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Shopping for a VIA Envy24HT card...

yhelothar

yhelothar

Lifer
I'm going to use this card in conjunction with my nforce2 soundstorm. I still need the soundstorm for my digital speakers, which is why I got the mobo for. Although, I have a nice set of sennheiser hd497 cans that sound lacking on the realtek, so I want to get a cheap envy24ht card for it.
Anyone trying this for their setup? Does it work well together?

I know people have been recommending the Mad Dog brand card the most, but newegg no longer carries them anymore.

I really like the Gainward video card I had before, but the Gainward ENVY24 HTthey have has low 3 star rating at newegg. And they cost $5 more than the chaintech.

The only other alternative is the Chaintech AV-710. This card has good reviews, but I read the reviews and people say to get this card for SPDIF, which I'm buying this solely for analog quality.

Recommendations?
 
You want the Chaintech one. Chaintech AV-710 uses the WMI8728 that powers the 7/8 channel for high res mode. Gainward doesn't.
 
As I said, I use headphones, so I don't need anymore than 2 channels, so that doesn't make a difference for me.
All I really care about is if they will sound comparable to the Maudio revolution 7.1
 
Originally posted by: Naustica
You want the Chaintech one. Chaintech AV-710 uses the WMI8728 that powers the 7/8 channel for high res mode. Gainward doesn't.
Click to expand...

Second try.
 
Originally posted by: Naustica
You want the Chaintech one. Chaintech AV-710 uses the WMI8728 that powers the 7/8 channel for high res mode. Gainward doesn't.
Click to expand...
Let me try 🙂
Naustica is saying the analog sound is better on all 8 channels, even if you're only listening to 2 of them.
 
OK.. I heard some of these cards use crap DACs for the surrounds, so I thought he was saying these sound good for all channels, instead of just the front two.

So will the chaintech sound comparable to the revolution?
 
Hehe. 🙂 I guess I need to clear it up. 7 and 8 channels are what is used for high res mode. WMI8728 only affects the 7/8 channels. So you plug your amp and headphone into that input only. It's like the input right above the SPDIF one. You'll get good sound only out of those rear two channels which is perfect for headphones.

Gainward doesn't use this WMI8728 DAC.
 
Just for clarification, both of these cards actually use the VIA Envy24HT-S, not the full fledge VIA Envy24HT which is found on the pricier M-Audio Revo 7.1 and Prodigy 7.1. I'm personally not crazy about either of these cards. If you don't mind spending a little more and waiting for a few more weeks, the new Philips "Ultimate Edge" PCS724 should be hitting the shelves. This card uses the higher-end VIA Envy24HT-GT which would make it very comparable to the Revo 7.1, but doesn't cost as much ($59.95 MSRP).
 
One more question, so is there a program that will swap the front channel to the rear channel so I can use the amp? The amp sounds nice.
 
I'm using the Chaintech in my main system, and it does well with my dual 4.1 Promedia setup, however, there is something wrong with the 7/8 jack, so I can't really use the high quality mode, which kinda sucks. The card is great sounding and the price is hard to beat. It's only real weakness is gaming, but it's more of a HT card anyhow.

Brian48-

Thanks for the heads up on the new Philips. The little info I could find on it makes it look pretty nice. I hope it will be more common in the retail channels than the other "Edge" cards have been. My AE is a great card, when it feels like it.

🙂
 
OK I just got my card.
I enabled digital out and turned on hi res mode for 7/8 jack, and I installed ASIO4ALL.
I hear a lot more sounds in the background than my realtek, but it snaps and cracks a lot.
Also the high noises in the back sound distorted, and often gets really bright.
This is definately not acceptable! I'm going to try the regular mode without hi-res
 
I just switched it to normal mode, it sounds much better now.
How do I get the hires mode working properly without sounding like crap?
 
I think one of the new Turtle Beach cards is Via based, but I don't know which one. I think I saw a review on Sudhian adn they didn't like it much. Said the generics are just as good and cost less.
.bh.

