HT OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

Pros: Heavy Duty Engineered in the USA No mail in rebate or free cheap headset gimmicks. Customer service agents are really quick to find a solution to a problem, and they return your emails fast. The sound from this card is better than a woman.

Cons: Quality control can be a little bit better. We all know something will sneak through every once in awhile, I just happened to be that one.

Overall Review: When I first bought the card there was a quality control issue with one of the metal pins on the FP Audio connector. I attempted to return the product to the company not realizing that new egg had a 1 year warranty on the product. After an exchange of emails with HTOmega, I seemed to have lost one of their emails with the RMA information. Not realizing they emailed me the RMA info, I gave the card a bad review based upon not having received the RMA info. When Howard of HTOmega caught wind of my review(yes they read our reviews)within 1 business day I had a new card (Yes 1 business day), the only question asked was where do we send it. Now that is rockin customer service. AMD has excellent customer service, but these guys are even better than AMD. Don't be fooled by the gimmicks of their major compeititor. They will give you some free 1$ head sets or a 50$ rebate just to get you to buy their junk. HT Omega is a small company that just wants you to give them a shot. And you should.

Pros: OK, I have NEVER had a problem like "game" describes. In fact, nobody has. These cards work well and far better than any on-board sound or competitor. Like I said before...this is a fantastic card...and I back that up with the fact that I have SIX, count 'em, SIX HT Omega sound cards.

Cons: The only cons so far have been from: 1. People who falsely profess to have "high" tech knowledge. 2. People who don't know how to download or install drivers. 3. People who crash the cards because they cannot do a proper install.

Overall Review: Like the good "House Doctor" below...the only low ratings on these cards have been from people who either fall into one of the three categories above, have not read the specs., or just plain have a "tin ear." My setups are connected to high end Behringer and Mackie monitors...and they are used professionally, for recording, editing, review, and listening. I am also a professional musician and I am rapidly growing weary of people who use these forums as a way to grouse about stupid things, DOAs (which do happen from time to time), and who use it as a platform for fanboy stuff. This site is setup for honest reviews...designed to help potential buyers...NOT as a place to wildly vent your spleen against your own inability and poor product choice. Again, I am a professional...and I use these cards in DAWs...and I know what I am talking about. These are simply the best sound cards currently on the market; about that there is little debate. Plus, HT Omega has great customer suppor

Pros: Support for multiple OS and 32 and 64 versions. Very easy setup. Great customer service. TOSLINK out and in which is pretty cool. I thought that I would upgrade after a year to the PCIe Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium card. Since this card is a bit older and still on the PCI bus I thought that an upgrade would be good. Lets just say I returned the Creative card and bought the Claro instead. Bye, Bye Creative. Hello HT!

Cons: Not really a con but the lower and upper connections where covered slightly by the plates on the back of my case. Nothing that a few minutes with a Dremel couldn't fix. Drivers on disk were old, but who installs drivers from the disk? Also you have to have a firm grasp of audio terms and technology to really setup this up but the customer support people were very helpful. Also I do own quite a few DVD-Audio disks which is only supported by Creative. Can't fault HT as I should have researched more.

Overall Review: I waited about a year to post this review and I have not had a single problem with this card. I have installed in Xp32, both 32 and 64 versions of Vista, and Ubuntu. Never had a problem with any OS. I have hooked this up to my home theater setup that has 2 floorstanding speakers, a huge center, 12" sub and 3 large surrounds and the sound was great. Also it sounded great connected to my Logitech Z-550. And I have seen several reviewer talking about driver issues or lack of a wizard and that made me laugh. I think I have installed this card about 15 times on 3 different OS and both 32 and 64 version and never a problem. And if you need a wizard to setup a sound card, you shouldn't be putting in a sound card or even removing the case panels.

Pros: Lots of input options. Supports my 7.1 SS DTS perfectly. PCI interface. If you connect your front panel audio to it, it allows two channels to receive the same signal (thus you could have a headset plugged in the front and a speaker system in the back, both working concurrently).

