Review- Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy

Review by Konrad Moszczynski, call sign: Omega X

May 10, 2002

Introduction:

The Creative Audigy chipset is the newest add-on to Creative’s classic Sound Blaster series of sound cards. The Audigy chip replaces the classic EMU10K1 which we have seen in previous Live! series. The Audigy chipset supports “EAX ADVANCED HD” technology which uses 24-bit/ 96 kHz multi-channel output. EAX has been incorporated into many games to create for a more realistic 3D sound environment. It allows for up to 4 independent audio environments at once. (I’m sure a lot of us have experienced that pesky player that likes you sneak up behind you for a quick frag.) With the Audigy Gamer and a good set of surround sound speakers that will be a thing of the past. Creative also boasts a 100dba SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio). SNR is the strongest signal that can be handled by a sound card with the lowest distortion. This is especially important for those who like to crank up their speakers or headphones but dislike the distortion commonly associated with doing so. The new Audigy series have come equipped with a SB1394 port (aka Firewire, iLink, IEEE 1394). Firewire is a high-speed serial connector capable of speeds up to 400mbps. Commonly it is used for digital camera, but in this case Creative is emphasizing the 400mbit peer-to-peer network, which FireWire can be used for. This creates an incredibly fast gaming network. Nothing in my opinion can be too fast, but only a fraction of that bandwidth would ever be utilized during a game. Don’t count on spanning entire rooms with it though; FireWire signal is only good for 14 feet before you need a repeater.

First Look:

My first impression was positive, a snappy box, proper packaging and a giant instructions poster. I quickly tossed the instructions to the side and went for the goody bag of games. I was somewhat disappointed to see the same things that I’ve seen with my older video and sound cards. It came bundled with Deus Ex and Giants: Citizen Kabuto which I’ve played too many times. It didn’t take long for the games to be lost in the clutter of my room. Opening up the anti-static bag, I was impressed by the gold plated connections although I disliked the fact they lost their color coating. Many times during low light or when the case is in a hard to reach place color coated connectors make it a lot easier to find the right connection. The dark colored PCB gave the board a unique look that was a nice change from the usual green we are all used to seeing. There is also an excellent assortment of internal onboard connectors. The appearance of the card is superb, let’s see if we can say the same about its performance

Product Specs:

(courtesy of creative)

Feature Description

Compatibility

·         Windows XP  

·         Windows ME  

·         Windows 2000         

·         Windows 98

·         Windows NT 4.0

·         DOS    Yes

·         Linux   Yes (Open Source driver required)

·

·         General MIDI

·         MPC3

·         Plug & Play

·         Sound Blaster PCI

·         EAX Support

·         Microsoft DirectSound

·         Microsoft DirectSound 3D & Derivatives

·         PCI 2.1

·         AC97

·         MPU-401 UART

·         Dolby® Digital 5.1 decoding

·         EAX Advanced HD

·         ASIO Support

Connectors

·         Microphone In

·         Line In

·         Line Out (Front)/Speaker Out

·         Line Out (Rear)

·         MIDI/Joystick Port

·         MPC3 CD Audio In

·         Auxiliary In

·         S/PDIF In

·         Telephone Answering Device (TAD) In

·         24-bit DAC (Digital to Analog Convertor)

·         24-bit ADC (Analog to Digital Convertor)

·         Analog/Digital Out

·         Digital DIN Support

·         SB1394 Connector

·         CD Digital In

Supported Features

·         4 Speakers

·         Creative MultiSpeaker Surround

·         Creative Environments

·         5.1 Speaker Support

·         Headphone Support

·         Front/Rear Speaker Level Adjustment

·         Center Speaker Level Adjustment

·         Subwoofer Level Adjustment

·         Crossover Frequency Adjustment (10 - 200Hz)

·         CreativeWare Program Elilgibility

·         Dolby Digital 5.1 Pass-through (with Dolby Digital-capable softDVD player)

·         DTS pass-through (with DTS-capable softDVD player)

	Installation
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