Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card with Dolby Digital Live ( XS71DDL )
Diamond's Xtreme Sound improves your computer's audio while freeing up valuable computer system resources. Install it and you'll experience high level, theater quality sound while watching videos, listening to music, and playing games all in true 7.1 channel surround sound. This is an essential upgrade for anyone interested in better home audio for TV, audio, movies or games. It also includes Audacity, a multi-track recording/editing studio. You can Import sound files, edit them, and combine them with other files or with new recordings. Export your recordings in several common file formats, such as WAV and MP3. Editing is simple with the Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete tools. Use unlimited Undo and Redo to go back any number of steps, while you edit and mix an unlimited number of tracks. Fade the volume up or down smoothly with the Envelope tool. Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises from your recordings. Level meters help monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording. You can dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings. Internal inputs for CD and Aux Audio Coaxial SPDIF in/out Audacity features - 16bit/48KHz playback; 6-channel audio output; 10 band Equalizer with presets; Easy connection to home audio equipment; Special effects including concert hall and more Inputs - Mic and stereo line in Outputs - L/R front and rear channels, center/subwoofer Operating Systems - Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows XP Media Center System Requirements - 850 MHZ CPU; PCI slot; 128MB RAM; 20MB hard disk space; CD-ROM drive; Amplified Speakers, amplifier w/Speakers or headphones
Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card with Dolby Digital Live ( XS71DDL ) Accessories
 Fiber Optical Toslink Digital Audio Optic Interface 6 Foot Cable
Tripp Lite A102-02M Digital Optical Audio Cable, 2x Toslink - 2M (6ft)
Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 )
Western Digital WD5000KSRTL Caviar 500 GB SATA Hard Drive
Logitech Z-5500 THX-Certified 505-Watt 5.1 Digital Surround Sound Speaker System
XFX PVT44AWANG GeForce 6200 256MB GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card (VGA/DVI/S-Video)
PlayStation 3 Blu Wave Remote
Kingston ValueRam 2GB 667MHz DDR2 Non-ECC CL5 DIMM (Kit of 2)
Sound Blaster Digital I /o Module
Tripp Lite A102-04M Digital Optical Audio Cable, 2x Toslink - 4M (12ft)
Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card with Dolby Digital Live ( XS71DDL ) Reviews
Computers are electrically very noisy for analog signals. It's a great sound card for hooking into a stereo and listening to music if you have optical inputs on your stereo. I bought this audio card so that my PC (Microsoft XP operating system) that I'm using as a media center has an optical output for my stereo. CD's that I had previously ripped to the computer (high quality setting) sounded better than from my CD player. I played a DVD and it sounded great too. I connected the optical output to my stereo and I confess that the sound quality brought a bit of a tear to my eye - It was that good.
But read the reviews like I did - Some of them have installation issues. Now a word about why I wanted optical audio output:. I could tell that the surround was working on the CD's. Chazzz. I followed the installation directions (install disk included) and had no problem installing the card. There is a separate install for WinDVD for this card - I already had WinDVD installed on my machine. There are other (somewhat cheaper) versions of audio cards with optical audio out.
By using an optical output from the computer to my stereo I eliminate these noise sources from the audio path. I'm an electronic engineer. The price was quite reasonable for what I got. All that digital processing, switching power supplies, and questionable analog signal grounding create a lot of audio noise on the computer ground and analog audio outputs. Before using analog outputs from the computer to my stereo, I didn't so much notice "noise" as I noticed an apparent lack of dynamic range in music. Also, going to 24 bit sound helps dynamic range quite a lot.
The card has jacks for analog 7.1 audio - but I'm not using that. And it works. And, if you don't have optical inputs on your stereo - It's time to step into the 21st century. And I don't think the cheaper versions output computer generated surround tracks in the optical audio output. The noise tends to fill in the quiet spots in the audio.
I made a serious mistake when buying this product, my own fault. Its great for its various formats, but if I had read all the reviews, I woulda purchased something else. DD Live does a fine job with stereo material, but it has no LFE when feeding it a 5.1 source if you use this, its best to feed it nothing but stereo files. Although it does exactly what it says it does, know that it does not pass through a DD 5.1 signal to any external amplifier.
A decent product I had to dowload a vista driver for this to run but it installed easily and runs without issue.
Downloaded all the web solutions to get my SB Live 5.1 going but no "compatiblity".The reviews here said this card will work so i bought one.put the card in.blew out all my dust.tried to install the drivers from the CD."incompatible.what." went back and checked the reviews.oic.the CD does not work.let Vista find the drivers.did that.and my Rhaposody is sounding better than ever.SO YES from my experience THIS CARD WORKS WITH VISTA.yeah there are a few weird messages and stuff if u try to install the software.but hey.my promise of never buying a creative sound card again was met.payback is a beach as thet say. I clean installed Vista Ultimate.all was cool except my sound.the infamous x speaker icon. Hasta la Vista Creative.
Good quality and many options to change the sound perfomance. I bought this card to hook my computer up to my home theater receiver, and it works great. Definite recommondation.
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