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Turtle Beach/Voyetra TBS-3425-01 Sound Cards
Customer Reviews for Turtle Beach RIVIERA 5.1 Channels 24-bit 48KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
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Price: $28.99
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Review Summary (120 Reviews): Rating + 4
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Reviewer Product Review
Element
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/29/2010 6:42:20 PM

Rating + 5 Works great


Pros: Works great with win7, no problems to speak of

Cons: didnt wanna output s/pdif on winXP but that may have been my fault

Other Thoughts: Good card. great price.

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Erilaz
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
1/8/2010 2:10:34 PM

Rating + 5 Clean, simple, solid.


Pros: Optical out, painless install, clean sound, so far does everything I wanted it to. Good choice for low priced S/PDIF passthrough to a home stereo receiver and for upgrading lame built-in motherboard sound. Even beats Audigy cards as far as I'm concerned.

Cons: I used 3rd party drivers, not a big deal. Some features like the EQ are missing that way but I already have several other EQs in software like winamp and on my digital receiver. No great loss. Would be nice if I could trust the manufacturer to fully support their products, though.

Other Thoughts: As stated in previous reviews, google "cMedia 8738 open source driver" if you plan on using the S/PDIF passthrough to a home stereo receiver. I get identical output through both the analog out to standard computer speakers and the optical out. Also note I installed this in an older XP machine. Can't speak for Vista/Win7, but working cMedia drivers for x64 can be found at the same place I got the x86 one. Try those before you complain.

As far as sound quality, it's very good for the price at 48KHz. Everything is clean - no hiss, no popping, no distortion (unless I crank it up way too far). DTS/AC3 passthrough works from DVDs, decoded to 5.1 by my receiver. Games and music sound fine and I'm a picky listener. If you want or need uber surround quality to computer speaker rigs like Logitech's, you need to be looking at more expensive 96KHz cards with hardware Dolby decoding.

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that Guy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/15/2009 11:04:02 AM

Rating + 2 stero


Pros: 5.1 analog out

Cons: 2.1 Digital (spdif out)

Other Thoughts: I got this for the digital (optical out) and it would only output stereo sound from the optical out. The Control panel only allowed 2.1 stereo from the optical out.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
12/5/2009 6:10:07 AM

Rating + 1 Junk


Pros: Worked great for an hour.

Cons: Card failed.

Other Thoughts: Installation went OK, with no major issues in XP2. Worked great for an hour, then failed. I tested the card in another computer to be sure it had failed. Junk.

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Wallix
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
11/13/2009 9:12:13 AM

Rating + 4 More Than A Basic Card


Pros: Very clean sound. Effective and small driver package. No Creative-style bloat-ware with 13 different apps. Excellent audio performance in gaming. Supports 64 bit/Windows 7.

Cons: If you are into appearance, this card is just a short, green PCI board. MP3's sounded pinched and compressed. Mixer needs lots of tweaking.

Other Thoughts: Wonderful card for the money. While not quite up to par with an Audigy 2 in audio-quality, I still highly recommend. Especially if you are looking to make the move to a different company/card.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Yogi
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/6/2009 3:28:23 PM

Rating + 5 Great sound, easy set up


Pros: Optical out, or 6 channel analog out. Great sound quality, great software included. Easy set up.

Cons: Windows only supports one sound card at a time. I have no cons about the card itself.

Other Thoughts: My receiver is out of optical inputs, so I used 3 3.5mm to RCA stereo splitter to the "ext. in" on my receiver.

Installed the drivers and that's it, I have 5.1 surround sound using VLC player and playing games without even changing settings, and it sounds great!

Levels for each channel are comparable to the levels I get using digital outputs on other sources.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Doug
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/17/2009 6:15:45 AM

Rating + 5 Great for passthrough in Linux


Pros: I bought this card for S/PDIF passthrough in Linux using MythTV and it works great. I had very little problems getting the right output selected.
S/PDIF also seems to work find in Windows; I haven't done as much multi-channel testing in Windows as Linux, but games seem to work without problems.

Cons: None observed

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

GrizzlyGeek
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/30/2009 10:33:25 AM

Rating + 4 OK


Pros: It worked OK, in a fashion . . .

Cons: I had problems getting the Center channel working and some of the settings kept changing back to the default settings.

Other Thoughts: Turns out that the included software does not reset the Windows settings, you have to manually set them in Control Panel. I ended up using an old SoundBlaster card instead during troulbleshooting. I just left the SB card in. Maybe I'll use this card in my next project.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/15/2009 8:35:21 AM

Rating + 4


Pros: sound quality was far better than my onboard card on my ASUS P5Q Motherboard. very easy setup

Cons: none yet. good card for low price

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|BoW|^Jack
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/5/2009 11:27:49 PM

Rating + 4 Great sound card!


Pros: Works great right out of the box, is a great card for replacing nasty on-board audio, but...

Cons: Not the best but great for the money and beats what you find at the local "***-Mart". The software is less functional than CA but this card will serve your basic sound needs. I'll be checking the oem site regularly for new software with more functions and easy to use user interface.

Other Thoughts: If looking for advanced sound editing software and functionality I would not recommend this card. My last card was CA and it had way more functions and practically rivaled some mainstream recording studio software.

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bakentake
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/8/2009 5:04:10 PM

Rating + 1


Pros: None.

Cons: Its one improvement over my motherboards sound is that the card has Optical. That said, the optical wouldn't give me any sound through my A40 Mixamp/Headset. So I decided I'd try it out in FallOut3 using the other audio ports. And I normally have my pipboys radio on in FO3, and when I launch it the sound is fine, except for the radio.

Other Thoughts: Save yourself time and money and don't buy this card. Sure I emailed tech support but I'll save myself the time it takes to reply to them and just return the card (through UPS or the Trash Can), and buy a card thats more money.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

GJ
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/1/2009 4:30:12 PM

Rating + 5 5.1 SPDIF pass through DOES WORK and here is how


Pros: Great Price for a SPDIF audio card - don't go too crazy with drivers unless the card is not working at all. Use the disc (trust me). Control Panel has lots of features (none that I really need to use). Hope my thoughts below help some people. Thanks NEWEGG!!!!

Cons: If you are not a GURU it can be frustrating to figure out how to setup SPDIF output. Control Panel can be a bit confusing if you don't understand why it changes to 2 Speakers when you switch to SPIDF.

