Chaintech 7.1 Channel PCI Sound Card w/Optical Digital Out

[buzzdalf]

Originally posted by: mikeford
10 cables, 8 for 7.1 analog sound from games etc., 1 video, and 1 spdif for the passthru from your cd/dvd player.

My gripe is that I want game sounds out the spdif too, but that seems to be only via SandStorm or whatever it is. The glitch here is that encoding requires a license, and that often moves very slowly.

OK, I missed the part about the games up above. I am using this for a HTPC application and am not playing any games on it. So is the gripe that you want the sound card to encode non Dolby Digital sound to dolby digital? I guess I never really expected it to do that. It does output the signal and sound is coming out of my Denon for all my windows sounds, etc., not just DVD pass through. The spdif cable on my maddog is doing more than a passthru through for cd/dvd, though. It is playing all my windows sounds as well. I would have no reason to believe sounds from any games wouldn't come through there, too, albeit in dolby pro logic, not dolby digital.

 

[dchakrab]

Hmmm...wonder why I can't this to work? I have an spdif connection on my speakers, and I have the cable connected between sound card and speakers, and the card works in analog mode, so I know the card's not a dud. Suggestions?

-D.

 

[Wedge1]

Note to analog users: in order to save you from reading that huge 30-something thread at AVS forums maybe I can save you some time.

This card works very well with an analog 2.1 setup. I have it hooked to the logitech Z-2200s and it sounds great. Just use the latest drivers found at VIA's website and you will have a control panel that has you choose your particular setup (7.1, 5.1, 2+2, 2, or "high sample rate 2 channel). Choose the 'high sample rate 2 channel' and be sure to plug your speakers into the port next to the SPDIF and instead of the green line out, which is the typical output jack for analog PC speakers.

I listen to mp3s with winamp + DFX and it is very clear and balanced. I'm not an audiophile, but I can tell you that this is a step above my last sound card -- the Soundblaster Live! Value.

This is a great deal, in my opinion, if you use the SPDIF or the analog 2-channel high sample rate .

 

[mikeford]

Originally posted by: buzzdalf

Originally posted by: mikeford
10 cables, 8 for 7.1 analog sound from games etc., 1 video, and 1 spdif for the passthru from your cd/dvd player.

My gripe is that I want game sounds out the spdif too, but that seems to be only via SandStorm or whatever it is. The glitch here is that encoding requires a license, and that often moves very slowly.

OK, I missed the part about the games up above. I am using this for a HTPC application and am not playing any games on it. So is the gripe that you want the sound card to encode non Dolby Digital sound to dolby digital? I guess I never really expected it to do that. It does output the signal and sound is coming out of my Denon for all my windows sounds, etc., not just DVD pass through. The spdif cable on my maddog is doing more than a passthru through for cd/dvd, though. It is playing all my windows sounds as well. I would have no reason to believe sounds from any games wouldn't come through there, too, albeit in dolby pro logic, not dolby digital.

AFAIK you get no encoding of any knd, for windows or game sounds its just 2 channel over the digital output.

 

[OCNewbie]

Originally posted by: Slaimus
On a side note, if you have an old SB Live or Audigy1, try the kX driver. It lets you swap the front outputs to the rear, which uses a higher quality CODEC, as well as give you dramatically lower latency.

Try them before you judge your old card.

http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1

I have a SB Live! Value card in my machine now, and I decided to try out these drivers. I don't know if I'm just imagining things, but my Sennhesier HD555 headphones sound MUCH MUCH better with these drivers, and the headphones plugged into the old rear output. This is sweet! Thanks for sharing this info =)

Edit - Listening to it more, it's definitely a BIG difference, can't imagine it just being in my head, awesome stuff.

 

[buzzdalf]

Originally posted by: mikeford
AFAIK you get no encoding of any knd, for windows or game sounds its just 2 channel over the digital output.

I let the denon amp take care of all that business. That way I get dolby pro logic on the 2 channel signals.

 

[BDawg]

Anyone have the instuctions for flashing the Chaintech card?

 

[Smokin Gunn]

Maybe this thread can help you out

 

[mindless1]

<-- Another happy owner of this card.

Use it for HQ 2 channel to headphones. I try to keep volume low to preserve my hearing so I don't even have an amp hooked up. YMMV

Note that there IS a semi-low quality headphone amp built into circuit for the front channel (poor) Via VT1616 DAC, that being switchable via a pair of jumpers "JP3/JP4". However, my card has a blatant design problem in that the component placement for that headphone amp has two components reversed, OR the trace layout on the back is wrong. The result is the the headphone amp is always muted, moving the two jumpers to 'speakers' results in no sound out the front jack anymore. I don't know what the output power is from the Via ADC, but if your card has this flaw you may not be missing anything since headphone output is better from the HQ 2 rear channels anyway (through the other DAC), and front channel out needs no 'phone amp for driving powered speakers.

If anyone else (maybe everyone?) has a card with this same component problem, non-functional headphone amp, and really wants to hack the card to fix the problem, I can provide detail on doing that. It's a relatively simple fix, using an exacto knife to cut some copper, a short fine wire and soldering iron, and a multimeter to check the work. When I get a chance I may provide this info anyway for posterity's sake.

