Rating: 
Summary: Excellent card ruined by horrible Win2k drivers, support
Review: (Note: I bought this at Best Buy and not from Amazon).I've never been so frustrated with a computer add-on as this one. The Acoustic Edge is a great sounding product and the best sound card I've ever heard -- for the moments it actually works. I've been plagued by horrible Windows 2000 drivers and feel duped by promises on the box that this sound card is fully compatible and supported for Win2k. What a horrible misclaimer. The problem lies, not entirely, on bad drivers. My stable Win2k Dell crashes about eight times a day (I have it on about six hours daily) with the formidable Blue Screen of Death warning me
that the THbird.sys file caused a memory failure. This is one of the sound card driver files. The website support page is one of the most cryptic, confusing web sites to browse, and low
and behold, there are no Win2k driver updates. So either I'm stuck with a lemon or just plain bad drivers that probably won't be fixed anytime soon. Customer support is the other thorn in my side. The support agent was not helpful whatsoever. Furthermore, I had a $20 rebate on this card, mailed all the materials and four weeks later I receive word that I did not attach the UPC (really bogus claim). The customer service agent told me that they had switched offices (???) and may have lost my claim in the mail. Sure, whatever. It only takes once for me to smell a bogus rebate offer. That's too bad, because the sound itself is truly amazing. With Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 5.1 speakers, I've never heard such amazing clarity in my life. I'm no audiophile so I'm not picky with low and middle range sounds, but even listening to mp3s were a totally new experience. DVD playback was decent but I wasn't able to get full 5.1 channels because the PowerDVD 3.0 software included is an OEM that doesn't enable SPDIF out from my DVD player. But even the four-channel output is great.
Adding insult, though, my headphones won't work, despite their claims that it will. I can get a few minutes of sound in and then all of the sudden I hear loud buzzing. When I change to
speakers, the buzzing is still there, so I'm forced to reboot. What a surprise. The Win2k drivers are absolutely horrible. Granted Win2k is not the ideal OS for gaming and DVDs, but I was never able to fully achieve the sound that I wanted. I could try formatting
my computer and installing Win 98 SE, but why bother? I've already been duped by false driver claims and poor customer support. Even the world's greatest sound card can't make up for that.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent card for games, if u can find 5.1 analog spkrs
Review: First off, I doubt digital speakers work in games(haven't tried them but not taking any chances) I did rig up a kind of 5.1 analog(actually 5.2 analog) with a 4.1 and a cheap 2.1 set hooked cumbresomly around. worked great in Baldur's gate II ToB, before I could hardly hear dialog, especially my own voice files. You must have that center channel for voices to come in clear.(that goes for any system even Creative and Maxi Theater XP which does not allow 5.1 in games) in 2 or 4.1 setup, ambience and music drown the speech out. In DVD it's worse(I'm speaking in all sound cards and any thing asscociated with sound TV's, ect.) If you get this card, RUSH RUSH to get that 5.1 analog sound card before it goes out of circulation like so many good things. The MMS206 is you best shot as it is from Phillips. I cannot find this on any site, it is back orderd on this site. HOPEFULLY it will be in stock again this lifetime. Another issue is the static with some sounds(Win 98 SE start up) but who cares about that?! Yamaha's SXG player will do this to but I think that is my speakers more than the souund card.
Rating: 
Summary: Big Step Above Sound Blaster Live Value
Review: Had a Sound Blaster Live Value. Needed a 5.1 sound card. Chipset used in this card is definitely a step above that of the SBL Value. Crisp clear sound, would reccomend purchasing this along with the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Speakers. Also, winamp can play 5.1 sound (including center channel) without any of the extra BS that you would find with the Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound cards, which from what i hear don't sound as good as the Philips AE.