Other Thoughts: I read all the reviews and took a shot with this card purely for the price. It turns out that it is much easier to setup (after a little research on the Turtle Beach site) than I (we) made it. First off as stated by numerous people this card is only PASSING THROUGH the signal. So here is how to setup 5.1 optical out to your receiver... Go into the Riviera control panel (should have an icon in the system tray by the clock or you can go into the turtle beach folder in programs to open it). Select SPDIF out 48KHz (it will change the speakers to 2 speakers don't worry). Set whatever DVD/Video player you are using to SPDIF (normally in the settings under audio or speakers, if you don't it will work but it will sound muffled, tin canned and you will need to turn your receiver volume up high. Also TB refers to using PowerDVD and WinDVD but I am using HP DVD Play). BINGO BANGO!!!! You now have surround sound that sounds great (and I am VERY picky about how my movies look and sound). Hope this

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Adam
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/1/2009 7:03:09 AM

Rating + 5 5th card, still awesome


Pros: This is my 5th or 6th Turtle Beach Riviera soundcard I've purchased. All have worked perfectly, no complaints on any of them. Likely will continue to be my sound card for quite some time.

Cons: None, it's exactly what it says it is and works wonderfully.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

nfaction
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/24/2009 12:32:48 PM

Rating + 5 Great soundcard for the buck!


Pros: Works great in Ubuntu 9.04! Had many issues with other sound cards in linux. I cannot vouch for windows, but fresh out of the box, worked great with no need for binary drivers.

Cons: none so far!

Other Thoughts: Wish it had more channels. Wish it was free!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Alex
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
6/12/2009 1:04:52 PM

Rating + 5 Just right


Pros: I'm using the card for S/PDIF pass-through on a Kubuntu 9.04 media PC. It works flawlessly. I can't speak to the audio performance of the analog section, or to functionality with Windows, or to the functionality of the software.

Cons: None at all in my application.

Other Thoughts: S/PDIF pass-through seems to confuse some people. If you are getting output at the S/PDIF output, the card is doing it's job. Your software player needs to be set up to provide a 2-channel digital signal to the S/PDIF output (the Dolby Digital 5.1 signal is encoded into the 2-channel signal). The Riviera does not process or alter the signal in any way (hence the term "pass-through"). The signal is decoded by your processor or receiver, converted into an analog signal, and passed on to the amplifiers/speakers. If you want this or any other sound card to decode the signal you need to configure it to do so using a n appropriate application and use the analog outputs on the card to feed amplifiers directly.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/12/2009 3:41:36 AM

Rating + 4 Cheap 5.1 S/PDIF output I could find


Pros: Cheapest way to get 5.1 optical out on a PCI card.

Cons: You get what you pay for - it was a NIGHTMARE of trying various drivers to get 5.1 to passthrough the optical out - none of the "official" Turtle Beach or cMedia drivers would do it - they all converted my source to stereo before sending it out the s/pdif jack.

Other Thoughts: There ARE drivers which will do this - and they aren't hacked official drivers, they're "from-scratch" windows drivers, which means some other features are missing, but all I wanted was to get my DVD's 5.1 audio playing through my receiver.

Google "cMedia 8738 open source driver" - it's the first result.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
6/4/2009 4:42:58 PM

Rating + 2 Bad Experience


Pros: Works out of the box with Linux, produces sound.

Cons: Audible background static.

Other Thoughts: The card works. I do get sound out of it, but there is a really annoying background static that is clearly audible when there is a quiet point in the music, etc. I must have gotten a bad card. It's kind of hard to justify returning it, since it does work, just not as well as the Sound Blaster 16 that I swapped in as a test replacement.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

gyanibaba
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/22/2009 3:26:06 AM

Rating + 4 Works fine


Pros: Easy to install. Drivers found by WinXP were good enough to get the sound card started.

Cons: Still don't know how to figure out hooking up other devices directly onto the board. I have a TV tuner card which has an audio jack and plugging it into the soundcard has not yet resulted in producing sound!

Other Thoughts: I havent tried the DTS and 5.1 channel pas through yet cause I only have two speakers at the moment. But during the installation, it did come across as non-obvious. So if you are nto into searching the web frantically for solutions to your problems, you might want to spend more and get something that is plug ang ready to go kinds.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/9/2009 6:55:23 PM

Rating + 3 Fairly good card


Pros: ~Sound is fairly good about same as an onboard card for most mobos.
~Optical Out
~5.1 Support

Cons: ~Drivers for x64 Vista are non existant. On manf website they used to say they would support it by fall 2008. Fall 2008 came and all that happened was they changed the notice to say support by Summer 2009. I personally don't know how hard it is to compile 64-bit drivers but I can't imagine it would take more than a year.

Other Thoughts: ~Getting 5.1 to passthrough to a receiver can be a tad trickey but possible. I've successfully watched several movies in 5.1.
~NOTE: Do not let vista auto-install drivers. It will find the ones for the c-media chip not the rivera card, so go to manf. website and download them.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/31/2009 7:27:24 AM

Rating + 5 Works like a dream


Pros: Works perfectly in Linux and with Mythtv. I'm using it to dump the raw encoded audio to my receive via fiber.

Cons: none

5 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/9/2009 2:48:49 PM

Rating + 2


Pros: worked fine for a month. Then it started buzzing when using the mouse

Cons: same as above

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/7/2009 12:24:07 PM

Rating + 4 Passthrough DOES work


Pros: -Better than most integrated cards
-allows spdif passthrough
-Toslink out

Cons: -Drivers are a bit tricky, either use the CD or go to turtle beach website DO NOT let vista install for you. Vista will recognize the c-media chip and install that and not the rest of the software neeeded
-passthrough does require a bit of configuration to work
-Control panel is pretty lame, all the presets just make it sound bad.

Other Thoughts: To get the passthrough (5.1 through optical out) you have to configure things like ac3 filter and output selections.

To find a guide to configure google, "SPDIF passthrough with my Turtle Beach Riviera " and it should be the first one from web notebook or something.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
1/28/2009 10:56:30 AM

Rating + 4 Best driver for 5.1 found.


Pros: Cheap option for optical audio.

Cons: Drivers and TB support.

Other Thoughts: The best driver I have found to work successfully with games and multi-channel decoding is this c-media driver:
5.12.1.643. Driver date: 11/27/2002

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krydan
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/25/2009 7:44:33 AM

Rating + 5 nice sound card


Pros: sounds good. got this for my brothers rig

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: works great with xp pro

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Don
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/11/2009 7:11:12 PM

Rating + 1 Waste of Money


Pros: None what so ever!

Cons: This is the worst piece of junk I've ever bought. From now on I'll pay more for a better product. Like the saying goes, "you get what you pay for". I have a 3 boot PC with Vista 64, Windows 32 bit, and Linux 64 bit. This card had bad sound on XP with crackling noise, no sound on Vista or Linux (even though I downloaded the latest drivers). It's in the Garbage.

Other Thoughts: I should have paid more for a well known sound card that would work. I have a top of the line PC and just wanted a sound card that would work on all 3 of my operating systems. This didn't do the trick. I'll be reading reviews on Newegg for a better card that will work.

1 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Eddie
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/8/2009 11:09:12 AM

Rating + 5 Great Product


Pros: Simple to install and use. I had my PVR up and running in no time.

