The ENVY24HT-S chip is part of VIA's new Vinyl Audio Solutions line of products. These chips are designed to be used both in stand-alone sound cards and as built in motherboard audio solutions.

In addition to 7.1 surround sound, the chip features 24-bit maximum audio resolution and 192 KHz maximum sampling rate using the digital I/O connectors, and 20-bit, 48Khz using the analog ports. 24-bit audio is actually available when using headphones or analog speakers, but the method of getting it is a bit strange.

The 'Alt center' analog jack is powered by a separate DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) which is actually capable of 24-bit, 192Khz sampling, matching the capabilities of the digital ports. This port can be set to operate independently using the Entertainer's driver panel, and it then produces the desired 24-bit sound (apparently at 96KHz not 192KHz though, according to the driver control panel), but effectively restricts the card to two channels (for headphones or a pair of speakers). Odd, but more of a concern to audiophiles than anyone else.

What the Entertainer does not feature is hardware support for 3D audio, something that its main competitors like the Audigy have implemented for some time. This is not to say it is incapable of producing 3D positional audio, just that it uses software drivers that must use the system's processor power to do so.

This may be less of a concern than it might seem at first, as modern computer processors can easily handle this burden. We'll take a look at how this affects 3D gaming with the Entertainer a little later on.

Why 7.1 channel Audio?

Good question...On one hand, 7.1 is still unquestionably overkill for the PC market, since there are very few consumer 7.1 speaker packages available for home PCs. It's much easier (and cheaper) to get hold of a 7.1 card than it is a matching speaker set.

On the other hand, PCs are much more likely these days to serve as a sort of media center with DVD, audio and games in one package, and nothing accents these three things more than awesome surround sound. New DVDs (using the Dolby digital EX standard) can make full use of 7.1 setups, though they are about the only thing that will. 7.1 support is not really the point of this card though, despite the name.

It's just the feature of choice among soundcards this year. We'd rather you purchase your next soundcard based on its other merits, not its support of 8 speakers.

The Mad Dog Entertainer uses Via's Stylus Audio driver software package. The control panel for the card is straightforward and fairly sparse in terms of features, but easy to use. The volume control for each set of speakers is available from the 'playback' tab and looks like any number of integrated audio software packages.

The 'record' tab is self-explanatory…

The 'Digital out' tab features a variety of settings for the SPDIF port, as well as the control which enables 96KHz output on the 'alt center' analog output (odd place to put this).

The 'enable hi sample rates (96KHz)' setting sets the 'alt-center' analog port with the 24-bit DAC (as mentioned above) to be the only analog output, enabling 24-bit, 96KHz stereo sound over headphones or a pair of speakers only. The other option, 'enable digital output' um, enables digital output.