i am debating weather or not to get the turtle beach 5.1 or

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc....-118-101&depa=0

oooor the chaintech

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc....-120-103&depa=0

money aside, i just want the hands down better card


i have a 4.1 speaker setup (altec lansing 4.1) and i use headphones often


i hear alot of good things of both, and im looking for some expert opinions

thanks in advanced

Chaintech AV-710 in high quality mode is only 2 channels, but will easily beat the Santa Cruz in sound quality due to the Wolfson WM8728 24/192 DAC.

Mini Review
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread....newpost&t=75454

Setup Guide for AV-710
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=75655

One thing to bear in mind is that, in my experience, the AV710 drivers for Windows suck. An opinion from somebody who uses this card under Windows would be good (I'm a Linux user) but from setting them up to play some games they seem buggy, badly written and generally shoddy. Not having used the Turtle Beach, I can't comment on it's drivers.

As far as the hardware goes, I am very happy with my Chaintech AV-710. Multi channel mode for surround speakers and high rate mode through the nice DAC for my headphones. And you certainly can't beat the value.

Also remember it's a good card for bit-perfect digital out as well if you need that !

If you want to use Linux, you can get any ICE1724-based (Envy 24HT*/PT*) card.
They have excelent ALSA drivers.
AFAIK no ICE1724 card provides hardware mixing.
ALSA can provide software mixing if you desire it, under Windows Sensaura does it, but it's a bit shoddy wrt 3D sound.
Windows drivers for Aureon Sky/Space are quite good and stable since some time. Don't know about AV-710.
To add, Aureon Sky/Space is non-resampling, under Windows too (if you disable Sensaura).

That Chaintech AV-710 looks very much like Aureon 7.1 Space,
except that it doesn't have Optical In and headphone amplifier.

If I were you, I'd stay away from USB sound devices.
They still have problems with the drivers and most are resampling.

This Turtle Beach card does look promising.
You should check whether it is possible to turn off Sensaura.
(otherwise you're stuck at 48kHz)
I'd ditch it anyway because it has no digital in/out.