Cons: None yet

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711
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
12/29/2008 11:59:06 PM

Rating + 4 Good card, awful support


Pros: Cheap, 5.1, gets the job done

Cons: Drivers are absolute garbage, Turtle Beach support is joke.

Other Thoughts: Once you get this thing working, you're in heaven, but getting there is never easy. Every time you need to install drivers for this card, you want to shoot yourself.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

MilChad
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
12/23/2008 10:01:25 AM

Rating + 4 Figured out 5.1


Pros: Good sound for cheap. Optical out option.

Cons: Setup can be tricky.

Other Thoughts: I'm not sure exactly what finally made the decoder light to come on, but here's what I did.
Downloaded the open source driver (google open source c-media drivers and it'll be the 1st thing that comes up). Anyway, the driver enabled true Dolby digital, but my games sounded bad. (He makes note of this in the FAQ area). I was getting audio drop-outs and read where changing PCI slots might help. I changed slots, then my computer recognized new hardware and automatically loaded the latest c-media drivers I previously got from the c-media website forum. Once the drivers were loaded, I got true 5.1 and my games sound fine. In short, the card should provide 5.1 with the drivers from c-media (not Turtle Beach). I'm just not sure why it didn't do it the first time. I'm using the same codecs as I always have. ffdshow for audio and cyberlink for video.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

toddryoungblood
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/23/2008 9:09:50 AM

Rating + 5 Good Deal for the $


Pros: Great sound for the price.

Cons: Crackling sounds, due to a low quality sound card.

Other Thoughts: I would recommend getting a sound card with this system, my on-board sound makes a crackling noise, which is highly noticeable.

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

flyingtheo
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/21/2008 5:31:03 PM

Rating + 4 Easy upgrade for old PC rebuilds or upgrades


Pros: Inexpensive and an easy install and upgrade, just open the case of a PC and slip into an empty PCI slot and close up and run the CD software included. Be sure and go into My Computer System Hardware and change the audio drivers to the new Turtle Beach device and to select the correct speaker arrangement in the Turtle Beach setup page. Run 5.1 Dolby with no problems on my 5 speaker system.

Cons: None really, unless you are a novice and don't know how to do what I just described above.

Other Thoughts: Be sure and turn your speaker power off before connecting the speaker pins to this card.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/20/2008 1:04:28 PM

Rating + 3 No analog 5.1!


Pros: Great audio chipset. Very clear sound! Definitely a winner for music and movies.

Cons: According to Turtle Beach FAQ, if you're using surround speakers with an analog connection, you need to enable "Virtual 5.1" under the "sound effects" tab of the Riviera Control Panel...But there is no such tab! (at least in the Windows XP version).

I've been at my wits' end trying to get surround to work with my Logitech X-540. No luck; Turtle Beach hasn't been very helpful.

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MilChad
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
12/19/2008 5:18:59 AM

Rating + 4 Need help with multi-channel decoding.


Pros: Install went pretty smooth, card sounds good. Has option for digital optical audio.

Cons: Somebody explain how to get Dolby digital and DTS passthrogh to work during DVD playback!

Other Thoughts: OK, I can get 5.1 Dolby to work (my blue light on the Sony receiver that says "milti-channel decoding" comes on when I watch TV via my ATI HD tuner card). For the life of me I can't get it to do true 5.1 during DVD playback. I've tried Nero Showtime, PowerDVD 8 and Windows Media 11 with countless codecs and no luck. If somebody out there can get true 5.1 during DVD playback, let us know your codec, media player, and their settings.

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Gungrave
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/18/2008 2:05:15 PM

Rating + 3


Pros: Well it does what its suppose to do. Plus the utility disc comes with 2 additional software which may or may not be useful to some people

Cons: The interface seems a bit too complex for a sound card, its easy to navigate yes, but contain something option which may be unknown to beginners.

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mgar
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/18/2008 1:41:00 PM

Rating + 5 simple, trouble-free


Pros: I ordered this card to add an optical output to an HTPC I put together. installed the card and drivers without any problems and the card works perfectly. it got rid of some noises I was having with the co-ax s/pdif that was on the integrated chipset on the motherboard.

Cons: had to buy it.

Other Thoughts: Highly recommend to anyone needing a solution to inadequate integrated chipsets. reasonably priced, good value and trouble-free installation

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Aaron
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/9/2008 11:06:33 AM

Rating + 5 Easy, cheap, good sound, what more could you want?


Pros: Great value for a high-quality card with digital optical output. Even has a joystick port! Newegg got me the part quickly, and even routed through a 3-way switch into my receiver, the sound is clear and precise. Much better volume level (no loss).

Cons: The packaging for this product is pretty rediculous. The box is about 4 times as big as it needs to be. The box I got from Newegg was about the same size as my ATX case. Not very environmentally friendly, if you ask me. But I recycled them all =]

Other Thoughts: I was very impressed by how simple this install was after reading some negative reviews here. I just removed the drivers for my mobo's onboard sound, rebooted into the BIOS, disabled the onboard audio controller, then booted into WinXP MCE, installed the drivers off the CD, swithed to SPDIF output and voila! 5.1 surround with crystal clear audio. Turtle Beach still supports this sound card, and has drivers and a wealth of information on their site. Stereo and Surround both sound great from higher bitrate mp3s and DVDs.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Computer Technician
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/8/2008 12:59:21 PM

Rating + 4 Good sound card to buy but take it with a grain of salt.


Pros: The sound quality is very good. Works way better than the onboard sound on my motherboard.

Cons: This card worked great for every game that I played except one. The reason it lost an egg is because on my computer this card caused it to crash when I tried playing Eve Online for more than a couple minutes. I did try updating the drivers to see if this issue was fixed but alas it was not.

Other Thoughts: This is a great card for sound, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't work for my particular needs.

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Scottieone
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/3/2008 11:05:27 AM

Rating + 4


Pros: Really a plug and play card no real major adjustments needed

Cons: Fiber out you have to put the setting to HEAD PHONES or 2 SPEAKER but other that that it works great

Other Thoughts: Would Buy again

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/28/2008 7:48:47 PM

Rating + 2 Got what I payed for.


Pros: None

Cons: Everything, from Vanguard to Winamp to Vent/TS had the snap crackle pop. Tried speakers, headset & mp3 player headphones and all sounded just as bad.

Other Thoughts: Most recent drivers where published in 2005. Get something better.

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armper
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/20/2008 7:20:55 AM

Rating + 5 great cheap 5.1 card


Pros: Hooked up to my 5.1 reciever via optical, works great! Sounds wonderful for the price of the sound card.

Cons: While in optical mode, sometimes you can't hear a very short sound, unless the sound is long or there is something else playing in the background. An example would be when you adjust the volume in Windows, you are supposed to hear the "ping" sound. If there is nothign playing already, it might not play that ping sound or it might play the last half of it. That may be my receiver hibernating or something, so I'm not blaming the card on that.

