Customer Reviews

M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Surround Sound PCI Card ( PC / Mac )

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've been looking around for an el cheapo sound card, and I came across this M-Audio 7.1 card (I know, not exactly cheap). Anyways, this is not so much a review as it is buying advice and information. If you look at the used products for this card, there is a Chaintech 7.1 card being offered under this product listing. This sounded fishy to me so I looked into this card. Turns out, the M-Audio is very similar to this Chaintech sound card, using the same audio processor; the Envy24HT chipset. However, the M-Audio supports true 24 bit sound on the analog outputs, whereas the cheaper Chaintec is limited to 18 bit on the analog outs. (the analog outs are where the typical PC speakers are connected to). But, this gets more confusing. First, the Chaintec can support 24 bit/192 khz sound on analog, but only in 2.1 speaker mode, whereas the M-audio can do it 2,4,5,or 7.1 speaker mode. But this is only for the analog output. Why you ask? Well, the analog signal must pass through a DAC, or digital to analog converter in order to translate the audio signal for playback, and the M-Audio uses a better DAC than the Chaintec for channels 1-6. However, the Chaintec uses a better DAC on channels 7-8 (the Wolfgang DAC) hence it can support true 24/192 sound on these two channels. Aside from this analog issue, the M-Audio is known to have problems on its SPDIF output (this is the output on the card that connects to a digital connection like coax or toslink). So, for people who want a sound card to connect to your receiver or an amp, this becomes a drawback (although M-Audio is working on a fix for this problem through soon to be released drivers). Practially speaking, it's not a huge problem, but it'll bug audiophiles because the digital output on the M-Audio does not have native support for ASIO. (ASIO is a high end feature that playsback audio without any resampling; hence it's pure and unmolested). The Chaintec uses a toslink digital out which fully supports 24/192 sound just like the M-Audio. Using the SPDIF on the Chaintec also supports ASIO mode for bit-perfect playback, although you need an external software wrapper like ASIO4ALL to do this, plus it requires a good amount of configuration. (This can done on the M-Audio as well). For the really ambitious, there's even a bios flash program for the Chaintec that can change its native drivers into a Prodigy 7.1 card, hence full native support for ASIO without the need for a third-party wrapper. (But if you figure out how to flash the card into a virtual Prodigy 7.1 card, you lose all analog functionality). So, while the M-Audio may be a better card for analog use, it still costs about 5x the amount of the Chaintec and the digital out is no better than the Chaintec. If you only need the digital output on a sound card, the Chaintec is by far the best bang for your buck. All in all, the research I've done points to the Audiotrack Prodigy 7.1 as the best overall consumer card. (But all of these cards based on the Envy24HT chipset lack hardware acceleration, so hardcore gamers may want to stick to Creative). The Prodigy is about the same price as the M-Audio and it has all of its strengths, but it also has full native support for ASIO. The Prodigy also has better DAC's for analog outputs than the Chaintec.

So, in summary this M-Audio is a good card. But I'd go with the Prodigy 7.1 instead as it's about the same price. For those who are especially cheap or poor or only need the digital out on a sound card, then the Chaintec is the way to go. I ordered it online for under 25 bux with free shipping. Don't be fooled by its generric brand, this is a powerful card with many options, but don't expect much documentation or support on the Chaintec; internet forums notwithstanding. In conclusion, I think it may be worthwhile to do some research on the Chaintech and the Prodigy before shelling out big bux for this M-Audio or any other brand.

After months and years of frustration with balky, expensive, poorly sounding sound cards from that 'creative' company, I finally gave up and did my homework. M-Audio has been in the business for a long time, but most of there gear is specialty items. At just the right time came just the right product. This is an excellent sound card--the specs you can read, but hearing is believing.

