X-Fi and the Elite Pro: SoundBlaster's Return to Greatness
by Derek Wilson on August 30, 2005 11:59 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Quantitative Analysis: RMAA 16-bit / 44.1 kHz
RightMark Audio Analyzer is the best tool that we have right now for determining solid numbers that describe the precision and capabilities of sound hardware in our labs. We are able to measure many of the interesting electrical characteristics of the hardware by running RMAA, which captures the output of a sound card playing a test file and analyses the recording. Unfortunately, the electrical characteristics of the recording hardware come into play when using RightMark. By using quality recording equipment, we can still get a very good idea of the hardware's capabilities. For a more in-depth look at what we are looking for in our RMAA tests, check out this page on our electrical analysis of sound hardware.The best way to see what's going on is to dive into the numbers.
| Test | Echo Audio Gina3G | SB Audigy 4 Audio | SB X-Fi Audio |
| Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: | +0.04, -0.09 | +0.13, -0.36 | +0.01, -0.07 |
| Noise level, dB (A): | -94.3 | -94.5 | -94.7 |
| Dynamic range, dB (A): | 94.1 | 94.1 | 94.6 |
| THD, %: | 0.0057 | 0.0033 | 0.0008 |
| IMD + Noise, %: | 0.0079 | 0.0081 | 0.0054 |
| Stereo crosstalk, dB: | -94.9 | -93.3 | -97.0 |
Frequency response of the X-Fi is much better at 16-bit 44.1 kHz than the Audigy. In fact, we can see that the frequency response curve is even flatter than the Gina 3G here. The SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro posts better numbers any card we've yet tested in our labs at this very heavily used bitrate.
When looking at the graphs, note that the X-Fi is able to post these numbers while maintaining consistant performance in each test. The only tradeoff we see is in stereo cross-talk, which just shows a trade off at high frequencies rather than low.
Frequency Response
Noise Level
Dynamic Range
THD+N at -3dB FS
Intermodulation Distortion
Stereo Crosstalk
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tayhimself - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link
XTREME Yawn!!It is Xtreme Fidelity with Xcellent Xquality for XTREME music and XTREME gameZ!!!!
No thanks! When will this XTREMEly stupid marketing stop??
I'm still using the nforce2 soundforge because my audigy didnt ship with Creative Mediasource which allows output of music to 5.1. Newer Audigys did ship with MediaSource and could handle 5.1 music output just fine. Needless to say I am XTREMEly pissed and creative and wont be buying something from them again.
Googer - Thursday, September 1, 2005 - link
http://sonicfocus.com/help/help_page.html">http://sonicfocus.com/help/help_page.htmldejerez - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link
media source is available for download from creative site. It is a few files all together but this software is for free if you have Audigy. 5.1. upmix option is not in media source but in the card settings that install with the drivers. I had Audigy and used Playcenter and than upgraded for free to Media Source. No problem. I used Audigy with tweaked driver for Audigy 2 to get more features and then eventually bought Audigy 2 ZS and used that with Software availble from their site. I had no problem with an upmix option. I cannot see your point here. Which version of the card do you have?flexy - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link
yeah those "extreme gamez" are actually just TWO, namely doom3 and bf2..which (i THINK) support x-fi....if at all. Was not clear in the review. The point is that they even said they did not hear ANY diff between this and "older" hardware.....I think it's ironic that (at elast for gaming and occasional music listening) a $42 Audigy 2 OEM (which has 5.1 output btw) is AS GOOD as a card 10x the money.....and, in all honesty, i do NOT think that my ears are good enough to "notice" a 4db better SNR ratio or similiar nonsense....not to mention someone would have a hard time selling me this card :)
DerekWilson - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link
The coloration from the poor frequency response and IMD sweep at 16-bit 44.1kHz really deadens cd auido and mp3s on the Audigy 2 line. Its not about a slightly worse SNR or a little less dynamic range. It's about poor sound reproduction and bad sample rate conversion.Of course, gamers won't care as much about this problem. And we can help get around some of the issues by bypassing windows kernel mixer on Audigy hardware.
I wouldn't buy an X-Fi Elite Pro either. The price point is hard to swallow.
dejerez - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link
Sample rate conversion does not seem to be an issue any more, right?X-fi audio processor has SRC engine that converts to and from any resolution at 136dB THD+N. Check the review on digit-life. They say
"Judging from our measurements, the problem with a lot of distortions is a thing of the past now. The 44.1 kHz mode in X-Fi cards is no different from 48 kHz"
They also compared the quality of the new hardware SRC X-Fi vs the wide-spread real-time SSRC WinAmp plug-in, "notable for its relatively high quality and decent CPU load"
They conclided by saying
SRC of the X-Fi outperforms the SSRC plug-in and it causes no distortions - audible or visible on the diagram.
xpose - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link
i was so close to first :(vijay333 - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link
Thanks for the review. Was looking into maybe getting one of these soon but I'll stick with onboard for a while until I get one of the Audigy boards.InuYasha - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link
first!Phantronius - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - link
1st!!! Yes!!!Seriously, looks like I have no reason to part with my Audigy 2 quit yet.