:moon:
 
my brother has the maudio revolutiona and it sounds nice. I will have to consider the philips 🙂
 
the chaintech provides really clean sound. for the price its an amazing value. nuff said.

if music is your bent i would suggest the tried and true TB santa cruz. best music sound card i have heard. there is a deal on it in the hot deals area....


dew.
 
dew.. did you read my reply? I just got the chaintech card today and it sounds like crap.
I thought this card was supposed to be better than the santa cruz?

Well I'm using the regular crappy VIA DAC now, it sounds ok, much better than the realtek I was using, but still lacking.
 
I'm sick of this soundcard stagnation. Why the f*ck has the soundcard market gone to sh!t?

Three years ago, I got a Hercules Game Theater XP. It's 5.1 channels, which is ALL YOU NEED FOR AC3 AUDIO. All those extra channels are utterly worthless with DVDs having - GASP - 5.1 channels!

And do you need 7.1 channels for gaming? Christ no. Aureal managed to get workable, fairly good quality 3D positional surround sound with 2 speakers back in '98, and damn perfect with 4 speakers. Is the positional accuracy that much greater with two front centers and a rear center speaker? Christ no. The same freaking algorithms that figured out how to make 4 speakers give you 360 degrees of positional accuracy are being used for the 7 speakers. At what point do you stop with adding channels? When you've got 20 speakers positioned in 18 degree increments around your head? How about you improve the algorithms, and work with 5.1 channels - The same number that's currently standard on home theaters. When Blu-Ray commercial DVDs and set-tops hit the market, and a new audio codec takes the place of AC3, then migrate to a higher channel rating. For now it's dimishing gains and pointless.

What else has improved? Aside from some of the $150+ soundcards, SNR's are still in the >96 to >100 range. Whooop de doo, mine was in that range too.

Voices? Not a huge difference. Convinience? Despite the fact some companies are starting to take the hint and lose that useless Gameport (what, you're too cheap to buy a USB game pad?), there still aren't many cards that support S/PDIF in and out.

And to top it off, I got the massive bonus of an external breakout box, that has SP/DIFs in and out, Digital Coax in and out, Dolby digital decoding, MIDI in and out, dual front/rear speaker outputs, single sub/center outputs, and two USB 1.0 ports. And that's just on the BACK of the box. On the front I Mic in, Headphones out (1/4" jacks for both), left/right RCA in, that confounded gameport, and two more USB 1.0 ports.

I paid $150 for this thing, and it has more connectivity options than a Sound Blaster EXTIGY ($180+) or Audigy2 ZE PLATINUM PRO Electric Boogaloo ($220+)(Jesus, who named this thing, an Anime producer? Does it have enough names?)

In 3 years, I'd expect to be able to get a sound card with BETTER connectivity and the same features for a lower price, or BETTER features and the same connectivity for a lower price, OR BETTER connectivity AND features for the same price.

But no.

No, I don't see sh!t for improvement in the sound card market. Pardon me for being pissed off.

I will not give up my breakout box, and I will not pay more than I paid 3 years ago for a soundcard that has, at MOST, a moderate improvement in features. Pathetic.

Or am I just nuts? Am I the only one who thinks the sound card market has gone to sh!t?
 
Originally posted by: MachFive
I'm sick of this soundcard stagnation. Why the f*ck has the soundcard market gone to sh!t?

Three years ago, I got a Hercules Game Theater XP. It's 5.1 channels, which is ALL YOU NEED FOR AC3 AUDIO. All those extra channels are utterly worthless with DVDs having - GASP - 5.1 channels!
(...snip...)
In 3 years, I'd expect to be able to get a sound card with BETTER connectivity and the same features for a lower price, or BETTER features and the same connectivity for a lower price, OR BETTER connectivity AND features for the same price.

But no.

No, I don't see sh!t for improvement in the sound card market. Pardon me for being pissed off.

I will not give up my breakout box, and I will not pay more than I paid 3 years ago for a soundcard that has, at MOST, a moderate improvement in features. Pathetic.

Or am I just nuts? Am I the only one who thinks the sound card market has gone to sh!t?
Click to expand...

