AUZEN XPlosion 7.1 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card

Pros: I hardly ever write reviews, however I decided to write one for this card. I have been a very "Creative" person since my old 486 days, but every since the audigy days I have been somewhat dissapointed. Never really considered switching, until I tried to find a good optical out sound card. I couldnt seem to get the onboard sound to work right optical/hdmi on my Shuttle HTPC. I decided to run up to the store on a whim and pick this one up. Amazing! worked right out of the box with Vista 64 (which is amazing in itself)

Excellent clear audio from optical, dts is great. I hooked it up to my 7.1 onkyo/AR setup. Listning to music is way better then it was, and better then my ps3/360 were. The included optical cable is a nice touch.

I had no bloated software to install, no issues getting optical to work, done and set up in a matter of 15 mins.

Price is lots cheaper compaired to other companies spdif solutions.

Cons: EAX2 isnt the newest format for gaming, but atleast I have good sound now, easy tradeoff for me.

Control panel isnt the most pretty, but its functional and easy to use.

Other Thoughts: Why didnt I switch sooner?

Pros: Gold plated, upgradable OPAMPS

Cons: This card will not work properly in vista. 24bit option is not available, even though the package, site and advertisments say otherwise. DTS & Dolbly Digital Live do not work in vista even though even though the package, site and advertisments say otherwise.

I was really looking forward to this card. What a let down.

Other Thoughts: I'm running Vista MCE with SP1. This sound card is connected directly to my Yamaha RX-V661 Reciever by way of optical.

When DTS and DDL are enabled only 2 speakers in my home theater system receive sound. My receiver reads DTS or DDL but no dice, its simply not working. I have searched every forum I could think of. Emailed support, disabled onboard audio in BIOS, etc. etc. Lots of people are having these issues. Buyer beware.

Pros: Great sound production, everything sounds crisp, and clear.

Cons: Can't think of one.

Pros: The built-in Optical outputs. Sounds great with my receiver (Yamaha). I just added it - loaded the drivers - plugged in the INCLUDED optical cable to my stereo. Sounds great, while I am no audiophile, it was well worth the price to quality. This computer is just for Music and DVDs. I did need to mess a little with the settings to get true digital output.

Cons: I haven't found one yet in my use of it. But do not use for games, only music and movies.

Pros: Just amazing. I love having true Dolby Digital surround coming out of my HTPC. Admittadly, a lot of my vids are encoded with 2-channel MP3, but I get some now and again that are AC3, etc. that really sound great. The sound separation between the rear speakers is very noticeable. Can't go wrong with this if you are into HTPC stuff. Oh, by the way, it does DTS as well. How cool is that?

Cons: Don't install a codec pack and then install the AC3 filter! I made this mistake and couldn't figure out why my sound was so horrible. After a cleanup of the codecs and AC3 filter, then reinstalling the codecs, everything was fine. Not really a con, but I almost ended up throwing the card away because of this.

Other Thoughts: For gaming, stick with Soundblasters. HTPC enthusiasts, GET THIS!

Pros: Needed a sound card with optical connection for a home theater system. This card delivers. I have a mid to high end receiver and the sound quality is very good.

Cons: None at this point

Other Thoughts: None

Pros: Cards works alot better than that Creative Card in Vista!

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: Something strange happened for a couple of hours, In Vista Ultamate MCE the sound level gage 0 - 50 only reported at 0 but the sound went up and down fine. Most likely a Vista Problem. A reboot fixed the problem...

Pros: I bought this card for a 2nd computer that I'm running into my 5.1 receiver. Optical output in full 5.1. Good Looks, crisp sound, my receiver reads all the dts and digital modes.

Cons: the price is fair, I just get used to the steals they normally have on here.

My other comment complaint could be the receiver as much as the card, or maybe just the way the optical interface works. It seems like the sound gets turned off when it's been idle, so if a sound gets channeled back over, it acts like it's coming out of standby, and you miss the first second or two of a song, or in my case it's teh windows startup sound clip

Other Thoughts: my rear channel speakers are coming in the mail now, can't wait to see how this sounds when they're hooked up. This card is massively better than the Turtle Beach that I RMA'd. It had a bit of missleading info, and didn't do a true 5.1 optical out like this does.

Pros: Great sound, no noise, lots of imputs and outputs. Dolby works great. Software has nothing to bog it down. Works fine

Cons: No internal Mic/Headphone header. Everything in the back of card. X64 drivers work well.

Other Thoughts: Perfect card and sound for the price but lack of mic/headphone conection is frustrating.

Pros: Beautiful sound quality! I'm not an audiophile at all, but the second I started playing COD4 with this card, it was like an entirely different game. Worth the price if you're looking to invest in a good quality sound card.

Cons: A bit difficult to navigate through the installation process. You have to manually change some settings in Windows to make it work.

Other Thoughts: I keep reading 'bad drivers' from most of the reviews, but I haven't had any issues at all with the drivers. I think what they might be referring to is the difficult installation process. You have to manually go in and change the default hardware used by Windows for sound. First, you want to disable your onboard sound card (if you have one) in the BIOS. Then, for Windows XP, go to control panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, click the Audio tab, under 'Sound playback' choose Xplosion from the list, click apply, and you're set! If you use a mic, you may also need to go to the 'voice' tab and do the same.