Other Thoughts: You won't get true 5.1 if the application doesn't support it. IE if you are playing a game, it will more than likely be in the front speakers. You can simulate 5.1 if your receiver supports it. you can get 5.1 surround if you have a supporting DVD playing on the computer that is actually playing 5.1 encoded sound.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

slpdLoad
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/28/2008 9:54:45 AM

Rating + 4 Decent audio card - does 5.1 and optical if you need that


Pros: Sound is decent. Has plenty of ports. Cheap and average sound card if you don't want to go the high-end route.

Cons: Software is not the best, especially if you want to do 5.1 over optical. I think you still get 5.1 over SPIF if the source is in 5.1, but it kept reverting back to 2.1 if I selected SPIF.

Other Thoughts: Turns out I like the sound and drivers/software for my built-in sound better, but that doesn't reflect on this item.

Pretty much on par with most motherboard sound, so not really required in most cases.

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Cheers
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/27/2008 1:32:44 PM

Rating + 1 Horrible


Pros: It delivers sound...

Cons: I dont know where to even start, any one who said they liked this card has never before had a good sound card or plain and simple have a terrible sound system. I been using an @udigy gamer 24 bit for the past 3 years, though id give this a try on my new build, wow, the sound difference is tremendous, it is so horrible, i whent out and got a Cre@tive X F-I _ Nuff said, sound is so ridiculosly great compared to this product.

Other Thoughts: Save your money, if you have a decent board, the sound will be exacly the same, if you are like me, a person that cares about everything your system does, get a real card to get the best experience out of everything your system has to deliver, with a good 5.1 or 7.1 sound is just plain an simple, gorgeous.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/18/2008 7:40:12 PM

Rating + 5 can't beat it


Pros: for the price, unbeatable. optical, 5.1 surround sound. if you need a replacement, and dont want to scratch the bottom of the barrel, and don't want to lose a wallet of cash for basic needs, this is your card. running on vista 32 bit, didnt need CD. works fine.

Cons: don't have 5.1 to enjoy it with

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wyntek
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/17/2008 11:02:03 AM

Rating + 2 Optical is no good for HT


Pros: Cheap and works well (other than the optical).

Cons: Optical is 2-ch only. The audio "pops" all the time using WMP or zoom player. Even using WMPclassic and resampling the audio to 96khz with fdshow, there is still the occaissional popping sound.

Other Thoughts: I've spent a lot of time trying to solve the issue but I'm going to end up buying a new card.

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xrarey
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/9/2008 10:59:04 AM

Rating + 4 It works.. just don't touch it.


Pros: Great card, has optical output (similarly priced Creative cards require a secondary add-on to achieve digital output).

Cons: For some reason, with my motherboard (Asus A8N-SLI Premium) you can't plug anything into it with the computer on. If you unplug, or plug something in and the computer it on, it hard resets. Awfully strange If you ask me. Still a great card though, just have to shut down the computer before you start fiddling with the cords.

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Dyre42
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/12/2008 3:17:25 PM

Rating + 5 Good Card at a Great Price


Pros: For the money its a great card. It installed easily (read the instructions first) configuration could have been simpler, but the sound is crisp and clean.

Cons: Limited Audio Out ports - But you get what you pay for.

Other Thoughts: Check for Active X updates after install and DO NOT install the driver update that Windows Update offers you for this sound card.

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Nathan
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/8/2008 9:49:11 PM

Rating + 5 Works great


Pros: This thing is cheap, works well, and takes some of the stress off my system. Installing was easy. I would recommend this to anyone wanting a decent sound card

Cons: the control panel is a bit awkward to use but I don't use it much.

Other Thoughts: For the price, you cannot beat it

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/5/2008 10:58:25 PM

Rating + 1 garbage


Pros: It fits???

Cons: No 5.1 sound via Optical out port. How assinie is that?? I would have returned it if I didn't throw the box away before I figured it out.

Other Thoughts: Will never buy Turtle Beach again.

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Cody's1st
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/29/2008 6:12:47 PM

Rating + 5 Turtle wins by a hare


Pros: Simplistic without sacrificing necessary components, installation is a snap, sounds clearer than my on board Realtek with, supposedly HD, audio. Price + Performance = Can't be beat. Gives me the ability to go digital. Rather small for what it does. Frees up precious resources on my system. Best 30 bucks I ever spent.

Cons: Takes up a pci slot, but what are you gonna do? Also, this is a 5.1 sound card. If you want 7.1 channels get a 7.1 sound card. Not a con for me, but for those of you who like to clog up their system with mumbo jumbo software, the control panel has three tabs: Speaker set up, Equalizer, and a mixer board, and that's it. The disk has other software on it, but I didn't install it so no help here about that. I think it's just some recording stuff and music tweaking things. If you're into that you probably have a different card.

Other Thoughts: Motherboard: Abit IP35-E / CPU: Intel C2D 6420 currently at 3.2GHZ (on air) / Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Watt / RAM: DDR 2 AData x 4 Gigs @800MHZ / Video Card: Asus ENGT8600 256MB / Wireless pci card: DLink Range booster / Sound Card: Turtle Beach Riviera 24 bit / Hard Drive: WD 160 GB @7200 RPM / Optical Drives: 2 Asus DVD RAM Write 20x / Antec Case with 4 fans and 1 Lian Li fan controller

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ron
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/20/2008 3:06:14 PM

Rating + 4 good for the money


Pros: decent card for the price, with 5.1 audio and an optical connection. good quality for avarage use with movies or music. i edit and produce music, but after it is digitaly recorded then transfered to PC as a .wav, do not know what the recording capabilities are for this card.

Cons: i can no longer use my front panel headphone or line in. with the line in/out on the card i still could not use headphones, so i used a splitter that goes to one set of speakers and the headphones.

Other Thoughts: software included in install package is useless, at least you should get full use of it, instead of a watered down trial version that says "you have to purchase this..". for that reason, and the fact that i can not hook my headphones up to the card i took one egg away. otherwise it is a decent card for that price range.

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/17/2008 10:14:20 AM

Rating + 3 Vista drivers will not work with 64bit


Pros: Inexpensive, 5.1 card.

Cons: The biggest issue with this card is the drivers that come with the cd. If you have vista 64bit, do not expect this card to work as advertised. I noticed that all the channels were comming through on the front (green) jack (all the channels were working, but they were all comming through the front speakers). I installed the c-media drivers for the cmi8768/cmi8768+ for vista, and the card worked like a charm. Also, it is hard to get much volume when watching dvds.