Rating:
Summary: Beats All Sound Cards
Review: I bought this sound card 3 months back when I built my own PC (Pentium III 1GHz 256 Crucial Memory , ASUS i815EP Black Pearl Special Edition Motherboard , Visiontek GeForce2 Ultra 64MB Video Card , Creative 12X DVD Drive , Creative 121032 CD-RW ,LG 915FT Plus 19" Inch monitor. The installation was pretty easy , the instruction manual was easy to understand and clear.I connected S4Midiland 8200 Dolbydigital 5.1 Speakers to the SPDIF Digital Output .I started to test this setup by playing some MP3's , and I was knocked off to see the quality of the Sound , it was Rich and clear with very good Treble And Bass , next I played some DVD's (Matrix) and it was unbelieveble .It was true 5.1 Dolby Sound. But there are some issues with this sound card , especially the Drivers , Philips has updated the Drivers for Windows (95,98,2000)... it has serious stability issues with windows 2000 , I had many crashes in windows 2000 with this soundcard , so I went back to windows 98 SE and it is no problem now not even a single crash or Blue Screen. Overall I will recommend this soundcard for anybody who wants true Dolby 5.1 Surround sound and plays lot of games , but be careful to use it in Windows 98 only. Creative I am a big fan of your's but I think you lost the "RACE". Good Job Philips , But please Revise your Windows 2000 Drivers.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular!
Review: I love this sound card! Great MP3 audio...but skimpy on the software....easily better hardware than a sblive....need XP drivers though. I love this card...worth every dollar i spent on it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent product
Review: I never knew music from the computer could sound so good. I'm running WinXP with a brand name computer that has onboard sound. After installing the card, the onboard sound was automatically switched off. The 706 is very well made, looks solid and is actually thicker than a $$$ video card. You can tell just by the looks of it, it sounds exceptional.
I've installed the standard drivers for WinXP off Philips' website and was up and running in no time. It took a while to reach the optimum, I hope, settings from the included utility and... wow! I'm amazed! I have the same 2.1 studio speakers in another room running a similar system but with another brand sound card that costs twice the money I've paid for the Philips and it doesn't sound as good. The 706 produces more true to life sounds, cleaner sounds. Very impressed with this product.
Rating:
Summary: Feature Rich, Great Value, Best Buy
Review: I purchased this sound card when building a new computer for my son to take to college with him. The installation of this card was very easy and went smoothly. After purchasing a 5.1 surround sound speaker set and plugging it into the card we began watching a few DVDs. I was very impressed with the quality of the sound and the channel seperation. Playing games with this card definitely enhances gameplay and game enjoyment. I told a few friend of mine about the card and they came over to hear for themselves. Each one said that the sound produced was better than any surround sound system they had heard. I highly recommend this card for anyone wishing to upgrade their computer sound system, or building a new system. For the price and the features this card can't be beat.
Rating: 
Summary: Have a strong dislike for this card
Review: I really wanted to like this card..
And to be honest, it does very well in games (under win98).. But midi sounds horrible, and Philips refuses to not only not produce Linux drivers, but not release source for linux coders to produce drivers... So in Linux you have no sound.. period! I wish I had gotten the Hercules sound card that was my other choice... Sucks hearing from a friend who didn't make my mistake telling me how great the hercules card is under windows AND Linux and wishing I went the other way when they herc and Philips were my top two choices.
Rating:
Summary: Have a strong dislike for this card
Review: I really wanted to like this card..
And to be honest, it does very well in games (under win98).. But midi sounds [bad], and Philips refuses to not only not produce Linux drivers, but not release source for linux coders to produce drivers... So in Linux you have no sound.. period! I wish I had gotten the Hercules sound card that was my other choice... [it is bad] hearing from a friend who didn't make my mistake telling me how great the hercules card is under windows AND Linux and wishing I went the other way when they herc and Philips were my top two choices.
Rating:
Summary: 2-Channel output failed
Review: I went over it and over it with technical support, but the card would not put out stereo two-channel sound correctly under Windows 2000. I got a kind of mono sound output, with the right channel on the left, and no balanced right.
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