the lower-priced and lesser-capability of the Envy24 chips.

 

[Wedge1]

Just got 2 of these cards from Zipzoomfly. They are the HT-S.

 

[dderidex]

Originally posted by: VanillaH
no virtuallary, he is right. on the chaintec, you need to select 7/8 channel (rear channel only) mode which they conviniently call 'high quality output' or whatever. keep in mind the card comes with two DACs and the wolfson dac can only be used with 2 channels.

IOW....The VIA chip in question used for the DAC is a crappy 16-bit DAC. However, it's only 6 channel. To make this card '7.1', you need two more channels, so they added a very nice Wolfson DAC to handle channels 7 and 8.

Well, the card allows you (if using just 'two speaker mode') to use "channels 7 and 8" as the 'front' channels. So you can have a pair of speakers running in 2 channel mode off of the 24/192 Wolfson DAC.

THAT is where all the quality on these comes from. So, it's not really true to say they aren't good gaming speakers. They just aren't good *surround* speakers. For headphones or just a 2-speaker setup, this is the best soundcard on the market for priceerformance.

 

[Wedge1]

Originally posted by: dderidex
So, it's not really true to say they aren't good gaming speakers. They just aren't good *surround* speakers. For headphones or just a 2-speaker setup, this is the best soundcard on the market for priceerformance.

Would these work well with the
Logitech Z-3 Speakers w/ Subwoofer? I bought these speakers and the Chaintech soundcard as Christmas gifts for my two neices.