Winter Audio Reference: On-Board, Consumer, and Pro Solutions
by Derek Wilson on February 3, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
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The Test
We tested the audio cards in the same board as our Intel solution. When we were testing with an add-in card, we would disable the on-board, and conversely, we would remove add-in cards when testing with onboard audio.
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition |
| RAM: | 2 x 256MB Samsung DDR2 (4:4:4:11) |
| Hard Drive(s): | Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120GB PATA |
| Chipset Drivers: | Intel Chipset INF v6.2.1.1001 |
| Video Card(s): | NVIDIA Geforce 6600 GT |
| Audio Card(s): | Creative Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro Creative Audigy 4 Pro Echo Audio Gina3G Realtek Intel HD Audio |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA ForceWare 67.66 Beta |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
| Power Supply: | OCZ PowerStream 600 PSU |
| Motherboards: | Intel D925XECV2 |
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S0me1X - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
There are many more factors that effects the sound quality than just the chipset...knitecrow - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
Onkyo SE-150PCI is a via ENVY24 based soundcard. I expect it to be like all hi-end VIA ENVY24 based cards.vailr - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
Please also consider, for camparison:Onkyo SE-150PCI PC Digital Audio Board
http://www.audiocubes.com/product_info.php?product...
knitecrow - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
Its a good primer, got my hopes up... I would have liked to seen a more comprehensive round-upThe soundcards/audio solutions I would like to get compared:
Consumer ENVY24 boards:
$25 chaintech AV-710 (i've found to sound as good as any audigy)
$100 M-audio Revolution 7.1 or Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1
Pro ENVY24 cards:
M-audio audiophile 2496
I like the suggestions about
Creative Live! & turtle beach santa cruze
realtek alc850 onboard
analog devices onboard
nvidia nf2 soundstorm
I'll look forward to such a roundup.
S0me1X - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
However, its not something I'd get if I just want the highest quality sq from a computer ;)S0me1X - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
Motu 828 looks interesting :) Firewire is another excellent interface for this application, if implemented properly.tr1kstanc3 - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
still a good review and i do hope you follow up on your conclusion to test real "pro-audio" interfaces!tr1kstanc3 - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
my motu 828 mkii puts the smackdown on those reviewed cards... gina is decent but i wouldnt quite put it at the 'pro' level. should have used something slightly better like a digidesign 002, motu 828/896, rme...S0me1X - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
#69You should consider EMU0404 or EMU1212 ($100 and $200, respectively).
Even better would be to use digital out from Chaintech AV710 ($25, can be flashed to Prodigy 7.1 firmware and get bitperfect digital out) to a nice external DAC. There are a lot of options for the external DAC, one of the best for this purpose is Benchmar DAC1, which can be had for $975.
sparky001 - Friday, February 4, 2005 - link
Since we are in an era of htpc's. I think we need clarification on playback more than we do recording.I think most people that acctually wanted to do recording would go get a dedicated recording solution.
But because of limited drivers and the like (linux) most playback cards tend to be of the consumer variety.
I very much would like to see the ENVY chips reviewed. And a short piece on OS compatibility.
People will have very specific perposes for looking at these audio reviews. ie
Games- SPdif
Games- Analogue
Playback-SPdif
Playback-Analogue
Recording-All
I guess.
Also unfortunatly the domanant audio source is still 16bit/44.1hkz. Since my HTPC has to playback every CD that I have on my server in uncompressed WAV format, I want the best card for that purpose.
Thanks Derek.