HT OMEGA Claro Halo 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card w/ a built-in HI-FI Headphone Amplifier

Pros: Includes high quality headphone amp that can drive any cans up to Sennheiser HD650. Keep in mind that the default setting is limited to low impedance output sufficient only for 32 ohm headphones (perfect for Grados). You must locate and switch the jumper setting to increase output. This card is also set up to output to both the front channel/headphone and the RCA outputs, another jumper mutes other outputs when headphones are plugged in to the front panel. Once properly set up, this card brings the best out of stereo recordings. It eliminates any noise caused by system components and renders sound with very low distortion. Swappable Opamps allow modders and audiophiles to easily customize the tonal quality of analog outputs. Supports a wide array of Dolby technologies and 5.1 channel digital output. The reference CMedia drivers are rock solid on XP/Vista and allow for quick, easy management of outputs and post-processing effects.

Cons: Analog 7.1 output requires purchase of $50 XT daughterboard. Does not support XLR output. Once paired with reference speakers or headphones, you will notice every flaw in a recording. This transparency makes most compressed audio (e.g. mp3) sound noisy and muffled :(

Overall Review: Don't spend the extra money on this card if all you need is good sound quality for movies and games.

Pros: Can't complain, and several audiophiles have said good things about the sound card's components and design, and only a single person on head-fi complained that she was not too impressed by the headphone amplifier.

Cons: There is limited EAX support (don't blame HT Omega, EAX is copyrighted by Creative Labs). Nothing else really worth mentioning... but if you use DSP like crossfeed or virtual surround, you might find plug-ins for winamp/windows media player/foobar to give better results. Also, they don't write in gigantic font that the four cheap JRC4580 front output opamps are intended to get replaced. Check the manual or webpage on claro halo, where it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that the opamps are replaced. A good set of four dual channel opamps would cost between $15-100+ (warning, counterfeits exist, choose where you buy from carefully), depending on what you want out of the sound card. I myself just got four lm4562's which cost $20 after shipping.

Overall Review: I ordered this from newegg the first day it came out (I was that happy with my claro+) and it was perfect until I fried some components by putting new opamps upside-down on browndog dual-to-single IC adapters just two weeks ago (don't be like me swapping opamps -_-). I contacted the company HT Omega to ask if they could send me their schematics (lol) but they could not, but they said they would see if they could get me a new sound card replacement. I got the RMA number in the same day I contacted them. Free replacement card and free shipping EVEN AFTER admitting that I murdered my sound card, how much better does customer support get?

Pros: I think it's all been said. Easy setup. Excellent sound. Smooth frequency response. No noticeable distortion or coloration. Dead quiet. What more can you ask for? Read the reviews. 98% of the reviewers liked it. The other 2% probably did something wrong.

Cons: It's expensive but you get what you pay for. If you can afford to buy the Claro Halo AND you have a decent sound system to connect it to, you won't regret the decision.

Overall Review: I consider myself an audiophile but not to the point that it gets in the way of common sense. I would never buy a $5000 amplifier or $500 cables. I can't afford to! You reach a point of diminishing returns where spending twice as much doesn't yield a significant improvement. That applies to almost anything... sound cards, speakers, cars, toaster ovens. The Omega Claro represents what I consider the point of diminishing returns for sound cards. Yes the Claro Halo sounds better than the Striker (I have one) and the Striker sounds better than the Brand X card it replaced. Money well spent. More money equals better sound. But don't bother looking for anything better than the Claro. I don't think you'll find anything better at any price. It's just my opinion of course, but it comes from 40 years as a musician, speaker builder, and audio/electronics hobbyist. One final thought... If you're thinking about replacing the opamps, listen to the card with the stock 4580 opamps first.

Pros: This card is everything the other reviews say it is. I'm using a pair of AKG K601 open back reference headphones, and the isolation of this card is incredible. It works flawlessly with Pulseaudio in Linux, with 24 bit 96 khz audio (I don't have anything with a higher sample rate to try).

