“HiTec Digital Audio has been making audio products for some time now, mainly accessories like coax to optical S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) converters and I/O boards for Sound Blaster based cards. HDA saw an opportunity, though, with the latest chip from C-Media, the CMI8768/PCI-8ch+. C-Media is probably best known by the NVIDIA crowd for their AC97 audio chipsets on boards not equipped with the SoundStorm MCP in OEM-style products, such as the non-Deluxe Asus nForce and nForce2 motherboards as well as interface chips used by SoundStorm MCP equipped machines. And while the CMI8768/PCI-8ch has been available to motherboard manufacturers and add-in card makers for some time, it is the plus symbol that is important.”
My 5.1 setup seems so inferior! Check out the review at nV News.