The "Word" on Windows 7 Sound Drivers

[doomgaze3]

I'm looking to put together a new PC - it's not going to be anything too fancy, but I definitely require a add-in sound board to do some processing for gaming and hobbyist audio apps. The issue I keep running in to with EVERY card that I look at seems to be drivers for Windows 7. Every single board I look at has forums or reviews flooded with users having driver issues with Windows 7 (64 bit, particularly).

Cards I've looked at include:

Creative's X-Fi Series (NewEgg, Forums)
■ Platinum Fatality - NewEgg
■ XtremeGamer - NewEgg
■ Titanium - NewEgg
■ Official Forums - Windows 7 Forum, SoundBlaster Forum

Asus Xonar series
■ D2X - Official Forums, NewEgg
■ D2 - NewEgg,
■ All Others - Official Forum

Auzentech X-Fi series
■ HomeTheater HD - NewEgg, Official Forums
■ Prelude - Official Forums
■ Bravura - Official Forums, NewEgghttp://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16829156015

Diamond XtremeSound
■ NewEgg, Official Forums - Nevermind, apparently they got rid of their forums. Good move, IMHO.
■ Personal Experience - I own one and I've had problems with garbled VOIP in Windows XP. In 7 and XP, I've had problems with the card not multitasking properly; certain apps cause the card to go haywire and switch into chipmunk sound-mode. In their defense, I haven't checked for driver updates in about 3 months, but I doubt the situation has improved much.

Now, I know that I'm simply pointing out the worst of the worst with these links. However, I have a good reason for doing this: I use the hell out of my hardware. Not in the sense that I abuse it, but I do tend to use ALL of the features of my hardware, not just a hand full. I don't want to install the thing just to find that a feature that I needed is broken and will probably stay broken for the next year or two - or worse, the company comes out with a "new" piece of hardware that supposedly works. I've been down that road with sound cards before and I don't care for it.

All that being said, can anyone recommend a card or company that actually has their (expletive deleted) together as far as drivers go?

 

[gamerk316]

The Xonar line is fine; some "minor" driver issues when 7 first came out, but everythings been working fine for a while now. Creative...still has the same issues we've been complaining about for the past several years...Can't say anything about Auzentech personally.

 

[michaelst]

plus one on Asus Xonar line. I've not had any problems at all with mine.

 

[omnimodis78]

I use the XtremeGamer on W7 x64 with all games, AC3/DTS codec in kmplayer, foobar2000, audacity - etc and never had any issues at all! Rock solid. Yes, you will find many "bad" posts about whatever hardware - but keep in mind generally ppl post complaints, not praises. No doubt some ppl have driver issues, but I guarantee those people have no idea about computers - and they probably install every single "tool bar" and "free scan" that they come accross! Soundblaster has native W7 32 and 64 drivers.

 

[doomgaze3]

So, I manned up and got the Xonar D1 - they appeared to have their house in order. And I was not disappointed - this is a kickass card. Thanks for the recommendation, guys.

 

[MEgamer]

avoid teh auzentech hometheatre HD its got way way too many problems.