CSL - 7.1 PCI sound card - 8-channel surround sound card + Toslink Optical Audio Out : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

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Product details

Is discontinued by manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15 x 13.4 x 3.2 cm; 80 Grams
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ 28 Dec. 2015
Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ CSL-Computer
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00NNQ9SQA
Item model number ‏ : ‎ A20698x50
Guaranteed software updates until ‏ : ‎ unknown

Customer reviews:
3.7 145 ratings

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5

145 global ratings

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Anthony McAllister

Was sure it wasn't working, then through experimenting found it was fine.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 14 June 2016

Verified Purchase

I like this, though with a couple of issues....

I ordered this card as my Soundblaster card suddenly produced no sound, neither did a replacement soundblaster that I ordered. I decided to give this a shot as due to its low price if it also failed then maybe I needed to bite the bullet and get a new PC. I knew the speakers worked so they were definitely not the problem.

Installing the driver (Win7) was seriously more hassle than it should have been. Downloaded a more recent copy off the net and got stuck in an endless round of 'insert CSI device' until I got sick of it and rebooted, which then showed in Device Manager that it was installed correctly. But still no sound.

I looked online to see if anyone else was having similar issues - they were, like a lot of people are with Win7 for a lot of soundcards, but none of the proposed solutions worked. Depressing.

Before I completely gave up, I had a thought. My speaker cable plugs are colour coded, usually to match the card - green to green, orange to orange, black to black. That gave me no sound. I tried plugging the green plug into orange and tested................... Sound!!!! Went through the other plugs (orange to green etc.) and now I have extremely good sound for the price, but of course the speakers help. Can't fault the cards sound, am a little bit critical that it appears to not be following established standards.

I guess there's a chance that this is an unintended consequence of a Win7 update at some point a few weeks back, and maybe my Creative cards would also have worked if I had tried this, just didn't think to try because the original one had been working fine and frankly don't want to tempt fate by swapping them over again.

One person found this helpful

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Simeuk

As others have commented for Windows 10 you need to select the Windows 8 driver that is included on the supplied CD but it insta

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 10 April 2016

Verified Purchase

I thought I would write this as I had relied on similar comments from other owners (and the manufactures page is no help at all)

I installed this to replace an older Auzentech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 DTS-Connect card which did not have drivers I could use in Window's 10.

As others have commented for Windows 10 you need to select the Windows 8 driver that is included on the supplied CD but it installed easily enough and recognised the hardware fine.

If you want to passthrough to SPDF using the PCI 3D Audio Configuration Menu then it only seems to give you 2 channel as an option. However when I tweaked the settings on my Sony Amplifier I was getting decent 5.1 Sound comparable to my old card on a variety of different media formats.

So for a tenner it is giving pretty good sound and I would recommend it. I knocked a star off as the manufacturer made it difficult to understand the speciation's.

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ld

False advertising - does not support 24bit audio.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 7 June 2015

Verified Purchase

False advertising - this does not support 24 bit, it only supports 16 bit. This matters a lot if you want to use software volume control rather than controlling the volume in the external DAC or amp, because using software volume on 16 bit audio results in bad quantization noise.

If you're not using software volume control with an external DAC, that doesn't matter, you can ignore this review, I haven't tried the other features of this card to comment on them.

Note that rev 0.9 of the CMI8768 datasheet (pdf.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheets2/86/867212_1.pdf) says it supports 24bit, but the newer rev 1.4 (www.hardwaresecrets.com/datasheets/CMI8768.pdf) and the product's web page http://www.cmedia.com.tw/ProductsDetail/page-p/C1Serno-53/C2Serno-56/PSerno-33.html don't mention 24 bit at all.

6 people found this helpful

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Robert Palmer

... sound output to headphones or simple stereo aux is fine, with the reservation that the colour coding seems ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 5 December 2016

Verified Purchase

The sound output to headphones or simple stereo aux is fine, with the reservation that the colour coding seems to be non-standard. I put the plug in the green, as usual, and nothing happened, but the socket next to it was carrying the signal. (I have not tested the surround sound capability because I have not got the speakers for it.) The microphone-in socket registers a signal but it is so quiet that it is unusable. On the other hand if I use a USB webcam sound input it is loud (satisfactory). My motherboard sound service is inoperative, so the USB input must be going through the CSL 7.1 which has therefore saved me from buying a new computer but it leaves something to be desired. I have hopes for the stereo line-in (usually blue) socket, but I have not tested it yet.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 30 December 2016

Verified Purchase

Works on Windows 7, but no Windows 10 drivers will ever be available.
The chip manufacturer has stated that it has no plans to write a Windows 10 driver.
Some people claim to have got the Windows 7 ones working, but it's not simple.
I moved this to a Windows 7 machine, and used the other card from that machine in the Windows 10 machine.
I once earned a living writing Windows devices drivers, and even I figured I've got better things to spend my time on.

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Sean Lowe

Great as a replacement for onboard audio

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 20 July 2016

Verified Purchase

I built my son a PC a few years back for some basic gaming of TF2 and Indie stuff, its served him well for a few years until recently the audio stopped working, after a few hours of trying new drivers and new headsets, we realised that the onboard sound had gone..

Using this saved on buying a new motherboard, and with the added bonus of better sound quality more inputs and optical output.

It works great, no issues in Windows 10 and drivers just work. you need a PCI slot free but thats about it, only gripe is it didn't come with a case slot screw so was wobbly for a day or two until i ordered one.

But as it works great I am very happy

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Aren

Make sure you have the correct type of PCI slot for it.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 23 March 2015

Verified Purchase

I can't fault the quality build of the product, it felt great and slotted in nicely. However, I had to send mine back as it didn't seem to be compatible with my motherboard and didn't work at all for this fact. I probably just didn't have the correct PCI slot for it. Don't let this put you off, read the compatibility instructions carefully for your motherboard and you'll find this a well built product for a good price.

One person found this helpful

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Toby Clifford

Sound output is good however I cannot seem to get 5

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 28 June 2015

Verified Purchase

Sound output is good however I cannot seem to get 5.1 sound out through the optical cable via Dolby Digital or DTS. This may be a windows limitation because the reviewer picks up a DTS/Dolby Digital signal when in test mode in the control panel but nothing I download which has 5.1 sound plays in 5.1

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Brand	CSL-Computer
Audio output mode	Surround
Hardware platform	digital
Surround-sound channel configuration	7 1
Maximum sample rate	48 KHz

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