$20 Sound Card w/ Dolby Digital Live?!

xer0xed · Oct 15, 2005, 02:37 AM

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?Inv...g&cm_ite=total

What's up with this? Some sort of scam/legit? Other research I've done shows it supporting EAX 1.0 and 2.0 in addition to the Dolby Digital Live. So, if I buy this, I get a 100 dB SNR pumping in digital mode through all of my speakers w/ surround?

**dj_stick** · Oct 15, 2005, 12:19 PM

that doesn't sound like a scam - i'm guessing that card is legit

Tipstaff · Oct 16, 2005, 03:30 AM

Cards legit. Sold a few myself. At most all I can say is that they work, but I can't speak for the amount of resources it takes to run it (don't know if it's a true hardware card, software driven, or a combination of the 2). Think of it as PCI sound card that was removed from the motherboard, and given more connectors. Then you'd have an idea on the card.

Lowfat · Oct 16, 2005, 04:00 AM

hmm.. Very interesting. Its the same chipset that is used on the HDA Mystique 7.1 and the Turtle Beach Montego DDL.

Going to have to do some more reseach.

Tipstaff · Oct 16, 2005, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tulcakelume

hmm.. Very interesting. Its the same chipset that is used on the HDA Mystique 7.1 and the Turtle Beach Montego DDL.

Going to have to do some more reseach.

Yep, same basic chip. Ok, so I'm being a bit harsh by comparing it to an onboard audio chip. It's just that everytime I see C-Media listed.. well, that's where I see their chips. In fact, if I remember correctly Soltek uses that chip on their mobos. When you look at this board compared to all the other ones that use this chip it seems very lacking.

On thing to note is that the card in the link is a very stripped down version of the ones you mentioned, Tulc. Most likely a lot of what the cards you mentioned do is done in software with this card. The Mystique, for instance, has a lot of extra regulators, as well as a 8 extra chips that are used as preamp controller chips for the different channels, and 6 of those are replacable with higher grade chips (the ones for the mic (which uses 2 chips), rear side, rear center, front, and center/subwoofer).

Truthfully though, not bad for a $20 card.

Lowfat · Oct 17, 2005, 02:33 AM

Now I am more confused, the site states it uses the 8768 chip, however only the 8768+ chip encodes Dolby Digital.

Tipstaff · Oct 18, 2005, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tulcakelume

Now I am more confused, the site states it uses the 8768 chip, however only the 8768+ chip encodes Dolby Digital.

Most likely they use software for any of the encoding, or leave it up to whatever software you choose to use for encoding.

Wish I had a card onhand to try.

Oct 15, 2005, 02:37 AM	#1
xer0xed DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	$20 Sound Card w/ Dolby Digital Live?! http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?Inv...g&cm_ite=total What's up with this? Some sort of scam/legit? Other research I've done shows it supporting EAX 1.0 and 2.0 in addition to the Dolby Digital Live. So, if I buy this, I get a 100 dB SNR pumping in digital mode through all of my speakers w/ surround?

Oct 16, 2005, 03:30 AM	#3
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 190 System Specs	Cards legit. Sold a few myself. At most all I can say is that they work, but I can't speak for the amount of resources it takes to run it (don't know if it's a true hardware card, software driven, or a combination of the 2). Think of it as PCI sound card that was removed from the motherboard, and given more connectors. Then you'd have an idea on the card. __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

Oct 16, 2005, 04:00 AM	#4
Lowfat Xtreme Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,254 Rep Power: 101	hmm.. Very interesting. Its the same chipset that is used on the HDA Mystique 7.1 and the Turtle Beach Montego DDL. Going to have to do some more reseach. __________________

Oct 17, 2005, 02:33 AM	#6
Lowfat Xtreme Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,254 Rep Power: 101	Now I am more confused, the site states it uses the 8768 chip, however only the 8768+ chip encodes Dolby Digital. __________________