Cheapest price for Diamond XtremeSound 7 1/24 bit Sound Card XS71
Band : Diamond
Model : XS71
Product Features :
- Device Type Sound card
- Interface Type PCI
- Sound Output Mode 7 1
>> Great sound card for the price
Only reason I gave it four stars for ease of installation is because I had to go to Diamond s site to download the Windows 7 drivers Other than that the card performs as expected Very nice being able to use both the digital and analog outputs at the same time I used this card to replace on board audio that went out on me Very affordable and worth what I paid for it Installed audio utility is very nice also allowing some customization for speaker placement etc
>> Works perfectly with Windows 7 Ultimate x64
I got this sound card yesterday I was a bit skeptical due to its 30 cost but I decided to try it out anyway What a great buy Installation was simple though I give a word of advice let Windows do the installation don t bother with the installation CD Before this i was using the integrated sound and the difference is night and day Crisp sound easy installation low price plus a nice little program in the task bar to customize EQ make this a great buy
>> Underrated Excellent
Just as the title says this card is underrated and excellent Once I had the right drivers and had it configured correctly the sound quality just blew me away
I had been using onboard audio with a 5 1 PC speaker system and thought Yay Sounds great I bought this because I wanted to connect my HDTV s audio out into the card to have surround sound for my shows
I was unprepared for the amazing difference in power and sound quality For a moment I thought I was going to bother my neighbors at one point It s that loud that powerful
Now it s not all wine and roses however Installation was a terrible terrible mess I have Windows 7 32 bit and this card was made with XP and Vista in mind After reading the reviews here and seeing that the chipset manufacturer had the correct drivers my problems were solved and the window shaking commenced Thank you folks for posting the info
The instructions or lack thereof leave a lot to be desired and trying to figure this thing out on your own is something right up Indiana Jones alley You re better served just trying things out on your own rather than depending on the ridiculous waste of paper they call instructions
The S/PDIF Coax digital in and out puts are not 4 6 or 8 channel they are merely 2 channel and it s misleading the surround fields are handled by using PC speakers in the multicolored minijacks on the back of the card in analog
The analog line in is stereo but that s it You can t get surround sound out of this input Although a faint fauz surround tries to make it sound like it s something it s not
On the flipside the card does produce wondrous sound takes a load off of the CPU and RAM which is a noticeable change includes the wonderful freeware Audacity and even has WinDVD on the disc
The card itself is well made and handles it s job nicely For that I give it a solid 5 stars and recommend it I will not blame an inanimate object for shortcomings that are beyond it s control
Diamond is solely to blame for that
No mention of what you re getting with the digital portion no instructions terrible installation problems no customer support for Windows 7 I mean even the no name chipset manufacturer stepped up and did the deed Argh it s simply frustrating
Don t expect miracles don t expect perfection I mean it s a 30 00 sound card c mon but do expect an awe inspiring experience once everything s set right
For the price paid it s an excellent upgrade and I d do it again in a second
I highly recommend this card and for the price Geez you can t get better than this
