Disclaimer: I went ahead and bought this EVGA NU Audio card without seeing and reading any reviews because NONE had been submitted prior (since it was a totally brand new product (which I was always taught growing up to NEVER buy the first of anything produced)), so I was truly taking a chance, but reverted back to YOLO (You Only Live Once); so what the heck, I went for it!
I bought this sound card to replace my onboard Realtek audio card that had stopped working, most likely from being mishandled by the military's genius packaging and moving companies that are contracted to pack up, move, and store military personnel (and family's) household goods. I'm a retired and disabled combat veteran, so upon receiving my HHGs after they were in storage in a warehouse for over a year and a half, the sound card no longer worked, the video card was broken (No video), and the front cover to the case was cracked and broken as well. So, I set off to repair my old, dated, antiquated computer, of which had Windows 7 as the Operating System (OS). I took the computer case apart, super-glued the cracked and broken clips/ pieces back together, and snapped them back into place. I then went on EVGA's website and ordered a new video card; this being the 2nd video card that I had purchased from them as I was entirely satisfied with the previous one (the video card that was in the computer currently), which was bounced/ thrown around by the military's expertly contracted and oh so gentle moving companies (a bit of sarcasm there, if you are not able to detect it).
After receiving the EVGA video card (I believe it was the EVGA Novia 2500 or something like that, I can't accurately remember at this point), I installed it and I had great video once again.
Then, to beat all, I ran into another problem; NO. SOUND. AT. ALL. My onboard Realtek audio card had $hipped the bed (should I state again), most likely as a direct result of the military's oh so careful and gentle moving contractors that they hire to move us guys that sign/signed/have signed a blank check (with our lives) for this great country for which we go to war and for which would die.
So, I began looking for an audio card.....I trusted the EVGA products; they had worked well enough for me before, so I went back to their website, and low and behold, they had an audio card on there! So, I went to Amazon, bought this NU Audio card of which had 0 reviews and totally placed my trust in EVGA, AGAIN! Little did I know that once receiving the $250 card, EVGA would NOT have the drivers for a 32 bit Windows 7 OS for which to download. HOPELESSNESS!!
I sent an email to EVGA's customer service about the issue and first received a response that EVGA would NOT be producing a 32 bit Windows 7 OS driver to download; I felt totally hopeless at this point, as you can probably imagine! Not being programmed to take "NO" for an answer, I emailed EVGA's customer service AGAIN and restated the problem and told them what I had been told in the previous reply. I received a better, more pleasing and hopeful message back; I never should have been told what I was told prior and that EVGA WOULD be creating a 32 bit Windows 7 OS driver, BUT did not know how long it would be until it was created and distributed via their website, nor was any estimated time frame given for when the driver would be available for download. Again, hopelessness!
After attempting to troubleshoot, experiment, and play around with powering down/ up, pulling different cards, placing different cards in different locations/ slots inside my computer, and basically doing everything in my power that I knew to do with the different cards and options that I had available to me in my computer at this time, I then decided that the level of expertise that I required was at a local computer shop that had worked on my sister's computers one time before. So I took it to them, they convinced me to upgrade to a whole new computer.....so $560 later, I have this new computer built around this 1 single EVGA NU Audio card. It works great though, with all of the "bells and whistles" of changing colors of light as it plays heavenly sounds that only Jesus Christ himself should have the pleasure of jamming out to!
So, to sum up everything above, I went through Hell to get to Heaven and am enjoying every bit of sound that comes out of the EVGA NU Audio sound card!! I would highly recommend it!! It took me on a heavenly ride to a brand new computer, of which need to be upgraded 5 years ago!
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Customer reviews
I've been waiting years for a sound card this good.
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2019
My previous sound card was a Sound Blaster X-Fi circa 2004. It lasted many years until it finally died a couple years ago. I tried a Sound Blaster Audigy FX PCIe 5.1 in 2017, but sadly it never lived up to my old X-Fi. I reverted to my motherboard's onboard sound, and have been yearning for better sound for a years.When this card was announced, I was very excited but my wallet wasn't quite ready. I've finally taken the plunge, and I can officially say it is amazing. The sound is crystal clear, and it provides so much more power than what I was used to. It did sound a little flat at first, but I changed the equalizer settings to the picture above and it has made a tremendous difference.For installation - installing was very easy, but this card does take a SATA power cable, which I had to unplug one of my hard drives for, so be aware of that. I have ordered another cable, so its just a minor inconvenience. I downloaded the driver direct from EVGA(a whopping 8mb surprisingly) and it installed in a couple of minutes. Everything was working immediately after that.My setup - I use Klipsch RP-160M Bookshelf Speakers, with Klipsch Reference R-10SW 10" 300w Powered Subwoofer. I have these connected to an old Pioneer receiver(which may be a bottleneck at this point). I am using SPDIF/optical cable to run from the Nu sound card to the receiver. Windows 10.I have been listening to a variety of audio files. My receiver doesn't take 192khz but it does take 96khz and I can say it sounds extremely good. I could always tell a slight difference between 44khz FLAC and MP3, but now it is a night and day difference. Everything overall sounds amazing. I've been waiting a very long time for another high end sound card, and its finally here. I don't think I've ever been happier with a purchase.