The difference is just incredible. You don't know what you're missing in your music until you try out this sound card. Absolutely no distortion, dead quiet background noise, and silky smooth, flat wide response. Listening to a lot of jazz, blues, classical and acoustic music demands the very best of a sound system. With the Revolution card, I can hear musical detail that just wasn't there before. I don't need to turn up the volume (although it's a lot of fun) to hear the rhythm section and background instruments. The splash of cymbals, the clank of a cow bell, or the strings of an acoustic bass are right there in front of you. You'll want the best quality speakers or headphones to get the most out of this card.

Great user interface / control panel. The control panel is cleanly designed and easy to understand. You can see the input signal strength independently of setting the output volume and avoid overdriving the DACs. There are a bunch of surround sound synthesis options which work very well--even with headphones.

I went for the 7.1, but the 5.1 would be fine for most applications and at a (street) price 1/3 of the high-end SB cards.

Well done M-Audio. It's about time someone showed SB how to do it right.

This is best card going.I knew about the company from recording
school.It will be awhile before people catch on to the fact that
M-Audio makes proffesional sound cards and audio interfaces for
digital multi-track recording.Creative is just dabbling compared
to these people.There is no break out box or midi game port,you
will need usb controller.Every current sound format for games
and dvd is covered!192khz is well beyond Audigy 2 and it is far
superior in audio output than any other card going.Easy as sin
to get up and running and yes it runs on XP.Make sure you got XP
service pack 1 installed and you will have zero problems as long
as you properly disable your on board sound.Don't load the dri-
vers on the disk,go to their site and download the current XP
drivers and then shut down and install the card.The digital coax
and mic/line inputs will allow you to run external equipment in
and then out through the card,that's why there's no need for the
break out box and also how they can offer it so cheap.Believe me
the sound is beyond compare.Do yourself a favor though and buy
quality speakers...The sound will smoke your digital home thea-
ter receiver and that is no B.S.

If you're primary concern is music and you don't play any games AND you have a FAST (2Ghz processor +), this is the best sound card you can buy for the $$. If you play any games which need EAX support, don't even think about buying this card. Buy yourself an Audigy 2 ZS and be happy. Finally--your PC needs a fast processor--this thing takes some speed.

I upgraded from a SB Live 5.1 to this card and my Logitech Z-560's sound amazing now...they were good before, but now there is so much more depth and clarity, its amazing!!

I recently bought the Revolution; in fact I have had it for three hours. To be honest this thing sounds much better than anything I have ever heard from Creative. The last sound card that I upgraded in my old machine was an Audigy mp3+. The Revolution easily surpasses that in sound quality. I hear every little detail. As for games I played a couple of games of Warcraft 3 online and it sounded just like my old Audigy, so no let down in terms of gaming imursion. But as for music this thing kicks a#@!!! The sound is soooo clear; I love it. And on my Logitech 680's, this thing really cranks out the tunes! So if you are looking to buy a new sound card I highly suggest this one. It sounds much better than the Audigy, sounds better than even the all-famed Audigy 2 and for 100 bucks who can beat it. Go ahead read the reviews on all the computer hardware WebPages and you will come to the same conclusion as I did. It's a must have!

Do not buy this if you are planning on using Windows Vista. There are no (not even beta) drivers and the Windows XP/64 drivers do not work. M-Audio seems totally arrogant about the whole thing and there are no target dates for any driver support (which hasn't even been confirmed).

This card, using VIA's superb Envy24 HT chipset, is a huge improvement over my Realtek and VIA Envy24HT-S based cards. Everything sounds better.

My old Audigy 2 platinum (which I think I shall melt) did better in 3D games, but only slightly. Since this card doesn't snap, crackle, and pop like the Creative cards do, I'll venture to say that it actually DOES make games better, since there are no weird noises distracting from the feel of the game.

PROS:
* Very high audio sampling rates, allowing for incredibly good audio production; warm, rich, warm bass all the way up to crystal clear highs.
* No crackling, popping, or hissing! A real joy after pulling my hair out for years trying to figure out why Creative Labs cards keep doing this.
* Well-maintained, solid drivers.
* Supports EAX 2.0
* Excellent ASIO support.

