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highend soundcard

Darren

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This is why we need an AV section!

To my knowledge the fatal1ty pro doesn't support DTS encoding via SPDIF. Only a select few cards do. I'm using the Auzentech X-meridian, couldn't be happier with it. It's hard to find, but ebay is a good place to find it.
 

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This is why we need an AV section!

To my knowledge the fatal1ty pro doesn't support DTS encoding via SPDIF. Only a select few cards do. I'm using the Auzentech X-meridian, couldn't be happier with it. It's hard to find, but ebay is a good place to find it.

Oh as if, if this were in the AV section you would magically get far better replies. Please learn to appreciate whatever effort people put in when answering. This is why I categorised the 'best' cards into performance and sounding. Sounding as in output quality, support for surround sound formats such as DTS, Dolby, etc. and Performance as in audio performance that affects the system performance on the whole, while gaming, etc.

Gotta admit though, the X-Meridian was the best sound card in terms of output quality. If it was still in production, to me it would have been the best sounding card.
 

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Ram the fatality. The Prelude is delightful! I might send Auzen another £20, its worth it.

JAmes.
 

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i really appreciate the discussion, it has been very insightful. i'd agree that there is no clear choice between the prelude and xonar. i'd hate to make the choice based on the front panel I/O header, which the xonar lacks? i would take the pci-e version xonar in a heartbeat just due to the interface, but sadly my mobo has it's sole 1x slot directly beneath the primary 16x slot, which is being consumed by my 3870s dual slot cooler. looks like im stuck with 32bit pci, i wouldnt want my sound right beneath my video even if the slot was free :-/

well i was set on the prelude, but now i'm having second thoughts. damn xonar!
 
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The NVidia Soundstorm that came with the NForce2 (MCP-T southbridge) was superb. The farthest we saw onboard audio come.

yea but you needed it on your boards, my cheap chaintech didnt
 

department76

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yea but you needed it on your boards, my cheap chaintech didnt

funny the nforce2 came up, i had it in my old asus board in my athlon xp build. that had DDL, and that was what, four or five years ago? i don't understand why it isn't almost standard for onboard to have that nowadays.
 

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i didn't realize the fatal1ty pro was supposed to be the fastest, but i suppose that doesn't sway me much. that is a good option to consider though, it's a lot cheaper than the prelude and i didn't realize it had DTSC (only really need DDL or DTSC). thanks for bringing that up.

i've looked at a couple reviews for the razer barracuda card, which didn't rate it as anything special. it's plenty capable but really nothing extraordinary. besides, call me crazy but i kinda want something with solid caps.

i looked into the meridian actually, seems as though it's impossible to find though.

at this point it's either the prelude at ~$180, or the fatal1ty pro at ~$130. i suppose EAX 5.0 is worth an x-fi based card, i just want DDL/DTSC to send to my HT, and good DAC + opamps for a cushy pair of denon ah-d2000s someday. kinda sucks the fatal1ty pro doesn't have a front panel, i might consider looking at the champion.

are there any other major differences between the professional and the champion besides the I/O and remote?

there are no soundcard differences between the X-Fi Fatal1ty Champion and the X-Fi Elite Pro. The Elite uses the remote I/O console, the Champion uses the 5.25" bay front panel console. The front panel connection can be modded to accept the pins from a standard AC97/Azalia connector, but it requires some work, and one must purchase a connector that will fit the sound card plug. Some of the X-Fi's already have the 10-pin AC97 pinout connection, but I don't think the newer Fatal1ty's do yet . . .

you won't find much in the way of solid caps on the Fatal1ty card, though, as Creative still uses standard style ones. Although, if you're good with PCB soldering, all the components on the Fatal1ty can be swapped out for better quality components, which, to the best of my knowledge, brings the card closer to the Auzen Prelude sound quality range - I still haven't done this mod yet myself, as I've just been lazy the last couple of months (and it's hard to solder properly with a splint finger :D).

The Fatal1ty is rumored to be capable of DDL, but we haven't seen a driver that supports that feature yet


the reason you're having such a hard time finding an Auzen X-Meridian is due to the fact that they were discontinued last June. You might find an online shop that still has one or two, but you'll prob only find them on ebay at this point.


Anyhow, just a brief summary of the 4 cards that have been discussed, without all the jargon - for the general rule of thumb - the best sounding high-end cards use the C-Media APU; while the fastest use the X-Fi APU.

Except when it comes to the Auzen Prelude - Auzentech went and completely designed a PCB and component layout with the architecture of the X-Fi APU in mind, for the best sound quality possible. But, although it stouts a Creative APU, is the reason why the card isn't considered to be "fastest".

Creative's card, though, was designed with performance in mind (targeted at the gamer), but sacrifices some sound quality to achieve that goal.