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2019
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 10, 2019
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 30, 2019
Once the unit was installed and the driver and software was operational; the sound is rich vivid and audiophile-grade in nature. Aesthetically the RGB lighting is cool and programable, but the look is more ASROCK TAICHI or ASUS Prime than ASUS ROG or Gigabyte Aorus or MSI Godlike. You can see the images at EVGA's website.
So after listening for awhile , I feel the marketing hoopla is warranted. When the card is driving some KRK Rockit 5 Studio Monitors, an immersive, explosive, nuanced and lifelike soundscape can be heard and felt.
The software is simple to use. The interaction with Windows 10 has been stable and non-invasive so far. I'm a happy listener on all those points. The downer here is that EMI/RF noise due to the non-shielded monitors can be heard, though at a very low level when using the default speaker output versus the S/PDIF optical output. So RFID shield cloth here I come.
Try Again EVGA Points:
I didn't like that the TOSlink port immediately fell apart. It uses a pressed-in door and socket mechanism which is too delicate and immediately parted with the I/O frame after a gentle tug on the premium optical cable (TOSlink S/PDIF). If you look at the same TOSlink Port on anything else you own that is still working, you will see why those manufactures DO NOT use this trap door plastic S/PDIF port and why that device still works after many insertions and cable pulls.
The other design item I really didn't embrace is "the taller than usual solder joints protruding from the PCB". I was hyper vigilant in assessing whether the card would for any reason flex sufficiently to make conductive contact with the AMD Radeon 5700XT GPU (Metal Shrouded) and ultimately mounted it first on the PCI-e bus. Mine now has an insulating felt layer to avoid shorting should the chassis bounce a little (Not shown in photo) or otherwise anything metallic finds its way to the surface.
I really feel the sound quality is stellar, but some of the design oversights should be addressed to reduce warranty claims and improve functionality. It's brand new for EVGA, a tenured company in the PC performance/enthusiast marketspace so I don't feel this indicates a systemic issue and at the time of this review, some or all those issues may already be resolved in the current inventory.
While I do want mine fixed so that the S/PDIF (optical) port is usable, the sound card sounds much better than the onboard premium ASUS Realtek unit (ASUS Crosshair Hero Ryzen mobo) and is worth the money I spent on it.
I replaced some tired PCI-Only RME Audio 9632 cards and also disabled the onboard Realtek). Most people are happy with the onboard sound which is pretty good as they come on ROG motherboards but adding this audio card offers a "really obvious sonic upgrade".
Finally Grace UK's expertise is finding itself at the heart of distinctive products like Izotopes' Spire Studio mic preamps so the pro audio resume brings confidence to this purchase. Thanks and (no -thanks as noted) EVGA.
Watch the solder connections on the back of the PCB and the S/PDIF TosLink Socket
By String Theory on August 30, 2019
Winner out of the Gate Points:By String Theory on August 30, 2019
Once the unit was installed and the driver and software was operational; the sound is rich vivid and audiophile-grade in nature. Aesthetically the RGB lighting is cool and programable, but the look is more ASROCK TAICHI or ASUS Prime than ASUS ROG or Gigabyte Aorus or MSI Godlike. You can see the images at EVGA's website.
So after listening for awhile , I feel the marketing hoopla is warranted. When the card is driving some KRK Rockit 5 Studio Monitors, an immersive, explosive, nuanced and lifelike soundscape can be heard and felt.
The software is simple to use. The interaction with Windows 10 has been stable and non-invasive so far. I'm a happy listener on all those points. The downer here is that EMI/RF noise due to the non-shielded monitors can be heard, though at a very low level when using the default speaker output versus the S/PDIF optical output. So RFID shield cloth here I come.
Try Again EVGA Points:
I didn't like that the TOSlink port immediately fell apart. It uses a pressed-in door and socket mechanism which is too delicate and immediately parted with the I/O frame after a gentle tug on the premium optical cable (TOSlink S/PDIF). If you look at the same TOSlink Port on anything else you own that is still working, you will see why those manufactures DO NOT use this trap door plastic S/PDIF port and why that device still works after many insertions and cable pulls.
The other design item I really didn't embrace is "the taller than usual solder joints protruding from the PCB". I was hyper vigilant in assessing whether the card would for any reason flex sufficiently to make conductive contact with the AMD Radeon 5700XT GPU (Metal Shrouded) and ultimately mounted it first on the PCI-e bus. Mine now has an insulating felt layer to avoid shorting should the chassis bounce a little (Not shown in photo) or otherwise anything metallic finds its way to the surface.
I really feel the sound quality is stellar, but some of the design oversights should be addressed to reduce warranty claims and improve functionality. It's brand new for EVGA, a tenured company in the PC performance/enthusiast marketspace so I don't feel this indicates a systemic issue and at the time of this review, some or all those issues may already be resolved in the current inventory.
While I do want mine fixed so that the S/PDIF (optical) port is usable, the sound card sounds much better than the onboard premium ASUS Realtek unit (ASUS Crosshair Hero Ryzen mobo) and is worth the money I spent on it.
