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Tycho
Wanna-Be Webmaster
Joined: 17 May 2003
Posts: 1041
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
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 Posted:
Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:11 am |
Our resident PHP guru, Barbos, had a chance to comment on our recent review of the Creative Audigy 2 Value sound card. He takes a different approach to the subject of the current state of Gaming Audio.
As far as 5.1 support goes for SoundBlaster cards, it’s rather misleading. Firstly you do not get 5.1 audio all the time. This is expected because most of your recorded music will be in stereo form. You can ‘up mix’ the stereo stream using CMSS and the soundcard will make an attempt to “spatialize” the sound, splitting the sound into multiple channels. After adjusting various controls many times, I still find that the center channel is too weak to be useful in general audio playback using CMSS (1 and 2). However the added effect in the 4 main channels is not bad at all.
The digital output on the back is nice, if you buy their speakers to go with it. Unless you have a pair of speakers that will make use of the special DIN cable, you will only get 2 channels out of your digital output. This becomes rather useless for anyone who wants to hook this baby up to a Dolby Digital (5.1) home theatre system. You may be thinking, “They say this card supports Dolby Digital sound, what’s the problem?” Well it does support it, if you want to play DVD’s. In order for it to play, it will go into bypass mode, sending only the Dolby Digital sound from the DVD. I asked Creative Labs why not have the option of real-time Dolby Digital encoding for those who want to hook up their PC to their home theatre system, such as what nVidia did with SoundStorm. After all, the card Audigy 2 Platinum) is pretty expensive compared to soundcards from other companies. Their response was that, to them, it was absurd to encode an audio stream with Dolby Digital (which is a lossy codec) only to go a few feet away and be decoded. Dolby Digital is fine with George Lucas (OK he has a better encoder, but that’s beside the point), I think the lossy compression would seem tolerable to a home user (it would be the same audio equipment you play DVD’s on anyway). I would much rather have a lossy signal travel through a single fiber optic cable (which is not susceptible to interference from your hardware/power cables) than 3 pairs of analog audio cables.
With the combination of DirectX and EAX, your gaming experience can be enhanced greatly with 5.1 sound. Using positional audio information, you can hear sounds that happen behind your character from the speakers behind you and things directly in front of you come through the center. This helps you quickly hear where you are being attacked from. Added bonuses are the reverb and effects applied through EAX. This helps add atmosphere to the game, creating depth in the audio world. Be sure to watch your frame rates though, because with these added benefits comes a cost of CPU utilization.
All in all, I think the Creative Labs Audigy 2 series is a worthwhile card, if you have the money to spend. I do wish there were more competition in this level of soundcard, to help disperse the SoundBlaster monopoly, and create added value and lower costs to the consumer. Most of his thoughts are definitely interesting. Do any of you that own the card have anything to share or add to this? |
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Raven
UO Staff
Joined: 19 May 2003
Posts: 2235
Location: Clyde, Ohio
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Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:49 am |
i have the Audigy 2 Z5, and i aggree with everything hes sayin. altho i only turn on the 5.1 when i'm playin doom 3 or HL2 (i play IG CTF in UT2k4 and by the time you figure out where your being shot from your dead)
but overall i do like the card. especially the front faceplate. that comes in very handy for pluggin in a mic or headphones. |
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nevaR ask Raven
Because he nevaR knows!
Http://www.guardiansofdeath.com |
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Sir_Brizz
Irix WAnnabe
Joined: 18 May 2003
Posts: 103
Location: the Mormon Belt
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Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:48 pm |
I have that card!
It's great, but I think that Creative really needs to add a Dolby Digital mixer on their cards, now that it is entirely feasible and useful. Many games are coming out with Dolby Digital support, which is far superior to EAX HD right now but Creative would rather stick with what they started then support them both, unfortunately... |
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Poke! Ouch? |
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barbos
Ultimate Fanboy
Joined: 18 May 2003
Posts: 508
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Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:06 pm |
Creative Labs could still have their EAX HD with Dolby Digital... they would just have to apply the effects before encoding the signal. Wouldn't be hard for them at all...
They just think it's a niche market and will only cater to the mainstream. Everyone else is pushing for a "digital" home, you would think Creative Labs would jump in on the bandwagon. |
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