The VIA Envy24 audio chipset series delivers some of the best sound quality available for personal computers. While available as a discrete card, is most commonly sold as an integrated solution for motherboards. Ironically, since the demise of the SoundStorm audio solution, the VIA Envy has become a replacement part for integrated audio on nVidia motherboards.

The Envy chipset delivers true 24-bit sound, something not even the Creative Audigy offered when launched. However it lacks hardware 3D positional sound, which means CPU usage across various scenarios is noticably higher than either SoundStorm or Audigy based solutions. VIA has stated they have no intention of implementing CPU offload in hardware, due to the increased manufacturing costs.

Features

• 24-bit resolution audio format support
• Sampling rates up to 96 KHz
• Up to 8 outbound streams and 4 simultaneous input streams
• Surround sound audio 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1

External Links

• VIA: Vinyl Envy24PT PCI Audio controller

• M-Audio's Revolution 7.1 sound card

• M-Audio Revolution 7.1