how about being Innovative by not using Creative Labs X-Fi
With Auzen, at this point . . . agreed. I'm not saying that Creative's APUs are horrible, it's just that Auzen seem to be relying too much on them recently.
Although, it wouldn't surprise me if it was some kind of "number of license" deals, and Auzen are trying to get out of it by cranking out as many X-Fi supporting series as possible.
I wonder if this thing will sound any better than my VIA chip on my mobo.
Edit: Thats not a dumb question Im asking. Im really looking for a better sound card but they are all greek to me.
Take a look at the guide linked in my sig - nearly
all dedicated cards are better than onboard. The lower-end cards might have nearly comparable quality, but still generally far surpass even the best onboard solutions.
OOh, i turn eax off on any card i found it so annoying. Nothing like a more TRUE sound.
meh . . . EAX has it's highlights, and it's quality changes from one game to the next. It's not so much the library itself, as much as it is how the game developers impliment it . . . and, sadly, most game developers just slap EAX capabilities into a game without any further tweaking or configuring to properly match the game world . . . and it sounds like crap. Titles, though, where it's done well - it really adds immensly to the atmosphere.
Now, for general entertainment purposes, yeah, the EAX effects aren't worth it. The can make poor quality speakers sound a little better, but not that much.
I spot a Creative Branded chip on that thing. No thanks.
Don't understand why not - Creative's APU are simply the fastest on the market . . . as well, the CA20K2 is a native PCI-E APU, whereas all other non-XFi PCI-E cards must use a translator chip, which adds to audio output latency. Depending on system hardware, OS, SYS clock speeds, etc. too much latency can very quickly translate into clipping, crackling, popping, or other audio detritous as the output breaks down due to over-buffering. Also of note, the number of software voices the APU is capable of is staggering compared to other manufacturer's DSPs, and have a direct impact on numerous "effects" that are applied to the output stream . . . everything from speaker virtualization, to ambient occlusion, environmental filtering, reverbration, etc. Suffice it to say, but the X-Fi APUs still own the crown in these regards.
Now, if we were talking about audio output quality, I can see that arguement . . . to an extent. The APU has very little actual impact on output quality, the majority of that actually lies in the DAC . . . which, Creative have been notorious for marginal-quality DACs on their cards . . .
But, this is an Auzen - they use much better quality DACs, as well as other PCB components.
If you want the best of both worlds, both superior audio quality and extreme audio performance, Auzen supporting X-Fi is simply the only way to go.
