Sick of Creative? M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Surround Sound PCI Card

[GZeus]

The M-Audio company pitch:

"Revolution 7.1 is the ultimate audio upgrade for your PCI-based computer. Play DVDs and all your music in surround sound, make games more realistic, and record or mix your own music.

Up to 7.1 surround sound output at high-definition 24-bit/192kHz fidelity insures that you?ll experience it all the way it was meant to sound?including streaming surround content from the Internet with Windows Media 9.

You?ll also enjoy robust gaming experiences with popular 3D audio technologies such as Sensaura, EAX, DirectSound, and A3D. Revolution 7.1 packs all this advanced technology into a small PCI card that?s a breeze to install and use."


Link to ZZF

These aren't the newest thing but they have good reviews and that's a pretty good price.

 

[sintaxera]

Looks good, but I think it might be lacking in the Vista support department. But, many of us would say "Who cares?"

 

[LowTeck]

Can't tell what version of EAX support there is...is it 5.0 or only 2.0 and 3.0?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: LowTeck
Can't tell what version of EAX support there is...is it 5.0 or only 2.0 and 3.0?

EAX 2

 

[Thump553]

Used one myself for a couple of years-great audio quality and very stable software. Light years better than Creative products, IMO.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: LowTeck
Can't tell what version of EAX support there is...is it 5.0 or only 2.0 and 3.0?

EAX 2

Full EAX 2 support in the hardware or only partial / software support?

(referring to Windows XP here, I know Vista does not support it on nonalchemy compatible cards)

 

[fatpat268]

Why would I be sick of creative? I don't know what you guys always do, but I've had rock solid drivers for my Audigy 2 ZS for both XP and Vista. Never had a problem.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: LowTeck
Can't tell what version of EAX support there is...is it 5.0 or only 2.0 and 3.0?

EAX 2

Full EAX 2 support in the hardware or only partial / software support?

(referring to Windows XP here, I know Vista does not support it on nonalchemy compatible cards)

Full EAX 1 and 2 support.

 

[Stas]

This is a much better card for music. Sure, it doesn't support the latest EAX 5 but that's because EAX is developed by Creative. If only Creative didn't own ~80% of discrete desktop audio, we would be in a better non-proprietary sound technology world. I hate Creative tech support (does it exist?) and their drivers are always WAY late to come out. If only I didn't buy Audigy 2 ZX 3-4 years ago (didn't know better back then), I would definitely jump on this one.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

does m-audio sound cards full support vista?

 

[dslabby]

Does this card have the 2X5 front panel (Intel) connector on board?

I would really like to dump Creative if I could find a card that will let me use the front panel audio ports on my expensive new case.

 

[GZeus]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
does m-audio sound cards full support vista?

No, but then, neither do I. <--- couldn't resist

What little I have heard: there are some beta drivers on the manufacturers website for the 5.1 version. You may want to dig deeper if its a concern.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: dslabby
Does this card have the 2X5 front panel (Intel) connector on board?

I would really like to dump Creative if I could find a card that will let me use the front panel audio ports on my expensive new case.

There are quite a few...but they are all above $100. I am sure there is probably a couple under that but they probably aren't the latest and greatest.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

no real vista drivers? then not for me

 

[Lurker1]

to Fatpat: If you only install Creative's drivers and just the drivers, it's relatively stable. It's all the other crap that gets installed by Creative that sucks rocks. Unfortunately, installing just the drivers is not as simple as you would think, or it didn't use to be.

as for Vista, who cares? That DRM hamstrung POS may be the death knell many of us have been waiting for regarding MS's monopoly. Regarding MS's DRM audio path and what it means for creative regarding DirectAudio was funny (creative stated the only way to get hardware acceleration under Vista was to use OpenAL - now that's funny). Follow that statement with the fact that if you're using MS's audio drivers your network performance is cut to as little as 0.3% of non-audio playing encumbered performance and MS's weak statement about how "that was planned" is just scratching the surface of what's wrong with Vista under covers. It certainly explains why businesses are resolutely staying on XP.

 

[jlin101]

After reading various reviews on Revolution soundcards, it seems that although Revolution 7.1 is priced higher than 5.1, 5.1 actually has the same higher quality DAC used on M-Audio's professional cards. M-Audio has a beta Vista driver on the 5.1, but not on 7.1. Unless you absolutely need 7.1 (unusual because most people interested in Revolution soundcards use it for music, not gaming; and 7.1 is not necessarily ideal for music listening), 5.1 would be the logical choice. ZZZ also has a rebate deal on Revolution 5.1, but it's OOS right now.

 

[Lurker1]

Since nothing actually ships in 7.1 that I know of, it seems that 5.1 would be more than sufficient for most. Thanks for the update on the 5.1 card, that sounds like a potentially viable card, except for the fact that I bought 2 Audigy 2's for under $90 due to a nice pricing mistake at BB when they first came out. (Priced at clearance price for Audigy cards. I almost got 4 of them, but they only allowed me the 2. Who's going to argue?

 

[88NovaTwincam]

tempting but, i bit on the x-fi xmusic.. tempted to get both and compare

 

[rushhound1]

Not even remotely sick of my X Fi music card. Funny to hear people complaining about Creative and drivers when they at least support Vista. No Vista driver for this thing. Been out now, what, 9 months. Pulease!

 

[RallyMaster]

Originally posted by: fatpat268
Why would I be sick of creative? I don't know what you guys always do, but I've had rock solid drivers for my Audigy 2 ZS for both XP and Vista. Never had a problem.

Rock solid drivers for both my X-Fis and the Audigy 2. But that's cause I treat Vista like a disease and refuse to touch it.

 

[88NovaTwincam]

I had no problem swaping out the support.cab for the OEM in the x-fi driver cd. Installed first time no prob..

I may still try the "YouP-PAX-Fi" drivers too..

Wondering if this card would be suitable for an xp based video capture/studio pc..