[ADS]

I've been listening to an interesting soundcard, the Chaintech AV-710, for the last two weeks. I think it sounds quite nice, it's 24 bit & 192khz capable, and it's only $24.50 on newegg.com . It's got an interesting undocumented feature that will route 2 channel stereo through a nice Wolfson WM8728 192KHZ DAC. For surround sound, it routes everything through the crappier VT1616, but for 2 channel headphone listening this isn't a problem.

While sound through the surround channels is crappy, the sound through the Wolfson DAC at 24 bit resolution and resampled to 96khz is very nice. Much better than my Onkyo CD changer in fact. While I'm sure it doesn't match up to more expensive cards RME PAD, etc..., it's quite a nice deal if you want something for music that's better than your integrated sound. If anyone else uses, or has heard, this card I'd be interested to hear your opinion. Who knows, it may be moddable too.

 

[lan]

Can you take a high res picture of the card? I'd like to see what's on it. Maybe for some modding or experimenting it's cheap enough to fool with.

 

[D-EJ915]

hmm...that sounds interesting, I'll be interested in it, since I need a new sound card...I use built-in.

 

[ADS]

The card is in my comp and I don't want to take it out, but here's the largest pic I could find online.

 

[JeffL]

It looks like there is a jumper for line-out...so is the line-out then, a true line-output or??

I would be interested in this for my main PC, since I need something decent with a line-input to allow my TV tuner to run properly.

Would you be able to compare this to say, the M-Audio Sonica by any chance?

 

[Sovkiller]

Is it better for nay chnace than my crappy Sound Blaster Live!...???? I'm serious, evne while I do not use the computer for music playing, I at least deserve a better sound for the beeps, and gongs, of the system....and 24.00 is not bad....

 

[ADS]

Quote:

Originally posted by Sovkiller Is it better for nay chnace than my crappy Sound Blaster Live!...???? I'm serious, evne while I do not use the computer for music playing, I at least deserve a better sound for the beeps, and gongs, of the system....and 24.00 is not bad....

It's much better than a Sound Blaster Live, even if you don't use the 2 channel hirez mode.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally posted by ADS It's much better than a Sound Blaster Live, even if you don't use the 2 channel hirez mode.

My speaker system is a cambridge soundworks with just two channels and a sub.....

 

[Unclewai]

Yes, this card is very underrated.
I think Wodgy, donovansmith, and myself used this card.

Here's an old thread about the card
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ighlight=av710

Donovansmith and I have since jumped ship to the terratec ewx.
However, I think the av-710 is comparable with the ewx I am using now. My only concern is that sound coming out feels like it is a bit distant.

 

[Sovkiller]

BTW I see a lot of jumpers there, it comes with the manual right? If not it will be a real PITA to set it up....BTW it is new in the market....this is a good indicator as soon as parts become cheaper the souncards will be better...I hope.....

 

[CingKrab]

I see this uses the VIA Envy chip like the Revo... how's its analog out (and digital out) compared to the Revo?

 

[ADS]

Quote:

Originally posted by Sovkiller BTW I see a lot of jumpers there, it comes with the manual right? If not it will be a real PITA to set it up....BTW it is new in the market....this is a good indicator as soon as parts become cheaper the souncards will be better...I hope.....

You don't need to play with any of those jumpers. Unless you have some weird need to switch outputs, it's comes ready to use out of the box. The only thing you need to do is download the via reference drivers and make sure it's in hirez mode.

*EDIT*

Most of those are for connecting a front audio jack anyway, they're not actually jumpers.

 

[ADS]

Quote:

Originally posted by CingKrab I see this uses the VIA Envy chip like the Revo... how's its analog out (and digital out) compared to the Revo?

Analog out is very good, clear highs and tight bass with no detectable noise, and digital output is bit perfect when set up correctly. Again, this is all assuming you're smart enough to be using 2 channel high rez mode.

I don't have a Revo to compare it to, but I imagine they're pretty similar, except for the fact that the Revo can handle high sampling rates in surround sound mode.

 

[Gopher]

ADS,

Can the front 2 channels be operated in hi rez mode while the rears go through the lesser DAC? I just ordered the card and have a set of Klipsch Promedia 4.1s I'm tired of disliking.

 

[CingKrab]

Another question... I saw on AVSForum that the VIA drivers do not support ASIO, but also that this card can be used with the M-Audio DiO 2496's drivers. Does this allow ASIO to be used? Also, can these drivers route stereo output to the jack with the Wolfson DAC?