 

[Smokin Gunn]

I am also using My cans (HD590) through the HQ 2 output, running Foobar2000 for my player with this DSP plugin and it sounds truly impressive.

 

[Slaimus]

Yet another Envy24 card is on the market, and this one looks downright intimidating:

Onkyo WAVIO SE-150PCI
Bigger picture

 

[EvilYoda]

So um...anybody else having issues with the card? With the card in any of my PCI slots, Windows won't load, whereas with the GTXP, it does. I'm glad it was only $24 incase it doesn't work, but if someone could help me out here, that'd be great...maybe it's an IRQ conflict or something, but I haven't had to deal with those in years, oy.

 

[Slaimus]

The Creative SB Live 24-bit is also a interesting alternative to this card. It costs around $30 as well, and also has a Wolfson WM8775 CODEC.

cheapest @ buy.com $26 shipped
newegg $33 shipped

 

[mindless1]

Doesn't that CL card resample though? I didnt think it could preserve 44.1KHz without resampling twice. Doesn't it actually work in 16 bit mode too, they just made up the 24 bit part for the highest denominator as a marketing trick instead of the actual bottleneck? I hope I'm wrong but it does seem like par for the course for Creative.

 

[Karaktu]

The SB card also doesn't appear to have optical out, although it is a half-height card, so nice for low-profile systems.

Newegg has the Chaintec for $25 + $2 shipping.

 

[JGunther]

Just got this card and set it up using the digital out and a TOSLink cable running to my reciever. I've installed the latest drivers and it sounds great: only problem is I can't get anything other than the right and left channels to output ANYTHING from the VIA Vinyl Audio Control Panel. The whole 5.1 setup is properly connected to the reciever and works beautifully with other inputs, but I'm having trouble getting this card to work properly with it.

I'll go into the VIA control panel, click on Speaker Config tab, and use the sound test provided there. The right and left channels sound, but nothing else.

Also, manipulating the "Master Volume" control has no effect on volume. Only changing the "Wave" and "PCM SPDIF" controls on the master speaker volume control panel has any effect.

Anyone else experienced anything similar? Can someone help me out?

 

[psxjunky]

I too am seeing the problem were changing the volume using Windows volume control does not work. I have to use the receiver's volume control instead. I can live with this, though it is a little annoying.

I did get it to work at 5.1 mode though. I hear sound from all the speakers. I did not use VIA's sound test, but used the audio test option in Windows Media Center.

 

[unhuman]

Are you trying to game through SPDIF? For whatever reason NOBODY yet makes a card that encodes to more than 2 speakers... Only way you'll get audio is from a DVD or somesuch...

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong here.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: unhuman
Are you trying to game through SPDIF? For whatever reason NOBODY yet makes a card that encodes to more than 2 speakers... Only way you'll get audio is from a DVD or somesuch...

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong here.

doesn't soundstorm encode to 5.1?

 

[unhuman]

Sure looks that way... Any experience on this here?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/feature_soundstorm.html

And I found this
More Information

So... it seems nobody makes a sound CARD that does this... but integrated sound does - and... NF4 apparently does not have it.

Originally posted by: lnguyen

Originally posted by: unhuman
Are you trying to game through SPDIF? For whatever reason NOBODY yet makes a card that encodes to more than 2 speakers... Only way you'll get audio is from a DVD or somesuch...

Someone else correct me if I'm wrong here.

doesn't soundstorm encode to 5.1?

 

[Disastorpasztor]

Originally posted by: Slaimus
Yet another Envy24 card is on the market, and this one looks downright intimidating:

Onkyo WAVIO SE-150PCI
Bigger picture

That card looks awesome...199.99 bucks!
I'm looking for a good soundcard that I could connect to my fledling HT system which is run by an H/K receiver.
Right now I have a turtle beach santa cruz, using it's analog out to run a stereo signal over to the receiver. I'm looking to upgrade to either digital or high quality analog...would this Chaintech card do the trick or should I go for something with more 'quality' for more money (as the onkyo card up above) - what would be some good alternatives instead of this onkyo?
Thanks.

 

[nugaluga]

how does this card compare to a turutle beach santa cruz i just bought

 

[Baked]

Well, TBSC for starter doesn't have an optical digital out, so even though it says it has hardware dolby digital decoding, I don't know how you can output that w/o a digital out port. I've bought the TBSC before and gave it away. I wanted something more music oriented and has a digital out so I can hook it up to a DAC. If you use your sound card more for game than music, the TBSC will do fine.

 

[psxjunky]

So does anyone have a solution to the volume control problem ? i.e. not being about to change the volume using windows master volume control.

This is happening for me when using the optical digital out to a receiver.

 

[JGunther]

I would really like a solution to the volume control thing too. I have a volume dial on my keyboard that I used all the time, only it changes the master volume setting, which now appears to be useless. Someone help?

Also, don't have WMC, so can anyone recommend a program that will let me figure out for sure if the computer is able to send signals to my center and surround channels? As it is now, I can't know whether the DVD is telling the signals to go to which speakers, or if it's the reciever that's splitting the frequencies to "emulate" surround sound (it does that).