I replaced some tired PCI-Only RME Audio 9632 cards and also disabled the onboard Realtek). Most people are happy with the onboard sound which is pretty good as they come on ROG motherboards but adding this audio card offers a "really obvious sonic upgrade".
Finally Grace UK's expertise is finding itself at the heart of distinctive products like Izotopes' Spire Studio mic preamps so the pro audio resume brings confidence to this purchase. Thanks and (no -thanks as noted) EVGA.
Images in this review
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Iram
Claro que debe tener RGB, estamos en plano 2019 papá!
Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on October 26, 2019
Claro que debe tener RGB, estamos en plano 2019 papá!
Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on October 26, 2019
-No sé por que la comunidad gringa empezó a tener tantos problemas con ésta tarjeta de audio, Tal vez simplemente utilizaban extensores de PowerSATA o cables que no son originarios de la fuente, en mi caso tengo ya 10 días con ella, funciona excelente! (utilizo una linea directamente de la fuente de poder sin compartirlo con SSD o discos duros, son de CableMod para una P2 de EVGA) luce bellísima, me encanta por que ya tengo una RTX2080ti de evga y luce muy bien al lado de ella.Reviewed in Mexico 🇲🇽 on October 26, 2019
-Para sacarle jugo necesitas excelentes Audífonos, (Si tienes audífonos 'gamer' no pierdas tu dinero en esto y mejor comprate buenos audífonos)
-Se ha probado hasta ahora con audífonos Sennheiser HD 598Cs y HD650! se escucha precioso!
antes utilizaba solucionens de Tubo de Sybasonic y Soundblaster por USB, pero tenían algo que no agradaba, opté por comprar ésta para sacar partido de los Sennheiser y todo lo que escucho se escucha excelente! utilizando una impedancia de 300 Ohm, los bajos jamás hacen que se ensucie el sonido, que no pierda la calidad, con los soundblaster siempre que hacia uso de bajos ahogaban totalmente mis audífonos cosa que con ésta solución de EVGA no. Todo esto probandolo desde el Jack 6.35, aún no he probado las salidas RCA, aún estoy en planes de comprarme unos monitores de estudio para sacar partido aún más.
-Al escuchar archivos FLAC, DSD se asegura un rendimiento optimo, si compras esto no te pondrás a escuchar MP3.
-el software es excelente, sencillo para cualquier persona y tiene la posibilidad de hacer utilidades más avanzadas para usuarios más avanzados, valga me. En el mismo software puedes controlar el volumen maestro de Windows 10 así como el volumen independiente del sistema solo para los audífonos cosa que se agradece demasiado al momento de grabar Gameplays o en general para uso cotidiano, de cualquier manera también es bueno controlarle de primera instancia con el EqualizerAPO para gestionar mejor eso. Puedes seleccionar escuchar sólo con los audifonos con el 6.35 con un icono y cambiando dicho icono, puedes pasar a usar los RCA para escuchar tú música con Monitores de estudio con la misma configuración de volumen y efectos que ayas guardado para el Jack. De igual manera puedes Switchear a Sonido Optico para un Home theater o sonido 7.1 con las mismas configuraciones.
-Tienen un sonido de 32 Bits Punto Flotante, 384000.
-Claro que debe tener RGB, estamos en plano 2019 papá!
-Los juegos, la música, películas en particular (asegurate que sean de muy excelente calidad)
En especial los juegos, los probé con la reciente salida del Gears5 que tiene sonido DTS, chulada de sonido!
-Lo recomiendo? Yo sólo lo compré por que soy algo entusiasta del sonido y quería ocupar esas línes de PCIExpress! pero de igual manera hay soluciones por USB que no están mal!
Si quieres conectar unas buenas bocinas 2.0 o Monitores de estudio, una solución más barata son unos Topping D10 Mini USB!
-EVGA jura por su madre que seguirá actualizando el firmware así que.. esperemos que si.
Update 2020/06/18
-Mi EVGA Nu audio, sigue funcionando perfecto! con mis Sennheiser HD660s y mis Beyerdynamic 880!
Vi que salieron nuevas versiones en color naranja y con un añadido extra para Surround, pero tengo años con una Sound Blaster Audigy fx exclusivamente para un sonido 5.1 de logitech así que no lo veo necesario de momento, tal vez cuando se me heche a perder la Audigy pero aguanta durísimo que ya lleva 4 años funcionando espero lo mismo que la evga.
Update #2 10/06/21
Dos años después, sigue como nueva y se sigue escuchando muy bien, preciosa tarjeta de audio para escuchar música con Audífonos de gama alta y sobresaliente en gaming.
Sólo el RGB es malo a mi opinion, no representa para nada los colores que buscas.
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Matthew
To date this is the best PCIe stereo sound card out there. Probably too good!
Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on September 17, 2019
Clive Magill
Sound is great but software is garbage
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 16, 2021
Kevin E.
Spitzen Soundkarte - um längen besser als jedes Mainboardaudio
Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on December 4, 2019Chudoba
Sporadische Tonaussetzer nach kurzer Nutzung
Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on March 25, 2021
