Vantec UGT-S100 7.1 Channels 48KHz PCI Interface Sound Card

Pros: Simultaneous SPDIF and Analog output in Win8. That may not sound like any great trick since that was easily possible in WinXP, but that has not worked since Vista and is not supposed to work in Win7-8. Realtek onboard sound will not do simultaneous output to digital and analog - you get one or the other. Microsoft's official position is that it is "by design".

Cons: Drivers didn't work in Win8 until Vantec just posted a new set.

Other Thoughts: I bought this card because my new Gigabyte mobo did not have coax SPDIF out, which I need. After some initial wrestling to jam Win7 drivers down Win8's throat, I made it work. But I still had to choose either digital or analog out. Lo and behold, brand new drivers on vantectw.com installed fine in Win 8 and now simultaneous output works like a charm.

Overall audio quality and controls are on par with current technology. Everything sounds fine thru the various output channels.

Pros: Good sound. Easy Installation with included drivers. Good Control Panel. SPDIF works well even with my professional studio equipment.

Cons: Is the pc board thin? This item tended to slip out of the pci slot after a couple of days and was not recognized. Push it back in and all is OK. Kind of reminded me of the 1978 Apple I's chips popping out of their sockets. In all honesty I had to modify the card slot clamp bracket to accommodate another odd card and perhaps it didn't clamp tightly enough. Since I don't have to use this card anyway, it's back in the parts box. (See 'Other Thoughts' below.

Card does not work in Linux!

Other Thoughts: This card uses the VIA VT 1723 chip (Envy 24 Tremor). I wanted to use this with XBMC and Linux Ubuntu 11.10 (XBMCbuntu). My Realtek AC97 drivers were giving me fits with ALSA (they worked but when 5.1 was enabled it sounded like a sound effect where someone talks at half speed and lower pitch). There are no VT1723 drivers for Ubuntu. Card worked OK with windows XP (so did the Realtek) but XBMC doesn't run video in hardware accelerated mode under XP. There are no VT1723 Envy 24 drivers for Windows 8 and Windows 8 crashed a lot on my old computer. Thus I am left using Windows 7 which runs fine but takes forever to boot, not good for a home media player. Tried other blends of Linux without luck. Come on Linux get ALSA fixed!

Pros: Installed without a hitch using the drivers from the website. Haven't yet put it through the paces but so far it works great in Windows 7 64 bit. It's passing through 5.1 Dolby and DTS to my receiver via the spdif connection using XBMC. Haven't tested the analog connections and probably never will since all I needed was a digital out for my HTPC.

Cons: None yet

Other Thoughts: I didn't mess with the CD but I can verify that the drivers from Vantec's website work in Windows 7 64 bit. 5.1 sound out of the spdif connection works perfectly.

Pros: I sent links to several choices to a friend who works in sound. I needed some help with the stats. I was pleasantly surprised when he recommended the least expensive, he liked the sample rate.

Installed card, disabled motherboard sound, which had slowly become terrible. CD served to identify new card to the PC but drivers didn't load. Five minutes at the website took care of that. Rebooted several times and done. I now have good sound through the house and out to the yard.

Maybe next I'll look at the manual to see if there's advanced tools to fiddle with.

Cons: Haven't foung an EQ

Other Thoughts: I could bother the neighbors

Pros: Plugged it in, Windows recognized it. I went ahead and downloaded the app from Vantec, but it wasn't really necessary for my use.

Cons: None so far.

Other Thoughts: I have a multi-channel Firewire microphone preamp from Presonus with a coax S/PDIF input. I bought this card for debugging purposes, to compare with the on-board S/PDIF on my old motherboard. This card, with the VIA Tremor chip, doesn't have as many sample rate options, but doesn't seem to glitch like the onboard frequently does.

Pros: Works as a basic stereo using mini-plug...Newegg return policy

Cons: Everything else

Other Thoughts: spdif and other hookups wired wrong.

Pros: Good price, worked well, replaced bad on board sound from Gigabyte motherboard. Just using 2.1 channel though so i cant say about the SPDIF.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I used the software from the website site. the one on the CD was a year old.

Pros: none other then dealing with newegg

Cons: computer (windows 7) would lock up, remove the vantec card the computer works fine. yes drivers updated, settin ok. I bought x2.

Manufacturer Response:

I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. If you believe it was the device itself, we do provide a one year warranty from the date of purchase on your product, so feel free to get that exchanged for a brand new unit. Please contact support@vantecusa.com for further assistance whether you'd like to RMA or get help installing the card.
Best Regards, Vantec

Pros: Good price, much better than onboard sound chip

Cons: See other thoughts:

Other Thoughts: Not a Newegg problem, but a Vantec one here:

Installed on hubby's machine. Neither the driver install disc that came with it or the direct driver download from Vantec are signed, so Win 7 WILL NOT RUN IT unless you F8 > boot menu and choose to run with unsigned drivers. VERY irritating, because it has to be done EVERY time you start up your system or you have no sound (since they fixed the perma-workaround with SP1). I'll keep watching for them to upgrade and sign their drivers so I can stop with the work-around.

Pros: SPDIF out, actually has SEVEN channels, instead of just matrixing 2 or 5 channels.

Plug and Play, Windows 7 installed the drivers from the online database. (They did not install automatically without being connected to the internet, but a driver disc comes with it)

Windows 7 support.

Small card in size.

PCI (I happened to need a PCI instead of a PCIE

Cons: Packaging was a bit loose, could cause problems but didn't in my case.

Having no problems with it so far, but I just got it today so I'll update if I have any.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this as a cheap alternative to other cards, but I still needed SPDIF out. The card was plug and play and sounds great. I wasn't looking for an extreme here, and it plays sounds nicely, but I sure there are crisper cards out there :) I can hear the foot steps of enemies on Crysis 2, so that works for me.

Side Note: The original reason I bought this card was because I received a motherboard that had a DOA integrated sound card, with how cheap this card was I took a chance but it turned out well instead of losing my computer for 2 weeks I just had to use a usb headset for 4 days.