Cons: Ports aren't color labeled. The text that labels what each port is is upside-down after you install it on your motherboard. So to read what you're plugging a cord into you'd have to read it upside down. Not a huge deal though since ideally you'd only have to do this once in a blue moon.

Overall Review: I'm running two 8800GTs in SLI and put this card directly inbetween them (had no other choice). If you do this AND want to hook up your front panel audio on your case, where you insert the SLI bridge lines up exactly where you would plug in front-panel audio on the soundcard. You can make due with them both plugged in, though its an extremely tight fit and the bridge and cables are touching and applying pressure on each other.

Pros: I have owned this soundcard for 3-1/2 years and it still sounds as good as new. The card is solidly built, reliable, and easily trumps on-board sound. My use is music and gaming. The sound is crisp and clear. I have the card connected with a 1/8 inch Y-adapter to an old set of 2.1 speakers and also my Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 headphones. There is plenty of power for the speakers. I need to turn the volume to 70% to get decent volume out of the headphones as they are rated at 80 ohms and are a little hard to drive. I don't listen at insanely high volumes, so this suits me fine.

Cons: None

Overall Review: I moved the card from an old computer running Vista 32-bit to a new one running Windows 7 64-bit and encountered problems with the speakers making a loud popping noise upon startup or wake from sleep. I emailed customer support and received a response the next day. There are new drivers out that solve the problem but are not yet posted on the HT Omega webpage. You can download the new drivers here: http://www.htomega.com/new/striker81742.zip These are unified drivers for XP, Vista, and Windows 7 and solved the popping issue for me.

Pros: Well, I have 5 Strikers and 1 Claro HALO. One of the Strikers is hooked to 2 Behringer B2031As (main), 4 Behringer MS-20s (side, rear), and a Behringer B-2092A Subwoofer...and it rivals any sound system I have ever used, including my old McIntosh setup...and my other studio monitors. I have no idea what the guy below me (1-Egg Wonder) is talking about, but you can bet he is either a Crapola Labs plant or fanboy...and that he messed up with the setup.

Cons: There aren't any. Great products, good price points, so simple a Cave Man could install it. I personally had a chimp do mine.

Overall Review: Get the latest drivers from their website (only a total Noob uses the CDs that come with cards) and you will have no problem. Very fast and excellent customer service. Anyone complaining about these cards either messed up the install or know nothing about sound.

Pros: Got this card for the optical out to my home stereo which has worked out very well for watching movies and listening to music directly off my PC. The on screen control panel is intuitive and has plenty of features. Easy to undertand software and driver installation in Vista was a snap!

Cons: None

Overall Review: Surprisingly good card. Had some trouble in a Windows 7 installation, but Windows 7 is still in Beta, so that's not surprising.

Pros: Excellent support for Windows 7 x64 Tested with several games on win7 x64, new and old; flawless compatibility; no weird noises or stuck sounds. Lightweight driver does not clog up your system like SB cards. Excellent range of sound; meant for high-end speakers.

Cons: Signal output is a little low. If you use headphones and need more volume, you may need an external amp, or maybe earbud-type headphones. The Windows 7 driver (released June 09) is only 32 bit for now. (but the 32bit driver WILL work fine on Windows 7 x64)

Overall Review: The reason for the low output is probably to minimize any EM noise you get in the signal. When run through powered speakers the sound is flawless. (ex: no HD noise through speakers) The Vista drivers worked okay with Windows 7, but the mixer was limited and the audio from bink movies would cut in and out. The latest Windows 7 driver fixed it all, even though it is a 32bit driver running on a 64bit OS. (might be why the 32 bit games work so well) I used to love SB, but it seems they just can't get their act together with Vista support. Meanwhile HT has already released a functional Windows 7 driver with OpenAL and EAX support. At this point I can't think of a single reason to stay with SB.