SB Live 5.1 vs. Chaintech 7.1 Envy 24HT-S ?

[RussianSensation]

Hi. My friend wants to purchase a cheap but decent sound card for his young kid to listen to music and general stuff. Gaming is not really a priority but clairty of sound is.

I am leaning more towards the Chaintech card since it has 24/192 max rate and the envy chip.

Since the 2 cards cost almost the same, I was wondering what you guys thought.

Chaintech 7.1
SB LIVE 5.1

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I vote envy, now where's the poll?

 

[ponyo]

I've that Chaintech card and it's great. Sounds better than Live and digital out Soundstorm IMO.

I've had zero issue with drivers and it even comes with SPDIF cable. Cable alone would run you $10-20 if bought at the store although the included cable is pretty cheap quality.

High res 2 speaker setting sounds really loud and crisp.

I would definitely recommend the Chaintech over Live 5.1.

 

[peacemaker1ps]

Havn't had any problem with 5.1.
Great card for low price.

 

[StormRider]

I have the Maddog and I love the music and DVD playback quality with the Via Envy chips. I just wish Via could produce a version that offers more hardware acceleration for gaming purposes...

 

[Algere]

No contest

The Chaintech

 

[yhelothar]

Is this a joke? What n00b here voted from the SB Live! trash POS?

The chaintech card OWNZ!!

Chaintech card is the best card you can get for the money. It sounds even better than the AUDIGY 2 that costs several times more.
I just went from my nforce2 spdif to chaintech. The DAC on the chaintech BLOWS away the DAC that was on my speakers!!!
This thing absolutely DESTROYS what sblive POS has to offer.

Whoever who voted for sblive5.1 POS has no clue and are idiots for voting.

 

[metalmania]

I vote for SB5.1, so what? You think Envy is better, hahaha~~~~

 

[LocutusX]

Wasn't the Live 5.1 out-of-date 3 years ago when I bought my Turtle Beach Santa Cruz?

I vote for the Envy.

Too bad Chaintech's are so hard to find in Canada... I would have loved to go with that S754 board... (referring to Chaintech's NF3-250 which has the Envy I believe... must be the only S754 board with half-decent onboard sound instead of that CMedia/ALC650 crap)

 

[RussianSensation]

Ok so if Chaintech has the envy chip, what separates this particular card from the Revolution 7.1?

Because I am also looking to buy a card for myself and was looking at Audigy 2ZS vs. Revolution 7.1

If this card is really good (i know gaming performance is not good) for music listening, how does it compare to the Revolution 7.1 with the envy chip?

 

[Algere]

Nicer drivers, supports Sensaura, and possibly better multi channel playback / recording quality.

 

[yhelothar]

Only thing that's better on the revolution 7.1 is that all 7 channels uses a high quality DAC, while the Chaintech only has super high quality sound for the front two channels.

If you only have 2.1, then there is pretty much no difference whatsoever between the chaintech av-710 and the revolution 7.1

 

[Kishan]

how bad would the chaintech sound for gaming? I have an Asus K8V SE Deluxe with the onboard 5.1 and Logitech Z-640 5.1 Would this sound that much better considering I don't have the most amazing speakers?

 

[Kishan]

oh also i listen to mp3's 50% of the time, watch movies 25% and game 25%.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: KPSHAH316
how bad would the chaintech sound for gaming? I have an Asus K8V SE Deluxe with the onboard 5.1 and Logitech Z-640 5.1 Would this sound that much better considering I don't have the most amazing speakers?

No, it really wouldn't make much of a difference on those speakers. Upgrading to a live! or audigy would give you some gaming boost though. Audigy especially, with EAX 3.0 and 4.0.

 

[newParadigm]

Do not get SB Live, i had one, and it wouldn't work at all with my comp until i pulled every PCI card.

It couldnt find a free IRQ.


I would go with the Chaintec, or a Turtle Beach: SantaCruz, i got one for Sale for $30 if u want it(See sig for link).

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: newParadime
Do not get SB Live, i had one, and it wouldn't work at all with my comp until i pulled every PCI card.

It couldnt find a free IRQ.


I would go with the Chaintec, or a Turtle Beach: SantaCruz, i got one for Sale for $30 if u want it(See sig for link).

Live was like that. I remember I had to try all five PCI slots until I found one it would work in without hanging.

 

[fsstrike]

I just got my Chaintech ZNF3-250GB and the onboard sound is realllllllllly bad so i put in a SB LIVE! The SB LIVe is much clearer and has much better drivers.

 

[newParadigm]

I just got my Chaintech ZNF3-250GB and the onboard sound is realllllllllly bad so i put in a SB LIVE! The SB LIVe is much clearer and has much better drivers.

SB Lives don't have good drivers, they may have been better then that onboard's, but that just means the onboard's drivers were really really crappy.

 

[Kishan]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: KPSHAH316
how bad would the chaintech sound for gaming? I have an Asus K8V SE Deluxe with the onboard 5.1 and Logitech Z-640 5.1 Would this sound that much better considering I don't have the most amazing speakers?

No, it really wouldn't make much of a difference on those speakers. Upgrading to a live! or audigy would give you some gaming boost though. Audigy especially, with EAX 3.0 and 4.0.

even for music clarity? moreso than using my speakers, i use my studio monitor headphones more. If i got the chaintech, will the clarity (especially for mp3s and some gaming) and the volume be greater?
Thanks,
Kishan

 

[Kishan]

bump since I'm at work!