Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 )
Diamond Xtreme Sound allows the user to 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 increasing their computer audio experience while freeing up valuable computer system resources.
Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 ) Accessories
 XFX PVT44AWANG GeForce 6200 256MB GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card (VGA/DVI/S-Video)
Logitech X-530 5.1 Speaker System
Kingston ValueRAM memory - 1024 MB - DDR II ( KVR667D2N5/1G )
Logitech X-540 5.1 Speaker System
Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card with Dolby Digital Live ( XS71DDL )
PNY Verto GeForce 8500GT 512MB Video Card
ValueRAM 1GB 400MHZ DDR PC3200 ( KVR400X64C3A/1G )
Hauppauge 1178 WinTV-HVR-1600 Internal Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder
Lite-On SATA 20x Super All Write LightScribe Internal DVD/Dual Layer RW Drive (LH20A1L06)
PNY Geforce FX5200 256MB PCI Graphics Card
Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 ) Reviews
After disabling the onboard sound (in BIOS) and in the Control Panel, I installed the XS71 card. I also wanted the ability to connect via the digital SPDIF connection (coaxial). I'm not an audiophile by any means, but if the audio was improved compared to the onboard sound, I couldn't detect it. For these purposes this sound system really is overkill. The new speakers are so good that it makes all audio flaws more obvious. I bought this sound card because the onboard 7.1 audio on my Dell Inspiron 630 desktop was outputting an annoying background hum at higher volume levels.
Upon booting the system automatically found the best driver over the internet connection. The coaxial audio has a much lower volume level than the analog connection, but even after increasing the volume all the way there was no sign of any hum or other interference. To my delight the hum was finally gone. The same annoying hum was still there. I had this computer for a year and never noticed that hum before recently obtaining a new set of Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers. I would have preferred a card that had both optical (TOSLINK) and coaxial, but I had a higher priority to keep the cost reasonable.
Cards that have optical, coaxial, and analog connectors are a minimum of 4 times the cost of this card. After considerable research I concluded (correctly) that this card would work well with Vista Home Premium (32 bit). I use the computer primarily for business purposes with occasional viewing of movies and on rare occasions a little gaming (Command & Conquer). My first evaluation test was using the new XS71 analog connections which are identical to those I had used on my motherboard. I then switched my speaker system to the coaxial connector (both sets of connector types were plugged in at the same time and both were sending audio). If I did a lot more gaming or had a discerning audiophile "ear", I likely would still not be 100% satisfied with the overall audio quality and would be very tempted to try out one of those much more expensive cards.
When I called technical suppoort they told me that the card did not support either DTS (contrary to claim on box), or Blu-ray. I purchased this card to use with an internal Blue-ray player, and found it would not output DTS digital 5.1 or 7.1 from the optical SPDIF port (stereo worked OK). The box indicated that the card would support DVD multi channel playback in either DTS or Dolby digital.
Only drawback is I cant download a new driver due to Diamond Multimedia's website having some issues. Sound is great with all my games and movies. Buy it and you shouldn't be disappointed. I bought this sound card over a year ago and have been very happy with it. One other drawback, I can't find 7.1 speakers locally
For my purposes ('Digital In' from my Yamaha MO6 Keyboard) it works fine with the recommended windows drivers. Please be warned that there aren't any drivers for Windows XP 64. If you have that operating system you will have to install the "XP recommended" Matrox drivers which do not allow you to take full advantage of this product. Otherwise, good product.
I have Windows XP pro. Neither the audio plug-ins nor jumpers on the board were explained in the manual. After I loaded the software no matter what sound effect I selected it sounded the same. Now my computer boots normally again. When I first installed this board my computer wouldn't boot. I gave up and returned the board. I rearranged it and my other PCI boards and got the computer to boot but it took 10x longer than normal. The board had two audio connectors for plugging in the output of the CD drives but then I heard nothing.
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