You can thank Creative Labs for the (lack of) innovation in the sound card market, due to their monopolistic market domination of it. Who knows how they did it, as buggy as their crapware cards are.

Let's look at all of the sound-card makers that are no longer with us:

Gravis
Forte
Media Vision
Aureal
E-Mu Systems

Hmm. I know that there must have been a few more besides.

Apparently Turtle Beach is getting out of the consmer market, and Sensura may be bought out by (un-)Creative as well.

That leaves, oh... Intel, and Via, and NV, as the sole hold-outs, I guess.

Seeing as how they all make chipset-integrated sound products, a place that Creative cannot directly touch, then I guess they are safe..for now.

Oh yeah, Zalman is actually getting *into* the soundcard market, what with their external USB 5.1 audio system. I thought that was kinda cool. I really don't know why Analog Devices or Brooktree doesn't get into the sound-card market either, except that they don't do end-product mfg, I guess. But they definately have the analog "smarts" to pwn Creative in that market, IMHO.)
 
Oh, I'm aware of Creative's misdeeds in that arena. Which is why it drives me nuts when people buy their products. This a company that should be boycotted for their anti-innovation and monopolistic practices, not to mention a product line which has seen little to no improvement since they whacked their last major competitor.

When Aureal was around, things were getting DONE.

I'm prayin' for some upstart to come and smack Creative around some. Unlikely, but a worthy thing to hope for if there ever was one.
 
It bothers me to see people with those crap Z-640 speakers buy an audigy2, when they already have soundstorm/soundmax. They should spend the money they spent on the useless soundcard on some decent speakers instead of those tincans.
 
Actually the advent of "good enough" integrated sound has bombed the sound card market... Better is almost always bombed by "good enough", e.g. Beta vs VHS., Netscape vs IE... and so it goes. Partucularly if "good enough" has deep pockets behind it.

. Can you buy that dual-gimbal mounted cup holder for cars any more? No, why not...
.bh.

Where's the :sun: ?
 
Which is why the soundcard makers all should've gone to external breakout boxes to compete with onboard audio. I would NEVER give up the convinience of having my headphone port and mic port sitting right under my second monitor, and if these companies actually had advanced things and been able to make comparable and better products cheaper than my GTXP 3 years ago, then they would have something to offer that "good enough" onboard audio still can't offer.

Then we'd have motherboards coming with audio breakout boxes, and next thing you know, a winner is you, the consumer.
 
Originally posted by: Zepper
Actually the advent of "good enough" integrated sound has bombed the sound card market... Better is almost always bombed by "good enough", e.g. Beta vs VHS., Netscape vs IE... and so it goes. Partucularly if "good enough" has deep pockets behind it.

. Can you buy that dual-gimbal mounted cup holder for cars any more? No, why not...
.bh.

Where's the :sun: ?
Click to expand...

I agree. "Good enough" onboard audio has done far more to kill the addin soundcard market than Creative has. Typical user's requirements for audio are far below what their requirements for video are, so onboard for most people is sufficient. There just isn't a huge demand for sound card innovation because to be honest, there isn't that much to innovate. Graphics are the showcase piece for many applications, while audio is the poor step child that is often an afterthought, because it doesn't sell applications. You can post "screenshots" of audio on the internet or in magazines or really portray how good or bad it is without listening to it yourself, so it can't be used as a selling feature. If it can't increase sales, it isn't going to be a top priority for developers. For people really serious about audio, there is plenty of HT equipment out there for them.

Breakout boxes aren't exactly innovative either, and the VAST majority of users have no use for one so why bother forcing them on consumers. If you need one, there are plenty of options, including Terratec which was left out of an above post. A lot of what you posted in you above rant MachFive was factually incorrect, so that may have something to do with why so few people agree with you.
 
Originally posted by: Pariah
A lot of what you posted in you above rant MachFive was factually incorrect, so that may have something to do with why so few people agree with you.
Click to expand...

Factually incorrect? Point out my errors or get outta town. I don't see where I've screwed up anything on the factual end, some simply may not agree with my opinion or be too complacent too care.
 
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