M-Audio Revolution 5.1 High-Definition Surround Sound Card

by M-Audio

Product Features

• SRS TruSurround XT and SRS Circle Surround delivers incredible suround sound
• Control panel for bass management and other features
• DTS output and Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding using third-party applications
• Game support with Sensaura, EAX, DirectSound and A3D
• Digital out transmits PCM, plus passthrough of AC-3 and DTS(coaxial)

Product Details

Product Manual [918kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0002YK9SW
• Item model number: us991500
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,099 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)

Product Description

Based on the multi-award winning Revolution 7.1, we’ve turned the ultimate card for audiophiles into the ultimate card for gamers as well. Play all of your games, DVDs and music in surround sound, make games more realistic, and record or mix your own music. High-definition 24-bit/192kHz fidelity on all channels ensures that you’ll experience all your entertainment the way it was meant to sound. Revolution 5.1 features support for today’s state-of-the-art game technologies, as well as low CPU usage to insure lightning-fast visual response in gaming. Revolution 5.1 packs all this advanced technology into a small PCI card that’s a breeze to install and use.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine soundcard for Linux, April 11, 2006

By 

David Mcconville - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: M-Audio Revolution 5.1 High-Definition Surround Sound Card (Electronics)

Installation and configuration of the M-AUDIO 5.1 card was relatively painless under Slackware 10.2. Prior to installing the card I un-installed OSS for the motherboard audio and then disabled the motherboard audio in the BIOS. After seating the M-AUDIO card into the PCI slot, I downloaded and installed the latest commercial OSS drivers which are now free for private/home use. [...]

So how does the Revo 5.1 sound? Lovely! CD's, DVD's, audio and video files, and old arcade games all sound sweet and very clean. I honestly can't hear ANY noise emanating from the speakers (Cambridge Soundworks by Henry Kloss which I bought over 10 years ago) at all. The card will reveal any problems with the source material, e.g. old poorly mastered CD's. Overall the M-AUDIO Revo 5.1 makes near-field listening a very pleasant experience!

A couple of small "problems": I had to recompile the esound daemon so as to hear system sounds and sound from web browsers under GNOME and XFCE. The source-code file needed is esound-0.2.36.tar.gz.
[...] Also the GNOME volume control and XFCE volume controls don't work with M-AUDIO 5.1 card for some unknown reason. This isn't really a big deal since the ossxmix program works just fine and is more informative. Just be sure to set the file permissions as appropriate.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is nothing better, June 6, 2006

By 

T. Lindsay "tlindsay45" (Jonesboro, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: M-Audio Revolution 5.1 High-Definition Surround Sound Card (Electronics)

I have had several sound cards, and have heard many others. This one is better than any I have ever heard before. In fact, it is better than my surround sound, and I am using stereo speakers with it. Also, no need to worry about the lower version of EAX. It has a built in mode called Sensura that is just as good as the Creative cards. Also the 192 Kbps output is exponentially better than the normal 48 Kbps.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissappointing, November 13, 2006

By 

K. J. Morelli - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: M-Audio Revolution 5.1 High-Definition Surround Sound Card (Electronics)

I've studied the user manual, installed and reinstalled the drivers, but am left with the following unfortunate situation to report:

With my All-in-Wonder 9800Pro, when I capture video, the sound captures with the video in some sessions, not in others. Very strange. Never had this problem with my SoundBlaster.

The "Output Mixer" tab never shows any signals, no matter what other tabs' settings are chosen.

No bass/treble adjustments, so I have to route the sound thru an external amplifier to get the bass I want.

The earphone output is is usually dead. I haven't had time to figure out under what situations it works or not. Since I'm using an external amp, I simply plug the phones into it, anyway.

I suspected these problems might be related to my Windows 98SE, so I installed a friend's Windows XP Pro on a different partition, and ALL the same problems existed there, too! There are no new drivers on the manufacturer's web site to try.

Sorry, I've run out of ideas, so I can't recommend this sound card.