2013-02-06, 20:07
I posted a ticket earlier this week (well a number of them) in regards to problems I was having. First, there was a video problem. I solved that by installing an older driver. Then I had an audio problem. But, I solved that. Here's the result:
(Keep in mind, I'm doing this on two different computers that have Windows XP and Windows 7 x64 individually.)
Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit
The install went smooth. The stereo out works perfectly fine. However, once you start setting up 5.1 to go out the coax port, all stereo playback becomes blown out and distorted. I don't understand why it does that. But, considering the information I have about other cards, I'm guessing this particular card was a substandard card. (By the way, when I tried to install these drivers in Windows 7, the install kept crashing Windows, for future reference.) I tried sepparating the audio so that 5.1 went out the coax and 2.0 went out the analog. Actually, that was something that happened more by accident. But, that didn't work either.
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
Yes, this card was so old Turtle Beach discontinued support for it (I couldn't even get compatibility mode to work for me in Windows 7. Of course, I was using Win7 64-bit and some older 32-bit drivers have problems with that.). However, I still had the drivers. So, I installed it to see how it would handle. It still outputs audio perfectly fine. However, it can't carry 5.1 encoded audio.
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
The install went fairly smooth, just like the Live card. It wasn't that difficult to setup. I was able to get 2.0 and 5.1 going down the coax output without distortion from either mix.
I also have a Turtle Beach Montego. But, I already tried that in Windows 7 from an earlier test and, under the right conditions, it didn't have a problem*. So, I'm confident about that one.
*-The drivers that would install in Windows 7 didn't have a problem. However, I had audio problems with all my cards in Windows 7. The audio would sound skippy (for lack of better description). However, when I installed x64, the sound sounded much smoother.
(Keep in mind, I'm doing this on two different computers that have Windows XP and Windows 7 x64 individually.)
Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit
The install went smooth. The stereo out works perfectly fine. However, once you start setting up 5.1 to go out the coax port, all stereo playback becomes blown out and distorted. I don't understand why it does that. But, considering the information I have about other cards, I'm guessing this particular card was a substandard card. (By the way, when I tried to install these drivers in Windows 7, the install kept crashing Windows, for future reference.) I tried sepparating the audio so that 5.1 went out the coax and 2.0 went out the analog. Actually, that was something that happened more by accident. But, that didn't work either.
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
Yes, this card was so old Turtle Beach discontinued support for it (I couldn't even get compatibility mode to work for me in Windows 7. Of course, I was using Win7 64-bit and some older 32-bit drivers have problems with that.). However, I still had the drivers. So, I installed it to see how it would handle. It still outputs audio perfectly fine. However, it can't carry 5.1 encoded audio.
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
The install went fairly smooth, just like the Live card. It wasn't that difficult to setup. I was able to get 2.0 and 5.1 going down the coax output without distortion from either mix.
I also have a Turtle Beach Montego. But, I already tried that in Windows 7 from an earlier test and, under the right conditions, it didn't have a problem*. So, I'm confident about that one.
*-The drivers that would install in Windows 7 didn't have a problem. However, I had audio problems with all my cards in Windows 7. The audio would sound skippy (for lack of better description). However, when I installed x64, the sound sounded much smoother.
