Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 )

by Diamond

Product Details

• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000CFSL4A
• Item model number: XS71
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #43 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > Internal Sound Cards
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 30, 2005

Product Description

From the manufacturer

Diamond's XtremeSound 7.1 Sound Card helps you improve your sound Experience for MP3s, Games, Movies, Music and more! Diamond Xtreme Sound allows the user to experience high level, theater quality sound while watching videos, listening to music, and playing games all in true 7.1 channel surround sound. Dolby EX and DTS formats for 6.1/7.1 channel DVD playback at 24bit/96khz; 48k/16bit recording; 7.1 virtual speaker shifter providing surround sound for CDs and MP3s, PCI 2.2 interface with bus mastering and burst modes. System requirements include 850mhz CPU, available PCI slot, 128MB of RAM, a CD-ROM drive, amplified speakers, and Windows 2000 or later.

Product Description

Diamond's XtremeSound 7.1 Sound Card helps you improve your sound Experience for MP3s, Games, Movies, Music and more! Diamond Xtreme Sound allows the user to experience high level, theater quality sound while watching videos, listening to music, and playing games all in true 7.1 channel surround sound. Dolby EX and DTS formats for 6.1/7.1 channel DVD playback at 24bit/96khz; 48k/16bit recording; 7.1 virtual speaker shifter providing surround sound for CDs and MP3s, PCI 2.2 interface with bus mastering and burst modes. System requirements include 850mhz CPU, available PCI slot, 128MB of RAM, a CD-ROM drive, amplified speakers, and Windows 2000 or later.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dimond extreme sound not for Vista, September 2, 2007

By 

Ken "Ken" (Oakhurst, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 ) (Personal Computers)

I left Creative's sound blaster USB because they did not support Vista; I searched Amazon and found The Diamond by searching for "Vista sound Cards", I ordered it overnight, it arrived, but the software did not work with Vista although the generic windows driver does.

I called Diamond, because the card inside said "Do not return to vendor call us first." I did and was told, impatiently, that the box did not say Vista and that I should return it to Amazon.

So I am going to keep it, it does work, where the Creative did not. I received about half of what I thought I had bought.

Amazon showed this under a Vista search, Diamond was rude. The hassel of returning it and starting over, is too much.

So Cavet Emptor - be careful, make sure it is what you want, if it does not say Vista do not buy it no matter what the website claims.

Diamond has performed well in the past.

And, yes, I should have been more careful, I was too easily misled, by my pressing need for sound, and my desire to get on with it.

Ken

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Beware if you have Blu-ray, August 1, 2008

By 

John S "jjmmss00" (FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 ) (Personal Computers)

I purchased this card to use with an internal Blue-ray player, and found it would not output DTS digital 5.1 or 7.1 from the optical SPDIF port (stereo worked OK). When I called technical suppoort they told me that the card did not support either DTS (contrary to claim on box), or Blu-ray. The box indicated that the card would support DVD multi channel playback in either DTS or Dolby digital.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inexpensive and works fine with Vista, August 4, 2008

By 

E. T. Hildebrand (Marietta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Diamond XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit Sound Card ( XS71 ) (Personal Computers)

I bought this sound card because the onboard 7.1 audio on my Dell Inspiron 630 desktop was outputting an annoying background hum at higher volume levels. I had this computer for a year and never noticed that hum before recently obtaining a new set of Logitech Z-5500 5.1 speakers. The new speakers are so good that it makes all audio flaws more obvious.

After considerable research I concluded (correctly) that this card would work well with Vista Home Premium (32 bit). I also wanted the ability to connect via the digital SPDIF connection (coaxial). I would have preferred a card that had both optical (TOSLINK) and coaxial, but I had a higher priority to keep the cost reasonable. Cards that have optical, coaxial, and analog connectors are a minimum of 4 times the cost of this card.

After disabling the onboard sound (in BIOS) and in the Control Panel, I installed the XS71 card. Upon booting the system automatically found the best driver over the internet connection.

My first evaluation test was using the new XS71 analog connections which are identical to those I had used on my motherboard. The same annoying hum was still there! I then switched my speaker system to the coaxial connector (both sets of connector types were plugged in at the same time and both were sending audio). To my delight the hum was finally gone!

The coaxial audio has a much lower volume level than the analog connection, but even after increasing the volume all the way there was no sign of any hum or other interference. I'm not an audiophile by any means, but if the audio was improved compared to the onboard sound, I couldn't detect it.

I use the computer primarily for business purposes with occasional viewing of movies and on rare occasions a little gaming (Command & Conquer). For these purposes this sound system really is overkill. If I did a lot more gaming or had a discerning audiophile "ear", I likely would still not be 100% satisfied with the overall audio quality and would be very tempted to try out one of those much more expensive cards.