Other Thoughts: Turtle Beach definitley dropped the ball on this one with their drivers, which is a shame because the hardware is fairly decent. If you buy this card for vista 64bit, don't waste your time with the cd that came with it. Just go to the c-media site and download the zip folder for the one mentioned above, and run the setup file in the vista folder.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/12/2008 12:21:59 PM

Rating + 1 dont buy


Pros: NONE

Cons: drivers dont work, make your computer hang.

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Elkham
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/6/2008 6:21:03 PM

Rating + 5 A good sound card


Pros: The audio of this sound card is excellent if you are making wave or MP3's. It will play WMA's and RA's and ACC's.

Cons: The only drawback to this card is that Windows Media Player 11 doesn't support 48 Khz playback. I get choppy sound when I play a song.

Other Thoughts: This card works with audio editnig programs like Wavepad.

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Ken
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/4/2008 7:39:00 AM

Rating + 5 Worked Perfectly


Pros: I had no issues with getting this sound card working in Linux or Windows. I ran Windows Update to get the latest drivers for Windows without a problem, and when I rebooted into Linux to set it up it just worked. I have had no problems with it so far in either operating system, and this card sounds better then the Soundblaster X-FI card I had. I returned the Soundblaster though because it didn't work in Linux. I am glad I did this card was a fraction of the price, works in Linux, and has an optical out.

Cons: None

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webnj
Tech Level: average
Ownership: less than 1 day
7/22/2008 11:45:46 AM

Rating + 5 awesome


Pros: after reinstalling dell dimension e310, i found out that because of the poor software that dell had on this type of computer, sound software would not install therefore there was no sound no matter what kind of windows xp we installed. finally i got it today and installed it and worked right out of the box.

Cons: i believe it made little bit changes to windows sounds. for example click sounds are kind of different than regular windows click sounds.

Other Thoughts: good product

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dragon2knight
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/21/2008 4:52:16 PM

Rating + 4 Decent for the money spent


Pros: Good sound,S/PDIF hookup,great price,Turtle Beach quality.

Cons: Lousy drivers,took too long to set up,and it says it dosent have 5.1 surround in S/PDIF mode, but oddly works in that mode when playing a movie or music,it just dosent say its doing it in the control panel,needs better/clearer software.

Other Thoughts: The grass is green,the sky is blue,the sun is yellow.....

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/9/2008 5:03:08 AM

Rating + 5 Nicholas Cruz


Pros: This is an excellent sound board. Easy to install and set up with easy to read instructions ans set software. I recommend it for anyone who has to change there sound board. Kudos to Turtle Beach Riviera.

Cons: No Cons.

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schneid
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
7/8/2008 6:49:33 PM

Rating + 1 Avoid it if you want Dolby Digital


Pros: Price

Cons: The OEM has no warranty and no support. The S/PDIF optical output does not pass through Dolby Digital. Instead, by design it is down converted to PCM 2-channel stereo.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this card for the purpose of passing through Dolby Digital from my Home Theater PC to my external Sony amplifier. I could never get anything but 2 channel stereo to work. I spent weeks trying different decoders and software to get it to work. This card is an OEM product. Although not stated, there is no warranty and it is not supported by Turtle Beach. I eventually learned the card by design DOES NOT pass through Dolby Digital as advertised but instead down converts it to 2 channel PCM.

I replaced the card with a different brand and it worked immediately without any effort other than selecting S/PDIF output.

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fingerlickinpickin
Tech Level: average
Ownership: more than 1 year
6/30/2008 6:22:42 PM

Rating + 5 Riviera 5.1 - Most Bang for the Buck


Pros: Price, Quality, Simplicity.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I sold my old PC along with this card since my new machine has an on-board SPDIF output and I connect directly to a home theater system. Bad Idea. I'm buying a new one. It sounds a lot better. I listen to both compressed an uncompressed music (loudly) and notice a substantial difference between what I used to have and what I have been putting up with.

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wickedbeast
Tech Level: low
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
6/21/2008 12:17:00 PM

Rating + 5 Excellent basic sound card


Pros: A cheap way to get audio via TOSLINK to a receiver.

Running Linux (openSuse 10.3) this card works well after a little fiddling:
1) turn off motherboard sound in BIOS (easy; a couple of keystrokes)
2) configure new card in Yast (easy; a couple of mouseclicks)
3) get the proper alsamixer switch turned on (easy; a couple of keystrokes)

Cons: Haven't tried getting pass-through 5.1 surround. Other reviews say it's difficult under Linux. But, to echo the other reviews, this is not a limitation of the Riviera.

Other Thoughts: If you're looking for configure help on the internets you'd be wise to search by the chipset: CMI8738/C3DX.

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Speed Rager
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/16/2008 4:55:31 PM

Rating + 5 Vista and Windows Media Center


Pros: I was running Vista Ultimate SP1 on a Dell Dimension 3000 that only had PCI slots and I wanted to download all of my DVD's to the hard drive and play them from Windows Media Center but the internal sound card was giving me feedback through my A/V unit. Despite other reviews I have read and the low price of this card, I decided that it was the only one that had a shot at working for my application. What an EXCELLENT choice!!

Setup took only a few minutes and a rebooot. Then I hooked up a toslink cable from the card to the A/V unit, followed the directions for setting up the digital output in the included software, tested the different output rates, and VIOLA! Killer Dolby 5.1 sound reverberating through my living room while playing downloaded DVD's. I could not be happier.

Cons: None.

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HiTech
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/15/2008 10:29:53 PM

Rating + 4 Performs well


Pros: Performs as advertised. Was nice to have a joystick port for my old Wingman Deluxe. Nice clear audio--- as good as a Creative card of similar specs.

Cons: I don't care for some of the apps. onthe CD. The Voyetra mixer is a PIA since it's always running in the system tray and has to be manually closed... still trying to figure how it gets installed even when using CUSTOM install mode. Despite clicking on DRIVERS only, that stupid mixer feature gets installed.

Other Thoughts: As usual, New Egg has an affordable price on this-- good for updating older puters that won't die .

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/13/2008 6:06:06 PM

Rating + 2 Gets the job done


Pros: Works fine as output and recording. If it boots OK, works the whole time.

Cons: Joystick port has issues in Windows. Will not calibrate correctly. Under Fedora Linux, sometimes it fails with error -67 and no sound at all. Cold reboot required.

Other Thoughts: Stick with on-board audio if yours is working. Otherwise, get something completely different. It's slightly better than my AU8830 card that kept quiting on me.

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jonathan
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/22/2008 1:39:09 PM

Rating + 4 Sound card


Pros: Inexpensive, customizable upgrade card. good sound quality.

Cons: the software seems to have problems retaining it's settings.

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Louise
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/20/2008 3:30:20 PM

Rating + 5 Love It


Pros: Great. Replaced my old Santa Cruz with this Riviera. Turtle Beach makes the best sound cards.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Highly recommend this sound card and for the price, you can't go wrong. I will stick with Turtle Beach in the future. As usual, New Egg rocks. The quickist shipment and the best products at the best price.

