The Aureon 7.1 Firewire seems to fall between stools. The sturdy construction indicates that Terratec is aiming at delivering quality and while it succeeds in part, the product as a whole suffers from a lack of focus. Whilst it performs well, it doesn’t offer either enough features for the musician or enough for the gamer to make it a compelling purchase. It’s a decent enough option if you want a portable audio solution, or want the convenience of not having to open your machine to add a PCI card, but it doesn’t offer enough to excite. Terratec’s own Phase 26 offers coaxial digital connections plus MIDI for less money (although with only 5.1 output) for the musician and there’s no shortage of good game cards out there.
If you’re interested in the specific features offered by the box, go ahead and buy with confidence, otherwise for the money you could buy a more focused device or plump for one of the cheaper Audigy cards.Read full review
Overall
7/10
By Paul Weir
Reviewed 09 February 2005
Updated 05 February 2011