BlueGears HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card<base href="http://www.atruereview.com/" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.atruereview.com/images/favicon.ico" /> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/css/template_css.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/css/style10.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/slimbox/slimbox.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/css/rokmoomenu.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />  <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.atruereview.com/images/favicon.ico" /> <style type="text/css"> td.left div.moduletable, td.right div.moduletable, td.left div.moduletable-hilite1, td.right div.moduletable-hilite1, td.left div.moduletable-hilite2, td.right div.moduletable-hilite2, td.left div.moduletable-hilite3, td.right div.moduletable-hilite3, td.left div.moduletable-hilite4, td.right div.moduletable-hilite4, td.left div.moduletable-hilite5, td.right div.moduletable-hilite5, td.left div.moduletable-hilite6, td.right div.moduletable-hilite6, td.left div.moduletable-hilite7, td.right div.moduletable-hilite7, td.left div.moduletable-hilite8, td.right div.moduletable-hilite8 { width: 175px; } div.wrapper { margin: 0 auto; width: 868px;} </style> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/mootools.r462.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/roktools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/mootools.bgiframe.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/rokmoomenu.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> window.addEvent('domready', function() { new rokmoomenu($E('ul.nav'), { bgiframe: false, delay: 500, animate: { props: ['opacity', 'width', 'height'], opts: { duration:400, fps: 100, transition: Fx.Transitions.sineOut } } }); }); </script> </head> <body id="page_bg" class="f-default"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/slimbox.js"></script> <div id="fxContainer"> <div id="fxTarget"> <div id="fxPadding" class="wrapper"> </div> </div>  </div> <div id="template" class="wrapper"> <div id="header"> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com" class="nounder"><img src="http://www.atruereview.com/images/blank.png" style="border:0;" alt="" id="logo" /></a> <div id="banner"> <div class="padding"> <form action="index.php?option=com_search&Itemid=5" method="get"> <div class="searchroflmao"> <input name="searchword" id="mod_search_searchword" maxlength="20" alt="search" class="inputboxroflmao" type="text" size="20" value="search..." onblur="if(this.value=='') this.value='search...';" onfocus="if(this.value=='search...') this.value='';" /> </div> <input type="hidden" name="option" value="com_search" /> <input type="hidden" name="Itemid" value="5" /> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div id="horiz-menu" class="moomenu"> <ul class="nav"> <li><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/">Home</a></li> <li><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/search.html">Search</a></li> <li><a href="http://atruereview.com/oldrev.php">Old Reviews</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/atruereview/articles.php">Old Articles</a></li> <li><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/contact/contact.html">Contact</a></li> <li><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/links/links.html">Links</a></li> <li><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/accessories/2.html">Reviews</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="top"> </div> <div class="clr" id="mainbody"> <table class="mainbody" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr valign="top"> <td class="left"> <div class="moduletable"> <h3> Main Menu </h3> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr align="left"><td><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/" class="mainlevel" >Home</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/search.html" class="mainlevel" >Search</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><a href="http://atruereview.com/oldrev.php" class="mainlevel" >Old Reviews</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/atruereview/articles.php" class="mainlevel" >Old Articles</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/contact/contact.html" class="mainlevel" >Contact</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/links/links.html" class="mainlevel" >Links</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><br /> <b>Warning</b>: array_search() [<a href='function.array-search'>function.array-search</a>]: Wrong datatype for second argument in <b>/home/atruerev/public_html/components/com_sef/sef.cache.php</b> on line <b>228</b><br /> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/accessories/2.html" class="mainlevel" >Reviews</a></td></tr> </table> </div> <div class="moduletable"> </div> </td> <td class="mainbody"> <table class="sections" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr valign="top"> <td class="section w99"> <div class="moduletable"> </div> </td> </tr> </table> <div class="padding"> <h1 align="center">BlueGears HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card</h1> <p><strong>Description and Design:</strong></p> <p>BlueGears HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold sound card sports a black PCB board dotted with contrasting light green colored capacitors. The expansion slot cover and all of the of the audio ports (except one) are gold colored. In addition to the Line In, MIC In, and 4 speaker-out ports; there are also RCA coaxial and TOSLINK optical digital output ports built right on the board! The optical port, the only port that is not gold, is covered with a plug. </p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/bluegears/07.jpg"><img src="atruereview/bluegears/07th.jpg" width="250" height="180" border="0" alt="BlueGears HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card" title="BlueGears HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>Internally, the sound card supports two 4-pin analog inputs (labeled AUX IN and CD IN) and a 2-pin digital input (labeled CD SPDIF). The X-Mystique 7.1 Gold's connections can be further expanded with the HDA X-10 Digital Input extension board (not included), which features digital inputs (both coaxial and optical) and another set of digital outputs.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/bluegears/08.jpg"><img src="atruereview/bluegears/08th.jpg" width="250" height="42" border="0" alt="BlueGears HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card" title="BlueGears HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>The last physical design of the X-Mystique 7.1 Gold that is worth mentioning is its onboard IC amp chips are upgradeable/replaceable. Instead of being soldiered to the board, the 6 onboard IC amp chips are simply plugged into the board via DIP sockets. Of course for most users, this does not mean anything. Upgrading these dual DIP type OPAMP controller preamp circuits should be reserved for audiophiles and/or those with engineering knowledge.</p> <p><strong>Features and Abilities:</strong></p> <p> While the HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold's main attribute is its Dolby Digital Live certification, it can still hold its own against other more well known sound cards at other aspects. At the core of the X-Mystique 7.1 Gold is a C-Media CMI8768/PCI-8ch+ PCI chipset which supports analog speaker setups, up to 7.1 channels, and can handle high resolution 24bit/96kHz DAC (digital to analog conversions). In addition, it also supports a host of game surround sound APIs such as CRL3D HRTF 3D, EnviromentFX, ZoomFX, MacroFX, A3D 1.0, Direct Sound 3D SW, and the most well known of all EAX 1.0 and 2.0.</p> <p>Of course the main attraction of the X-Mystique 7.1 Gold is that its the first sound card with a Dolby Digital Live Real-Time Contents Encoder. With it, all of your computer's audio can be encoded into a Dolby Digital 5.1 channel stream, which can then be passed through a single cable and decoded with any Dolby Digital certified surround sound receiver. With both an RCA coaxial port and TOSLINK optical port built right into sound card, there is no need for additional adaptors or add-on cards. In fact, a TOSLINK fiber optical cable is included (though a RCA coaxial cable, which is cheaper and more readily available, is not included).</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/bluegears/09.jpg"><img src="atruereview/bluegears/09th.jpg" width="250" height="240" border="0" alt="BlueGears HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card" title="BlueGears HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>The included Owner's Manual is full of very useful information. For those who are inexperienced with computers, the manual features a picture guide on installing the sound card (not surprisingly, the diagrams use an HTPC case as an example). It also shows you how set up Digital CD audio playback for Windows as well as setting up surround sound for various DVD programs. The manual even offers suggestions on speaker placement (complete with speaker angle laden diagrams) for maximizing surround sound performance. And of course, the manual explains all the various connections on the X-Mystique 7.1 Gold as well as all the included sound application's settings.</p> <table width="100%" border="0"> <tr> <td><a href="atruereview/bluegears/index.php"></a> <a href="bluegears/index.php">Previous (Introduction & Features)</a></td> <td><div align="right"><a href="atruereview/bluegears/sound_card2.php"></a> <a href="bluegears/sound_card2.php">Next (Software)</a></div></td> </tr> </p> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="footer" class="clr"> <div class="rk-1"> <div class="rk-2"> <div id="the-footer">  </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>