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Badfinger
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
5/9/2008 3:39:40 PM

Rating + 5 Best card at price that still has a joystick port for my beloved Gravis gamepad!


Pros: I bought this for the joystick port while still having good quality 24-bit sound, I've had no issues since installing under XP.

T/B has pretty good rep with me, I have one of their old cards (A3D Xstream) which supposedly doesn't support XP, but I got it working via the CT drivers in an old system for a friend.

Cons: Not for audiophiles by any means, but for decent all around use, it's good.
The software on the CD bailed at end of install, saying installs were interrupted, I didn't do anything, I had already installed the latest driver which itself is pretty old, from their web site, but this card is still actively sold and supported.
Didn't really care about the software, I'm sure as usual it's garbage.

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LoXodonte
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/21/2008 7:33:09 PM

Rating + 3 Misleading


Pros: For a stereo card under optical output, this card does a great job. Good sound quality, simple installation, ok software, reasonable price.

Cons: it doesn't do whats advertised. True 5.1 under optical isn't going to happen PERIOD. I thought my signal sounded a little "pro-logic" -ess. Deciding to follow up on my suspicions, I played a DVD of the matrix on my computer through optical out, then played the exact same scene in the movie on my 360 through optical out. My hardmon kardon receiver instantly detected all audio channels output from the 360, and MAN you can tell the difference. The music will be mapped to the front speakers, and dialogue to the center, very emmersive.
On to the optical of the PC with the turtle card: WAAAY too much was in the center channel, and VERY muddy at that. Stay clear of this if you're wanting 5.1 over optical.

Other Thoughts: By "pass through" optical, I wonder if they meant: It sounds like the sound is passing through a pillow before reaching your ear canal, or that the experience is on par with passing a stone.

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Ryan
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/11/2008 9:32:27 AM

Rating + 4 Kind of confusing, ultimately satisfying


Pros: I can use a single optical cable to connect the sound card to my receiver. It does that splendidly.

Cons: Documentation is a little unclear; it's easy to misunderstand the setup utilities meaning. Other reviewers have linked to Turtle Beach's web site and the knowledge base article that pertains to it.

Other Thoughts: Dolby Digital/DTS 5.1 channel surround sound are encoded signals from over-the-air HDTV or DVD's that get *passed through* to your *receiver* They do not get processed by the sound card at all. Things your computer plays, mp3's, avi's, things you download off bittorrent, etc. do not have a Dolby/DTS stream embedded in them usually. Therefore, they play in stereo and not surround sound.

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Coolbri1191
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
3/11/2008 2:42:12 AM

Rating + 4 decent sound card


Pros: Fantastic sound card with incredible features and a great value. Supports EAX etc, S/PDIF.. This card is much better than the other 'C' brand I owned before this.

Cons: S/PDIF doesnt always through-put full 5.1 dolby digital surround sound, but hey, not everythings compatible these days.. Also doesnt support advanced EAX3.0 but oh well

Other Thoughts: UPDATE THE SOUND DRIVER. those of you having problems, I highly recommend you update the sound card from the driver included. The newer driver even enables support for EAX2.0 which is not even listed as a supported API in the description.. also the update fixes(or at least fixed my problem) S/PDIF not through-putting dolby digital DTS etc, when watching DVDs in such. overall I'm glad I purchased this product. Newegg delivered in 3 days. Card runs fine in my Dimension 2400 on XP Home. :]

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Skippermdj
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
2/10/2008 9:46:01 PM

Rating + 5 No flaws, especially for price


Pros: This was the least expensive way to put an SPDIF output in my HTPC so I could play games and Netflix movies on demand through my 5.1 receiver.
It was strictly plug-n-play. Great, clean, full-range sound. Automatically senses and switches bit rates from 44.1 to 48. No click, pops or other artifacts. And CHEAP!
Another nice feature is the drivers seem to have a small footprint and don't clutter up the systray with unwanted/unneeded "services".

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: The equalizer and mixer seem to do what they're supposed to, but I disabled everything except the master volume.

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DrJones
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/8/2008 10:53:27 AM

Rating + 3 Vista Drivers unstable


Pros: Optical digital out works good but only does 2 channels. Analog outputs are louder than my integrated sound card. Can't hear any distortions.

No complaints about this card when I used it with XP.

Cons: The sound gets static sound every few minutes in vista w/o sp1. With vista sp1 beta the computer blue screens randomly. I was forced to use my integrated sound card(didn't feel like reloading to xp).

Didn't look like they put much time into the vista drivers. The custom control panel for this card is buggy and randomly resets the settings.

Other Thoughts: I was using this card for an HTPC. After using my integrated sound card for a few days it seems to work good enough. No more blue screens or static sound.

Also SB audigy sound card on my gaming computer also has issues with vista(static sound every once in a while). If most the driver issues in vista get resolved in the next year it will be a solid OS.

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jim83686
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/2/2008 2:06:11 PM

Rating + 5 Works good, good sound, Dolby 5.1 Works through spdif


Pros: Bought this card to augment my htpc sound output to my home theater sound system over the onboard audio. I specifically was looking for the s/pdif output. Many of the reivews say that when you turn on the digital out it goes to 2 speaker mode. It does but only for the analog outputs. See these guys need to READ THE MANUAL. After a quick search on the Turtle Beach website produced this FAQ that explains everything.
http://support.turtlebeach.com/site/kb_ftp/587319421.asp
I have verified that all channels are being decoded on my home theater system. This card works great for what I am using it for and the sound is crystal clear through my home theater system.

Cons: The so called experts who review the product without doing the research.

Other Thoughts: Great card, cheap price. Can't go wrong. Use the Turtle beach drivers, they work great and make it easy to configure the settings. I tried the "reference" drivers and found them to not make any difference in the sound performance and were not as straight forward to use as the included drivers.

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sirdouglas01
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/27/2008 8:59:54 AM

Rating + 4 Good Product


Pros: Easy to install, has SPDIF out as a separate port.

Cons: Could the packaging be any bigger?

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JRed
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/26/2008 4:06:25 PM

Rating + 3 Joystick Port???


Pros: Nice interface and installation program and software bundle.

Cons: I have CH-Products HOTAS system and needed this card for it's joystick port, which is dissabled for WinXP and Vista!!!???

Other Thoughts: I should have read the Owners manual before buying...my bad!

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mr. dongle
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
1/11/2008 7:22:14 PM

Rating + 2 Disappointed


Pros: Worked great for a while. Never had a problem related to the sound card for about a year. Sound was a tad better than on-board audio.

Cons: I had to reinstall windows a few months ago since I repartitioned my drives so that meant reinstalling this card. For some reason, every time I installed the sound drivers my windows install got messed up. I tried a whole bunch of stuff and couldn't get it to work so I gave up and went back to integrated sound.

