chaintech Av-710 > Audigy2 (The Rematch)

[llmobll]

Ok well I posted a little thread about my experiences with chaintech av-710. Maybe you remember it.
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76368

Well since that experience, which was about 3.5weeks ago, I have come to my final judgement on this card.

The Chaintech AV-710 is... THE BEST sound card you can get for the money, and has superior sound quality when compared to the Audigy/Audigy 2 line of cards.

I messed with the EQ and Foobar settings for a longtime. Tweaking this little sucker to hell. I used different driver versions, and finally settled on the latest version 3.10a/b. It took me a while to get a feel for what settings this card performs best at, and well the sound in phenominal. Let me be the first to say that all my previous comments about the AV-710 were WRONG. This card sounds great, and offers a noticable improvement in sound quality to my Audigy 2. I won't give a review because I feel other reviews sufficiently cover all pros/cons of the card.

I just want to apologize to all the other posters that I arguered with. I HAD set up the card in an improper way and the sound quality suffered. After fixing my error, wow just wow. I totally recommend this card. For the money it offers some of the best quality sound that an audiophile could ever hope for.

 

[Mr.Radar]

Good to hear you got your AV-710 setup how you like it! I'd also like to take this oppertunity to appologize for my comments in the other thread. They were a bit harsh and since then I've switched over to the "whatever sounds good to your ears" camp. Anyways, have fun with your card!

 

[DevilDog]

Glad you're happy. I haven't heard the AV-710 but everything I've read says it is very good. I'm loving my Emu 1212m so I know that computer as source can be competive.

 

[Skarecrow]

*blink*

Wow. That's a heck of a U-turn you made there, however I have had a few of em in my past too. I think we all have. I paid $240 for a headphone cable, an idea I laughed at the concept of a few months ago. heh. congrats on finding you like your gear. That's always a treat.

 

[skitlets]

im interested to hear exactly what tweaks did you do to the av-710? hi-res mode, kernel streaming, etc.?

 

[kavextrax]

Hi,

I'm a newbie here, trying to find an optical digital out solution. I plan to get the Chaintech for music and dvd playback and use it in conjunction with the Audigy 2 for gaming playpack in an attempt to take the advantage of the strengths of each card.

I think Mr. Radar, from the threads that I've perused, has had some experience with configuring both cards here. Could you please lend your input?

My questions are:
(1) Will it be a pain to setup both cards and drivers to run harmoniously?
Considering how bloated the Creative drivers are and how "mature" the AV-710's VIA drivers are, will this cause conflicts like dreaded IRQ problems? Or will winXP take care of that?

I only need the Chaintech for its Optical Digital output so that I can send a bit-perfect 24bit/96kHz sample rate signal to my Yamaha DSP A-1 for DD5.1/DTS processing. So if I plan to do one card for gaming, the other card for music and dvd playback, then will this mean that I will have to idenpendently set each application to use a particular card?
E.g. set winamp to AV710, set winDVD to AV710, set FarCry to Audigy2, etc.

Excuse my crudeness in sonic vocabulary as I am new to the vernacular scene of this forum.

(2) Or will it be much more easier to just remove the Audigy 2, and have only the Chaintech card to avoid driver and irq conflicts? Yes, even though I am running winXP professional, I still cringe about the win95 and winNT days of driver conflicts and multiple IRQ sharing conflicts,

Thanks for your time,


KavexTrax

 

[skitlets]

running an audigy 2 and a chaintech shuld be no problem at all on windows xp. if u plan on using the chaintech for music/dvd, yes, you're going to have to set those 2 programs to use the chaintech as the outputting source. games use the selected output on the windows control panel, so everything except winamp and your dvd program will use the audigy. (if u set it up in such a manner)

 

[Jasper994]

...see, we're not crazy...

I'm glad you like your chaintech... now it's time for upgraditis to start kicking in...

 

[Mr.Radar]

I can't find the option to change the playback device in WinDVD or PowerDVD, however you can change it with Windows Media Player, which should play DVDs if you have either WinDVD or PowerDVD installed (go to Settings -> Devices -> Speakers -[Right Click]> Properties), but otherwise that setup should work.

 

[proxops-pete]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kavextrax My questions are: (1) Will it be a pain to setup both cards and drivers to run harmoniously? Considering how bloated the Creative drivers are and how "mature" the AV-710's VIA drivers are, will this cause conflicts like dreaded IRQ problems? Or will winXP take care of that? I only need the Chaintech for its Optical Digital output so that I can send a bit-perfect 24bit/96kHz sample rate signal to my Yamaha DSP A-1 for DD5.1/DTS processing. So if I plan to do one card for gaming, the other card for music and dvd playback, then will this mean that I will have to idenpendently set each application to use a particular card? E.g. set winamp to AV710, set winDVD to AV710, set FarCry to Audigy2, etc. Excuse my crudeness in sonic vocabulary as I am new to the vernacular scene of this forum. (2) Or will it be much more easier to just remove the Audigy 2, and have only the Chaintech card to avoid driver and irq conflicts? Yes, even though I am running winXP professional, I still cringe about the win95 and winNT days of driver conflicts and multiple IRQ sharing conflicts, Thanks for your time, KavexTrax

1. I at one point had both Live! 5.1 and AV-710 in my computer at the same time. I was thinking the same thing you are... it works ok. It's a bit pain in the neck though 'cause you have to keep switching the audio source in "Sounds and Multimedia Properties" --> "Audio" tab --> Sound Playback and Preferred Device. You can set up in Foobar to use either of the two so you don't have to reconfigure it everytime you change the sound card.

2. I use XP Pro as well and no IRQ errors of any kind. I would think that Audigy 2 wouldn't be worse. I am also using the latest drivers 3.10a.

 

[kavextrax]

Thanks to all for your comments and advice. I now have it working great.
Used the graphical setup guide to the letter. Hope to learn a ton of great insights through continued reading of this forum.