The Razer card is fast, also, but is hampered by an APU that isn't designed for sheer audio performance - but it makes up for that fact by providing the same, or very slightly better sound quality than the Fatal1ty - so slight, in fact, I don't think any of us could ever hear the difference.

The Asus card is solid (as are all their hardware), and although it offers much better sound quality over the Fatal1ty, it falls just short of the Prelude - again, I doubt any of us would actually "hear" the difference between the Prelude and the Xonar. But, utilizing the C-Media APU, it falls very short in the performance category when compared to the Prelude's X-Fi APU.


Oh, and I'm sure you already understand this, but for anyone else browsing this thread - a high-end sound card doesn't mean squat when coupled with a cheap, poor quality set of speakers!
 
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Franklinwallbrown

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Oh, and I'm sure you already understand this, but for anyone else browsing this thread - a high-end sound card doesn't mean squat when coupled with a cheap, poor quality set of speakers!

YES!
 

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I have the HT Omega Claro Plus and it's awesome, Im not a gamer so I didnt need any of the fancy stuff that most gamers look for in a card, but this card with my Logitech Z-5500's will blow my home stereo away, It produces very clear sound, I was even listening to a CD one day and heard vocals that I never heard before. But thats just my opinion.
 

Franklinwallbrown

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Which everyone is entitled to. Thank you for it.
 

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funny the nforce2 came up, i had it in my old asus board in my athlon xp build. that had DDL, and that was what, four or five years ago? i don't understand why it isn't almost standard for onboard to have that nowadays.

That's because it was insanely expensive to produce at that time and that NVidia was shifting its financial resources to the development of the NForce platform for the AMD K8.
 

btarunr

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there are no soundcard differences between the X-Fi Fatal1ty Champion and the X-Fi Elite Pro.

There are, the Elite Pro has additional ASIO circuitry (which also makes the XG Fatal1ty Pro a faster card) Compare the PCB layouts using these eggpics:

Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro:


Elite Pro:


Another major difference is that the Elite Pro infact uses a similar DAC arrangement to the Auzen X-Meridian (2ch DAC/ 2channels) while the XG Fatal1ty Pro uses a unified ultra-low latency 10-channel DAC from Cirrus Logic. The Elite Pro uses AKM / Wolfson (which the XG uses a ADC of) The DAC arrangement and latency issues is what causes the Fatal1ty Pro to have better gaming performance than the Elite Pro.

Oh, the CMI8788 is not an audio-'processor' as such, it's just an audio chipset.
 

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There are, the Elite Pro has additional ASIO circuitry (which also makes the XG Fatal1ty Pro a faster card) Compare the PCB layouts using these eggpics:

. . . .

Another major difference is that the Elite Pro infact uses a similar DAC arrangement to the Auzen X-Meridian (2ch DAC/ 2channels) while the XG Fatal1ty Pro uses a unified ultra-low latency 10-channel DAC from Cirrus Logic. The Elite Pro uses AKM / Wolfson (which the XG uses a ADC of) The DAC arrangement and latency issues is what causes the Fatal1ty Pro to have better gaming performance than the Elite Pro.

QUOTE]

damn, never noticed that before between the two cards - they're friggin night and day (never really taken that close of a look before, lol!). Based on how the card looks, it would appear that the Elite Pro, then, offers better sound quality over the XGFP.

y'know - looking a bit more closely at the card offered with the Elite Pro, it bears striking resemblance to the *discontinued* Xtreme Music card, too - but you're right, it does look more like a Meridian . . . very curious . . .

IIRC - the Cirrus Logic DAC used on the XGFP is also the same DAC used for the "X-Fi onboard" motherboard solutions, correct?


btarunr said:
Oh, the CMI8788 is not an audio-'processor' as such, it's just an audio chipset.

yeah, I know - just me taking a discussion shortcut so as to try to not confuse others too much swapping between the term chipset and APU. I guess I should've spelled it out earlier, though, as a dedicated chipset will never be able to outperform a dedicated processor.
 

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OK, well discussion is steering me all over the place. i've decided to ex the xonar, due to zero front panel solution and limited gaming support.

my current two choices, both x-fi based (sorry C-Media, the CMI8788 is looking like a budget alternative):
auzen prelude - front panel I/O header, superior SNR and DACs, solid caps, EAX 5
fatal1ty champion - complete drive bay I/O solution, not as good but still great SNR and DACs, EAX 5

the only problem is, i really kinda do want my DDL/DTSC. kinda leaves it to the prelude :-/ my biggest gripe is that i don't want to have to choose between DDL/DTSC and EAX 5.0 HD!!!!
 