Other Thoughts: Worked pretty well when I installed it the first time, had no problems at all. The software isn't very good though, it seems that the problem is software related which sucks since the card itself is clearly fine. However, a non-working card is a non-working card. I'll probably be getting another Audigy as my Audigy2 from 3 years ago is still working fine and sounds great.

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kurze
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/7/2008 3:43:38 PM

Rating + 5 Great Card


Pros: Great card. Digital out works great in htpc. If your using digital you have to select and enable it. Played surround sound in in default on dvds. No configuring needed.

Cons: Make sure to find drivers. Not recongnizable in xp or vista.

Other Thoughts: On their website it has vista drivers. But before downloading the vista drivers, I found a page that says that the card isnt supported in vista. Wierd. And no, they are not XP drivers.

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LEDominator
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/2/2008 9:34:39 PM

Rating + 4 Good Budget card


Pros: The card has awesome sound quality and it does what it says. You can't beat the quality for the price.

Cons: The installation of this card took me a while. I made the mistake of using the CD to install drivers and software under win XP MCE 2005. I ended up going to the turtlebeach website and downloading the newest drivers (incidentally, they released ones specifically for Win Vista and XP MCE 2005). After that it worked like a charm and speaker setup and sound has been great. Since the manual wasn't very helpful and there weren't any accessories I am giving it a 4.

Other Thoughts: It might be me, but the 1/8" jack inputs on the back seem close together. I just noticed it plugging in my 5.1 theatre system, the plugs seemed to be snug with each other. Not a bad thing but a quirk. Better documentation would have been nice, but it is the hardware that counts and it delivers what you need.

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GrizzleY
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
12/14/2007 2:44:48 AM

Rating + 2 Drivers??


Pros: O.K. quality, cheap.

Cons: their website sucks.

Other Thoughts: You can't get drivers off their website...ive tried several times and can never find them...not a very good company, gj tb.

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Paddy-o Furniture
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/4/2007 7:55:56 PM

Rating + 3


Pros: Works fine. You get what you pay for.

Cons: Could wish for a headphone interface.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/20/2007 2:37:51 PM

Rating + 4 Nice card


Pros: Easy Install, sounds ok by me, and not a bad price.

Cons: None so far

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Meltd0wn
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/24/2007 10:45:49 AM

Rating + 2 Riviera revulsion


Pros: It functions and makes the speakers vibrate..heh.

Cons: Audio playback is sub-par even for a budget card. Audio-in .wav recording quality is barely better than a low bitrate .mp3.

Other Thoughts: I've been building computers for many years and have tried all kinds of audio devices. Being that this card had the Turtle Beach name (My card of choice) I decided to give it a try. I suppose I should have known better just because of the price. Cheap is cheap and you DO get what you pay for. I expected better than what I got, though. I went right back to my 6 year old Santa Cruz card. I haven't found anything better for what I do which is radio and satellite TV recordings.

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TG
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
10/13/2007 9:11:40 PM

Rating + 5 Works with vista NOW, At par with any soundblaster product


Pros: Just a small piece of info: The quality of digital outputs of any soundcard are the same provided nothing is wrong with the switches on both ends( Digital sound quality depends on how good your amp decodes digital signals )Looking at a price perspective, if you plan to use the optical output, this card is quite a bang for the buck . Some soundcards ( like the SB Live! usb for example ) try to 'imitate' clarity by boosting up treble. The turtle beach does'nt try to trick you- Digital out is pure and unudelterated. Looking at analog, I couldnt tell very little difference between this one compared to even the M-audio revolution 5.1 - I swabbed my ears with alcohol before I did the comparison with 8 full songs on my Sennheiser HD650!
Note that analog output does tend to shift a little over a period of time for *ALL* soundcards..But if you are planning to use it on digital, by all means go for it! Drivers for vista are available now on their website.

Cons: Only wish they had posted vista drivers earlier.

Other Thoughts: I repeat - Analog outputs vary a little but digital output 'quality' IS EXACTLY THE SAME for all soundcards, weather you pay 30 bucks or 100 bucks. The higher end soundcards provide accurate positioning during gaming. For music and dvd use, there is no difference whatsoever.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

HOG-HUNTER
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/8/2007 11:55:39 AM

Rating + 5 AWSOME SOUND FOR THE PRICE


Pros: Can't beat the price! In sound comparison with my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS on another setup, I can't tell the difference using same Altec Lansing ADA885 THX speaker system. Games such as Quake 4, Battlefield 2142, and Painkiller all sound the same with no discernable lack of quality. My wallet definately appreciated the price difference when purchasing the RIVERA sound card. Turtle Beach even processed my rebate within four weeks.

Cons: None to speak of.

Other Thoughts: Great sound card for the money. If you're looking for a decent sound card without shelling big bucks, this may be your best candidate. Price to performance can't be beat!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Aardvark Computers
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/11/2007 9:18:42 AM

Rating + 4 Good sound quality for the price


Pros: Good surround sound for cheap.

Cons: Included software apps look like they're left-overs from Win98 - graphics-wise. No real advantage of getting retail package over OEM, which I originally wanted.

Other Thoughts: I haven't played any music through it and have done limited gaming, but others claim that it's better sounding than Creative's SB models.

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Idiobiblio
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
8/28/2007 6:46:06 AM

Rating + 5 Decent sound card


Pros: I wanted an affordable replacment audio solution to my motherboard's onboard audio that provided optical S/PDIF output and this card fit the bill. Installation was reasonably straight forward (Uninstalled my existing audio drivers, disabled the onboard audio in BIOS, physically installed the Riviera and installed the latest CMedia drivers.) The sound quality is a clear improvment over my onboard audio.

Cons: None.

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Jason
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
8/21/2007 7:40:14 AM

Rating + 1 Newegg dropped the ball, again


Pros: I'm sure this is a top-notch product, Turtle Beach stuff is great, but it never made it to my hands.

Cons: Newegg cancelled my order after a week and a half and three calls to customer service.

Other Thoughts: It sure is disappointing because this seems to be the only option for a decent sound card that is less than $70 and better than OEM. Granted it's not audiophile quality but I'm sure it will stomp whatever came on your motherboard.

2 out of 9 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

newmanae
Tech Level: somewhat low
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
8/19/2007 1:10:25 PM

Rating + 5 Great Card


Pros: Great card! Using the optical out at 192kps my mp3's sound better than the cd player on my entertainment center.

Cons: none so far

Other Thoughts: Be sure to remove all the software from other sound cards in the add/remove programs section of the control panel, I didn't at first and the card wouldn't work at all.
(thx. mrsteve I spent an hour on the mfg website, when I should have just read your post)

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EllaJazz7
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/28/2007 6:35:31 AM

Rating + 5 Love this card!