CONS:
* No hardware support for DirectSound; however, if your machine is faster than about 1GHz, you probably won't notice the difference. Benchmark your results on a machine made in the last three years and you'll find that no hardware DirectSound acceleration amounts to *less* than a 1% difference in speed.
* Only supports up to EAX 2.0, due to Creative Labs refusing to license the technology. Sound difference is minimal, though.

I purchased this card for my custom-built Home Theater PC (HTPC) running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and it sounds absolutely superb. M-Audio is known for their pro audio gear and the attention to quality can definitely be heard from this great card.

I would give this card 5 stars if it wasn't for the fact that currently there are no Vista drivers for this card. Also, this card is OLD. I believe this card was originally released in 2003. Not only that, M-Audio hasn't released an updated driver for this for a long time. The newest driver is from 2004.

Although the card does not "officially" support XP Media Center, it works perfectly fine with the drivers for regular XP. I had a bit of a problem getting the digital output to work, but their superb tech support was able to provide all the info I needed. Currently I am using the single digital out cable to my receiver and it's outputting PCM, DTS, and dolby digital audio via the digital interface without any problems.

One note of caution if you're using the digital output with XP Media Center Edition: turn off the media center interface sounds (you know, the annoying little sound effects from the buttons, etc.). The digital output can only send audio in one format at a time, so the following scenario can happen:

If you are playing a DVD in DTS, raw DTS audio will go through the digital output. However, if you have sound effects on in Media Center, those are generated in PCM format. XP will send the audio in PCM format via the digital output. Going back to the DVD, you'll find that you get no sound because for some reason either XP doesn't switch the format back or the card doesn't see the change.

If you are planning on running Windows Vista (which I don't recommend at least for a year till the bugs are worked out), then this won't work, but it's a great sounding card for XP.

The M-Audio Revolution 7.1 is listed as being Mac compatible but with all the issues it has currently, I am not sure how that is true.
I own a G4 Mirrored Drive Tower and have had nothing but problems with this sound card. Currently there is still no driver for anything past 10.4.6 and if you upgrade any higher the card will not work in Surround Sound. Besides that there is constant speaker popping and horrible buzzing and squeals when switching between programs, sometimes even when the computer is not in use. It has been flakey with surround sound when using DVD Player and Quicktime, as well. During the 10% of times it works without a hassle the sound is great through my Logitech speakers, so it is quite sad when it doesn't work. It seems that this is the only option for Mac users to achieve surround sound that I know of, which is also very saddening.
I have a feeling I will be selling this to a PC user in the near future and just settling for good ol'stereo.

Good sound cards offer hardware acceleration using DSPs (digital sound processors). The best ones keep CPU utilization to a minimum and handle audio natively. CPU speeds have reached 3Ghz+ and there has been a move to utilize some of these undertaxed CPUs. The M-Audio does exactly this; providing sweet 24-bit sound using host based processing. There are no FireWire, optical, or game port jacks. The M-Audio supports 7.1 analog speakers and supports recording up to 24-bit/96kHz with ASIO drivers (something only available on the expensive Audigy 2 Platimum EX bundle). The M-Audio provides pure sound in 24-bit/96kHz comparable to the Audigy 2. However, the Audigy 2 can play higher resolution DVD audio (24-bit/192kHz). This card gives chores to your CPU. This is bad for gamers and they suffer frame rate hits. Your CPU should be left alone to handle game physics, AI, and other tasks. This souncard sounds as good as and possibly better than the Audigy 2. But, there is a frame rate penalty. The performance won't win over gamers but I recommend it for audiophiles and PC musicians. The bundle comes with Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, MixMan Studio, VJ Lite, WinDVD 4 Dolby Digital EX version. PC and Mac supported.

This soundcard was also reviewed in Maximum PC June 2003 issue (Page 61).