SIIG LP-000022-S1 5.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Low Profile Sound Card

Pros: This little card worked right out of the box. I recently installed Windows 7 RC (build 7100, 64 bit) and the OS could not recognize my on-board sound system, which necessitated the purchase of this card.

I am not an audiophile and I only have 2 bookshelf speakers so I cannot comment on the cards 5.1 surround sound. I can say that the sound out of my little speakers is far better than the on-board sound it replaced. I like the unusual G9 DIN cable that comes with it; this allows for easy and quick connection. The board has three internal connectors, CD IN, Auxiliary IN and S/PDIF out so there are plenty of ways to set this thing up. The card is low profile so it did not block the cooling fan of my video card.

Newegg did an excellent job of shipping the card. I paid for the expedited handling and standard shipping and it showed up the next day.

Cons: The card comes with two back panel brackets, a short one for low profile cases and a tall one for full size cases. I needed to replace the small one (factory installed) with the large one and the screws were in so tight I feared I would damage the card getting them out. Windows 7 did not initially find the card on boot up and gave me an error message. I installed the software per instructions and got a few more error messages but I persevered. After two reboots and some of patients, Windows 7 was happy with the card and the drivers.

The software is minimalist and drab; SIIG could do better. The instruction manual ain’t much but what needs to be there is there. There is no supplementary information on the installation CD, only three directories 32-bit installation, 64-bit installation and Vista installation. I used Vista for the Windows 7 installation.

Other Thoughts: Overall, I am very happy with this card and now I am looking forward to trying out the 5.1 capability with some new speakers.

Pros: - the optical and multi-audio out sound great; no noticable distortions from my mp3's.
- win7 can automatically install the necessary drivers.
- the vista drivers on the included disk works for win7

Cons: - so far, have not been able to get the included audio software to work with win7
- while connected by optical, cannot test the 5.1 individual channels. it will only play the tone for the front left and right speakers.

Other Thoughts: - however, when i have the windows sound set to dolby digital, it will test each individual tone.
- my cons are only based on one day of testing the product.

Pros: Easy to install, 64-BIT COMPATIBLE!!! relative low-cost, crisp output, shinny fit-and-finish

Cons: I was really hoping that the digital audio out would output to my home stereo head unit in a dolby-digital signal... But, it doesn't even register as a 5-channel output (via optical connection). It does work, and it is clear, but it only seems to be set up for 5.1 output with computer speakers, NOT via the optical connection.

Other Thoughts: there went my hopes of a cheap blu-ray player via my PC, at this point I have the HD video, BD-rom, but the expense of a quality 5.1 output to my stereo is such that I might as well "give" and get the real deal!

Pros: Easy setup, had to search a little bit to turn on the fiber optic but that was no big deal.

Cons: None

Pros: Passes Dolby Digital 5.1 & DTS out of the optical output. Comes with a bracket to install in a full size pci slot.

Cons: Software is not that great. Took some tweaking to get the card to function the way I wanted.

Other Thoughts: I am using this in a Dell GX260. I'm getting 5.1 out of VLC. It's great for using a small computer as an HTPC.

Pros: - Low profile
- Direct SPDIF output for PCM and AC3
- Optical toslink connector on the back, plus additional TTL MOLEX SPDIF connector on the card itself
- Low power consumption - no cooling required - great for home theater PC.

Cons: - There is no native plug-and-play driver for this in Windows XP - need to download it from SIIG or install from the included CD.
- When trying to install, Windows displays a big warning message that the hardware has not been certified to bear "Designed for Windows" logo and suggesting contacting the vendor.
- By default, the driver decodes everything into analog sound according to the speakers set-up that you configure during installation. Had to install freeware "AC3Filter" and click a checkbox in it to enable direct SPDIF output for all formats (PCM, AC3, DTS).
- Other than that, everything is awesome and works great!

Other Thoughts: Works great when installed in my Dell Optiplex GX620 SFF HTPC controller by Media Portal software, passing PCM and AC3 via optical SPDIF to Yamaha receiver after I installed the included SIIG driver, freeware AC3Filter and configured AC3Filter for PCM, AC3 and DTS SPDIF pass-through.

For the price and features, this is a great little card to have. One needs to be a bit on the technical side to configure it correctly, though.

Pros: - SPDIF passed both AC3 5.1 and stereo PCM to your receiver.
- Small
- Cheap

Cons: - Configuration control panel is NOT automatically installed when WinXP detects the new hardware. You have to go back to the install CD and manually run setup.exe to get it.

Other Thoughts: All I wanted was AC3 pass through via SPDIF. None of the other reviewers were definitive as to if it only passed 5.1 or 2 channel. When I first played movies from VLC or Windows Media Player, I only got 2 channel PCM to my receiver. However, after spending 3 hours figuring out how to configure those apps to pass through AC3, they finally worked. PowerDVD worked with 5.1 AC3 pass through right away, however (bravo PowerDVD).

So final word: this sound card does indeed pass full AC3 (5.1) digital signal over the optical cable to your receiver. It will also output 2 channel PCM if the content you are playing is not AC3. So this card rocks. I've had it for only 24 hours, but so far, it seems very stable, which is key.

Pros: Inexpensive

Cons: No Vista drivers.....and no plans for them from SIIG

Other Thoughts: It appears to have 2 channel digital output only.

Pros: Optical Output, Low Profile Card, Fairly painless install, digital surround sound.

Cons: I HAVE heard better sounding cards out there, but that's not saying this doesn't sound good, it does... Not a huge amount of tweaking options.

Other Thoughts: I bought this card to use the optical output, unlike the other reviewers on here I didn't care about the SPDIF. (There is a connector for it on the card itself, but you would need some sort of seperate part for it to have the plug. The card has no plug itself.) Install went perfectly fine. I went by the instructions and everything went in easy. Took maybe 5 minutes total. Sound qualit is good, I haven't had any problems yet. Maybe if you really want to tweak every last detail of your sound experience, this is not your card. But if you simply want to hook up to a surround system via optical, especially if you need a low profile card, this does it, and works great. I'm watching DVDs, video files, and playing games off my computer in full surround sound, no hitches. It's a blast.

Pros: can't find one

Cons: doean't work with xp like they say

Other Thoughts: if the manufacturer says it works with s certain oc then it should, at lest that is what i think don't buy this