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Sorry, we haven't been trying to confuse you on purpose - but in-depth soundcard discussions don't crop up too often around here!! :p

Anyhow, go with the Prelude, then. You'll more than enjoy it, and it's features - especially if you partake of any HD content. You'll still be happy with how it sounds in-game, trust me on that :toast:
 

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Wait a minute. Doesn't the Fatal1ty champion have software decode of DTS Neo6 with the bundled PowerDVD? http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=16559&nav=2

The box of my Xtreme Gamers shows the company logos of both DTS and Dolby Digital EX (back of the box) and that the decode is supported by the card when used with PowerDVD??

Says the box:
"Enjoy the ultimate PC movie experience with the latest cinematic technologies

The Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card delivers THX certified surround wound and includes Cyberlink's PowerDVD software with DTS and Dolby Digital-EX decoding via free download for an unbeatable DVD movie watching experience. (Internet connection is required)"
 
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imperialreign

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Wait a minute. Doesn't the Fatal1ty champion have software decode of DTS Neo6 with the bundled PowerDVD? http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=16559&nav=2

The box of my Xtreme Gamers shows the company logos of both DTS and Dolby Digital EX (back of the box) and that the decode is supported by the card when used with PowerDVD??

Says the box:
"Enjoy the ultimate PC movie experience with the latest cinematic technologies

The Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card delivers THX certified surround wound and includes Cyberlink's PowerDVD software with DTS and Dolby Digital-EX decoding via free download for an unbeatable DVD movie watching experience. (Internet connection is required)"

To the best of my knowledge, the XGFP is DTSC capable, and it comes with the drivers for both the DTSC and DEX - but, we have yet to see any drivers for DDL support (although, I believe the card is supposed to be capable of it). Although, due to limitations, the card downsamples 7.1 to 5.1; 7.1 is not fully supported in Dolby output modes.

The Cyberlink PowerDVD software that's bundled with the XGFP is "cripple-ware," giving you very basic access to any functionality. You've got to shell out the cash for the registration to fully unlock the software - rather pointless as the card can't run dolby in a true 7.1 environment.
 

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department76

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DTS-ES and DD-EX are both DECODING, DDL and DTSC are both ENCODING features which is competely different. and yes to my knowledge, both only encode to 5.1, which is ok acceptable by me because my HT setup is only 6.1 (not 7.1) anyways. i only want that feature for games and upmixing music anyways (assuming it as opposed to PLIIx/Neo:6).

i do have plenty oh HD material btw :) i have a good collection of DVD-A including DTS-ES cds that are 7 channel (6.1) 48khz, and a few DTS 96/24 and Dolby 2.0 disks as well. i look forward very much to listening to those with headphones over either card, i expect their analog streams to be a bit better (i haven't confirmed this, however) than my denon AVRs analog paths.

if someone can confrim 100% that the fatal1ty champion does DTS-Connect/Interactive, then i'll get the champion over the prelude. otherwise, it's the prelude.
 
Last edited:

Franklinwallbrown

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Well, I...uh...*puts head down*...can't.
 

btarunr

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DTS-ES and DD-EX are both DECODING, DDL and DTSC are both ENCODING features which is competely different. and yes to my knowledge, both only encode to 5.1, which is ok acceptable by me because my HT setup is only 6.1 (not 7.1) anyways. i only want that feature for games and upmixing music anyways (assuming it as opposed to PLIIx/Neo:6).

i do have plenty oh HD material btw :) i have a good collection of DVD-A including DTS cds that are 7 channel (6.1) 48khz, and a few DTS 96/24 disks as well. i look forward very much to listening to those with headphones over either card, i expect their analog streams to be a bit better (i haven't confirmed this, however) than my denon AVRs analog paths.

if someone can confrim 100% that the fatal1ty champion does DTS-Connect/Interactive, then i'll get the champion over the prelude. otherwise, it's the prelude.

excuse me, the X-Fi prelude uses drivers supplied by Creative. DTS Interactive and DTS NeoPC feature-sets are not yet part of the package and will be included as a free driver update which implies that the March 2008 driver update for the X-Fi from Creative will feature these updates as well. Auzen cannot include a software feature-set of its own that's exclusive to the X-Fi Prelude as it owes the design patent and driver-support/updates to Creative.
 

Franklinwallbrown

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Oh, well, Creative just has a big head now don't they?
 

btarunr

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they invented the X-Fi. They have the biggest head.
 

Franklinwallbrown

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Motherboard unknown?
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Memory 4GB DDR3 800MHz (2 x 2GB)/unknown manufacterer?
Video Card(s) 9800m GTS
Storage Seagate Momentus 7200.2 200GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0
Display(s) "Generic PnP Monitor"? 1920x1200
Case FX Design with Copper Core Accent
Audio Device(s) Conexant High Def SmartAudio 221
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Software OS: Windows Vista SP1 (64bit)
Yeah, uh, well, their head...umm...is stinky!
 
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