I'm currently in the planning stages of my next box. I'm not really familiar with sound cards other than Creative, but their linux support is less than stellar. Long story short, what are some really good 5.1 or 7.1 (preferably 7.1) surround cards with good Linux support. I need this card for gaming, music, and movies. I have a good ear and decent speakers, possibly getting better speakers at some point, so I want something really good.

My understanding was to the contrary, that thier linux support was great, what sort of problems are you having?

The way I understand it, their driver (snd_emu10k1) only full supports the Live series of cards, meaning that I can only get 16 bit sound out of my Audigy, which should be giving me 24 bit. If they have only really supported up to the Live (I think one version of Audigy has another driver, but not all versions) I really don't expect good support for an Audigy 2 or X-FI type card. Plus, I never could get OpenAL working with my card.

P.S. I understand that the human ear can only hear 16 bits, that the extra 8 are for extra stuff (maybe 3d effects?). That doesn't stop me from wanting the extra bits, I'm sure they have some use.

The Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 (Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 LT is the same too) is the best 7.1 sound card that works in Linux. Creative Labs sound devices are crap. Computer sound devices that uses eletrolyte capacitors in the audio path will sound like crap. It is better and cheaper to use mylar capacitors for audio.

This is not true at all. It is also incorrect. The 24-bit sound adds audio accuracy although very expensive equipment have to be used to produce it. Every sample will get 24-bit resolution or 16777216 levels of loudness of an audio signal. The 3D effect gives a sound illusion by using two speakers to create additional speakers. The 3D sound effects is done by panning the channels, changing the pitch, equalizing it, adding reverb, adding chorus, etc.

Very nice. Any one know where I can order one of these OEM? I am curious as to why there are no Audiotrack Entries in the HCL? Or did I miss them? I did manage to find one entry about the Envy24 chipset, on the Turtle Beach Catalina. It wasn't very informative though. On that note, how are the Turtle Beach cards?

im not dat sure....sori hor....

These Envy24Ht cards look to be pretty good, from the reviews I've been seeing, they are excellent for music and video, but fall behind Audigy's in the area of gaming. This seems to be mainly because of EAX. (which we don't have anyways right?) Unfortunately, it's looking darn near impossible to find a Prodigy 7.1 in the U.S. Has anyone had any experience with the M-Audio Revolution 7.1? It appears to be essentially the same thing, and I can get it from Newegg.

Linux gaming with both Creative Labs and other sound card manufactures have the same performance. There is no EAX support and no support for more than two channels in any Linux game. Linux is at the mercy of OpenAL development.

Try doing a search with froogle. I recommend Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 LT over the Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 because it uses better capacitors and spliter cable to make it easier to connect the connectors.

The disadvantage of using VIA Envy24 chip is it can only play one source at a time, so you have to use software mixing such as alsa dmixer or esound. This is one reason why it does poor in Windows games.

I am just lazy to add an entry to HCL of this forum. ALSA has it in their list, so you should have looked there. From the bug reports, Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 LT works just fine.