[afton]

My 4 yr old Chaintech card started to hiss intermittently so I figure out it's time
to replace it. I've purchased the AV-710 based on the recommendation of Head-Fi ers here
and it's an excellent card   I've checked around the web apparently Chaintech
stopped producing this card?
 
What's a worthy replacement?
 

 

[Tacoboy]

Asus Xonar DG, nice price.

 

 

[Coelacanth]

Asus Xonar Essence ST, Xonar Essence STX, or Creative X-Fi Titanium HD. The ST is a PCI card, the STX and the HD are PCI-E.
 
 
 
 

 

[ABXG]

The Xonar D2X is also a great card if you don't need the amp part of the ST or STX.

 

[germanium]

The Xonar D2/PM or D2X offer the best overall value in a soundcard for those who don't need the headphone amp of the Essense cards. Ouput is D.C. coupled from the factory & is a very neutral sonding card. It supports up to 8 channel audio & up to 192/24 bit sample rate recording & playback. When I bought mine (D2/PM), it had an incredable software package as well that is worth more than the actual card which is saying a lot as the card is worth more than the price they ask considering the quality of the card alone.
 
This card can do practically anything you want to do. Music creation, gaming, home theater or music listening. This card is more versitile the the Essense STX card or the base ST card & includes much software the the essense cards do not include. If you are planing on getting highend headphone though that are high impedance you will either need an amp or skip this card for one of the Essense cards