Pros: This is my favorite sound card. I have it installed in 3 computers and I've never had a problem with it.

Cons: I haven't figured out how to stop the mixer from occasionally loading in the taskbar. I tried turning it off, but every so often, it pops up again. It's a minor inconvenience.

Other Thoughts: The price has gone up a bit, but I think it's still worth it.

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genghiskhen
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
7/19/2007 2:27:52 PM

Rating + 1 Digital Pass through sucks


Pros: Low price.

Cons: Couldn't get digital pass through to work with my A/V Receiver.

Other Thoughts: This card installed fine and played analogue audio. Then I tried to hook it up to my A/V Receiver via toslink (optical). I was getting PCM output. I set S/PDIF output in Beyond Media. I set the correct settings in the Turtle Beach driver. I read their FAQ and played around with it for 2 hours. I never managed to get digital output to work. The manual has almost no instructions on hooking up the internal connections. The website FAQ is poorly written and incomplete.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Dawg
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/7/2007 10:12:08 AM

Rating + 4 Good value


Pros: Installed like a dream on XP Pro using supplied CD.

Cons: Volume output seems rather low compared to other cards I have used but is certainly in the acceptable range for my 5.1 system.

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JHM
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
6/23/2007 2:16:13 PM

Rating + 5 Great card


Pros: Great card for a great price!

Cons: None so far!

Other Thoughts: I have utilized Turtle Beach for around 5 years now. My beloved Santa Cruz card was transferred from computer to computer until it finally gave out about 6 months ago. Bought Riviera to replace it and am still satisified with Voyetra's quality.

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Mike
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/14/2007 8:36:46 PM

Rating + 5 Great Card for the money


Pros: Excellent pass through of Optical/Digital signal to A/V Receiver for pumping iTunes, DVD, CD, etc through a Home Theater system. Cable and Card for under $50. There is even an $8 rebate avalable during summer 07.

Cons: Non really... I didn't install any of the additional software, just the driver installation. Interface could be much more intuitive, but it is basically a one time set up so no big deal.

Other Thoughts: http://support.turtlebeach.com/site/kb_ftp/587319421.asp

I don't usually read the instruction manual, but the FAQ on the support page explained the activation of the Optical output very clearly.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/4/2007 9:31:09 PM

Rating + 4 Good Sound Card


Pros: Smooth installation on a new machine using XP Pro. No driver or sound issues.

Cons: Included software suite is mostly demos and crippled versions.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/24/2007 8:59:03 AM

Rating + 5 Great


Pros: Read Mrsteve's review. Steve is brilliant! Thanks for doing the research on setting up this card for optical passthrough. I ajusted the settings to what he recommended and the optical 5.1 works like a charm and sounds great in my home theater room.

Cons: NONE

Other Thoughts: A little tweaking and you have a great sound card for a great price. Thanks Newegg.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
2/21/2007 5:59:44 PM

Rating + 2 Dissapointing


Pros: Easy installation, louder than my on board sound.

Cons: Sound quality is sub-par, optical doesn't work, driver suffers from lack of features, drivers changed some Windows XP settings upon installation.

Other Thoughts: The sound quality was surprisingly poor. It was actually WORSE than my on board sound. It sounded very muffled, and there was no equalizer in the drivers to fix it, I could only adjust the equalizer in iTunes, yet it still doesn't sound very good. Certainly not worth the money.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

John Raven.exe
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
1/2/2007 12:24:02 PM

Rating + 5 Great card for the money


Pros: A lot better than integrated sound. Worked right out of the box

Cons: None really

Other Thoughts: If you need a decent card for about thirty bucks, get this... it'll be fine

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Ryan
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/13/2006 1:22:12 PM

Rating + 5 5.1 Passthough for MythTV/Linux


Pros: Alsa under Linux recognized it without incident. 5.1 optical pass through to my receiver works very well. I only have the optical hooked up and Linux knows to use it for standard stereo sound, as well as 5.1

Cons: None that I've noticed.

Other Thoughts: Getting 5.1 spdif pass through to work under some applications is not always painless under Linux, but that is not limited to this card.

I've not tried it at all under Windows, so I have no input related to the Turtle Beach drivers, or included software.

29 out of 33 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Burn
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/4/2006 11:02:12 AM

Rating + 2 Not so good.


Pros: Good quality sound, when it plays right.

Cons: Used digital output. Popped every time a sound would start to play, and again when sound ended. Caused jitters and static when playing videos (i.e. Intros to games) iTunes music got warped at one point, like it was playing an old vinyl record. Never happened before, until this card. Ate the price I paid for it and splurged for an X-fi. Everything working good now.

Other Thoughts: Sound card used on an Athlon 64 X2 w/2gig RAM and Radeon X850.

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Mrsteve
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/9/2006 7:42:53 PM

Rating + 4 Not perfect, but far better than others say


Pros: Low cost. Many features.

Cons: One of the "many features" doesn't work?

Other Thoughts: Contrary to other reports, I had no problem installing this card. I downloaded the lastest drivers from the Turtle Beach web site and made sure it was in a PCI slot that doesn't share an IRQ. That is very important. I also deleted all files from previous sound card's driver--this is SOP when installing a new sound card. Some other reviewers mention that optical output only puts out stereo, not 5.1. There is some confusion here because the card's control panel software is poorly worded: "S/PDIF only works for headphone or 2 speakers." It means you have to select one of those settings to use S/PDIF out. IOW, you can't select the analog 5.1 output AND S/PDIF. I know 5.1 passthrough works thru S/PDIF but it is flaky. So far only got it work with PowerDVD 4. PDVD 7 didn't work, WinDVD didn't do it, Snapstream won't do it. Not sure if it's the drivers or the apps. Going to try CMEDIA's reference driver and see if anything changes.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Matt
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
9/12/2006 9:39:58 PM

Rating + 1 Worst buy, by far


Pros: Nothing

Cons: Everything, from the horrible installation cd to the card itself. Digital Output hasnt worked and no way of getting it to work. Still waiting for an email back, but I doubt it will help. I should have listened to everybody else. Never buying Turtle Beach again

Other Thoughts: Worst decision of my life

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Derek
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
8/28/2006 4:21:49 PM

Rating + 1 Absolutely disgusting, one of the worst buys I've ever had to return.


Pros: It's moderately cheap, and comes in a festive orange box.

Cons: This product did not even work for me at any point. I installed it in my computer and tried to install the drivers, and the drivers blue screened my computer. I use Windows XP, so this should be unheard of. I tried installing from the cd, letting Windows find drivers, and I tried multiple downloads including the ones from Turtle Beach's site, this thing just does not work.

I promptly returned it and purchased a Cxxxtive Axxxgy card which works wonders.

Other Thoughts: Do not buy under any circumstances unless you throw money in the wind on a regular basis, in which case this is up your alley.

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