Chaintech AV-710 arrived!

[R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3]

Just got my AV-710, one day early from newegg. WOot!

As the economical Chaintech AV-710 is becoming quite popular, I thought I'd share my experiences with it for which I haven't read while researching.

The static and whine that I had from my speakers with the onboard nvidia nforce2 (MCP = non-soundstorm) Realtek ALC655 chip are completely gone. The Envy24 HT-S is pure quality, however there are some drawbacks. With the high quality 2-channel Hi-Sample rate setting using the Wolfson DAC, although quality is excellent, it automatically disables any line-in/mic connections. The line-in/mic works with all other output settings but that uses the VIA DAC instead of the high quality Wolfson. I ended up using the AV-710 2-channel Hi-Sample rate only for audio sound output and using the nforce audio for audio sound recording, voice playback, and voice recording under Windows XP "Sounds and Audio Devices Properties".

I have my headset connected to the nforce audio, my Altec Lansing ADA745s and Leadtek TV-tuner line-out (line in on the soundcard) on the AV-710. It worked out and I am satisfied. I do have to get out of the 2 Channel Hi-Sample mode and plug the audio out into channels 1&2 (Hi-Sample rate works on Channels 7&8 only) to watch tv and listen to radio from the TV-tuner every time I need to. But it is a minor problem and the AV-710 offers incredible sound for the price.

Thanks to all for the advice on soundcards.

[Lat]

the av710 would definately be my choice for my next next upgrade...good bang for the buck.

i've heard nothing but good reviews for it

[breez]

Hi. I stumbled upon the same limitation of no line-in with High Samplerate mode when I had the card. Fiddling with the control panel (Via Vinyl) I found a partial solution to the problem.

1) Make sure to have 3.10a or b drivers.

2) Use regular 2 channel mode, BUT still plug in your speakers to the black output jack. This ensures you will get the output from the higher quality Wolfson DAC (the black output jack is physically tied to that DAC).

3) From the Via Vinyl panel find the tab which controls digital out and samplerate settings. Choose to enable digital out (check the box) and choose "PCM Only" below. Find a dropdown box for samplerate and check the "Automatic" setting near it.

4) Enjoy your music in untouched 44.1KHz (CDs) from the Wolfson DAC and use the line-in too! Make sure you don't have resampling in Foobar/player enabled as the card will still play up to 192KHz in this mode (that's right, more than the High Samplerate mode :eek: ), but it will screw up the line-in (doesn't work if the card works at >48KHz).

Make sure to boot your computer after setting these for the first time. A boot is needed because the line-in wouldn't function correctly if the High Samplerate mode was enabled even once in a session.

[shutoutkeeper3]

where can you find the 3.10 drivers? I can't seem to find them.

[breez]

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/Other-DRIVERS-TOOLS/Others/Via-Envy24-PT-310a-WHQL.shtml

And I forgot to mention, that if one wants to hear what is being recorded "Stereo mixer" option from one of the tabs needs to be chosen (if I remember correctly, been a while).