Terratec Aureon 5.1PCI
Buy Now...
This PCI card costs a lot less than a basic sound card did not that many years ago but it can do a lot more and gives vastly better sound quality. However one note of warning should you have onboard sound make sure you can disable it as a lot of PCs motherboard manuals are - shall we say - difficult to follow. In some cases it is impossible to disable the onboard sound.
However the PC I inserted the Aureon 5.1 PCI card in already had a soundcard and therefore it was just a case of swapping it out. As with almost any installation I would recommend setting a System Restore point before you do anything. After all should the worst happen and the new card not work, do you know where the drivers for the old card are? I certainly didnt. So System Restore point set, switch off and open the case. Locate the old sound card and note which plug goes in which hole, unplug them all and remove the screw from the bracket the old sound card should now come out without too much effort.
Always ground yourself radiator or PC Chassis work for me to discharge any static before touching any electronic circuitry such as a PCI card. Insert the card into a spare PCI slot, no reason not to use the slot the old card came from if like me you are replacing. Make sure the contacts are fully inserted into the board. Next screw into bracket and then replace all plugs and leads such as the fly lead from CD player as well as leads to speakers and should you use one the microphone.
If you do not currently have a 5.1 speaker setup check which of the three stereo line outputs you should plug your pair of speakers into. Next reassemble the case and bootup. Windows should find the new hardware and the supplied Aureon CD has the drivers required. Thats it, you should hear sounds from your speakers, you think you are done but no you are not.
There is another Setup to be completed - and for me anyway it did not run automatically. If you do not run the setup program your Microphone volume will be so low as to be detectable only by bats. Once run you have a second sound control panel and this has a boost button for the microphone and this needs to be pressed. Now everything works.
A 5.1 sound card and or course the speakers that take advantage of the output make your PCs sound a lot more desirable. Anything that takes advantage of 5.1 sounds sound vastly better when played through a soundcard and speakers that can interpret all the information.
Unlike some basic sound cards there are two internal CD outputs and so many PCs today have a DVD drive and a CD, so this is a plus. This Terratec unit also has digital inputs and outputs (sometimes called optical) but as yet little equipment can take advantage of these sockets.
I was pleased with the sound this card gave but less pleased with the installation that made problems, a paper manual rare as hens teeth today would have told me a further install should have taken place and would have saved several hours of non existent problems with my microphone. The stated price is £17.99.
| add to del.icio.us | Digg this review |
| StumbleUpon | |
!!