Cons: Someone else mentioned this... the big voltage protection capacitors are tall enough to compete for space with some other cards. Not a big deal.

Overall Review: If using Pulseaudio and the card seems quiet, try setting the bit depth to 24 or 32. I'm not sure why this helps, but it does. Now I can blast my ears out.

Pros: Great sound quality without the unnecessary doodads of the competition (e.g. metal RFI "shield" with a goofy tiger on it). Drivers are good with a simple, clean control panel. Tech support has some broken English, but they're extremely quick to reply.

Cons: Wish it was PCIe just for some extra future-proofing and coolness factor, but PCI isn't dead yet so it's a wash. Have to spend at least $20 to get some decent op-amps, but it was a fun thing to research.

Overall Review: Make sure you disable dithering in WinAmp. I didn't even know it was on (no problems with previous soundcard), but with this new one it was causing distortion with some files.

Pros: almost two years after having this card, the left channel stopped working so sound was only coming from the right. I figured I was out of luck because the warranty was probably up. I contacted customer service and they told me they would try to fix it. Within a week I had a brand new card shipped to my door. AMAZING customer service and sound quality from this company.. cannot beat it.

Cons: nothing.

Overall Review: I did a lot of research on sound cards and it was between a top ASUS card and this one. I decided this one because of all the great reviews on customer service. I am so glad I did. Also - don't let my review of the channel stop working discourage you. I havn't heard of too many problems with these cards ever happening and the sound quality is superb.

Pros: Very clear, nice and loud, I can hear everything, like night and day compared to my integrated audio. I use my trusty old Sony MDR-V6's and its amazing how clear and diverse the sound is compared to my old integrated sound. LOTS of volume too! :D

Cons: Could use some EMI shielding. Driver software could use some updating to a fresher look. It works though.

Overall Review: My first enthusiast sound card, I'm happy.

Pros: Installed on an Asus P67 Evo, windows 7 x64. Like everyone else notes, you don't expect that on-board sound can be dominated by an add-in sound card. Wrong. The Claro Halo has amazing sound quality when paired with a high quality amp and speakers. The headphone amp is fantastic, but make sure you have proper high end phones in order to enjoy it. This sound card makes games sound amazing. The clarity is stunning, and playing a game like BF3 is eargasmic. The sound thunders.. is crisp and clean, and hits remarkably hard. Turn up your amp and your neighbors will think there is a war being waged in your house. If you're a gamer, do what you have to in order to get the gear you need. That includes high end CPU's, GPU's, amp, speakers and the Claro Halo. Otherwise you're not getting the most from the time you spend with games.

Cons: The Claro control panel does not match the panel described in the manual, including the manual you can download from the HT Omega web site. The functions are mostly the same though. Also, the EQ has a bad interface for saving user presets, although once you have them set, you shouldn't need to modify them. It takes some experimenting to figure out how to use the DSPs and get proper surround sound. The "system input" must be changed every time you go from listening to 2 channel music to surround sound with DVDs or video games. They should have a detection mode that does that for you. Set it to 2 channel input with the 7.1 virtual speaker for MP3s, and 8 channel with DTS Interactive for games and movies. The control panel also doesn't remember your selection for dolby headphone mode, and you'll have to click it on each time you play games with headphones in order to get surround sound. This is a major oversight in the control panel.

Overall Review: The default headphone mode is low impedance. Make sure you change the jumpers on the card for your high impedance phones before installing. Don't bother upgrading to a high end sound card unless you have a high quality amp and speakers to connect it to, unless you intend to only use headphones. I use 2 GTX460s in SLI and the only available PCI slot is between the 2 video cards. The Claro has capacitors that are tall, so the sound card barely fits. The caps are pushed up against the video card case. If the video cards were any wider, it wouldn't fit which worries me about upgrading video cards. Also, the Claro blocks half of the exhaust fan of the upper video card but it doesn't not affect temps. If the GPU fan were closer to the back of the case, it would be completely blocked by the Claro.