Quick Vote on Sound Card (Please Vote)
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get the cheapest xfi if you are using analogue
dont get a creative if you are planning on using digital
the xfi is the best available for gaming because it supports all that new eax crap that creative has copyrighted
but as i said befoe if you wanna go 1cable (digital) than you need ddl or dts encoding so you get surround sound outa games
there are some pretty good deals on xfis so you can prob get one at like 70 or 80 bux
dont get a creative if you are planning on using digital
the xfi is the best available for gaming because it supports all that new eax crap that creative has copyrighted
but as i said befoe if you wanna go 1cable (digital) than you need ddl or dts encoding so you get surround sound outa games
there are some pretty good deals on xfis so you can prob get one at like 70 or 80 bux
the xposion and mysitque do ddl and dts encoding (mystique only does ddl)
for gaming, the sound needs to be encoded into a surround digital format such as ddl or dts (dts is 2wice the quality - 1.5 mbps as opposed to ddl at 754 kbps)
the chaintech does netierh of these,
movies are pre-encoded in ditial surround formats (often both dts and ddl)
so the chaintech just allows that to pasthrough to the decoder (reciever or w/e)
but for gaming, the sound is made up as it goes along so you need a real time encoder for dts or ddl which is what the xplosion (only one that does dts) otherwise you get 2channel sound -like the chaintech
if you only watch movies the chaintech is perfect, but you only get 2channel sound through digital if it isnt precencoded like a movie
there are only a few cards that encode into ddl or dts on the market now, and none of them are creative. i have the xplosion and it is really a great card.
it took me a week to figure out which card i needed and finally realized that the only cards that are good for a digital connection + gaming are the mystique, xplosion and the turtle bay montego
i decided on the xplosion because my reciever does dts and ddl so why not take advantage of the better qualtiy?
for gaming, the sound needs to be encoded into a surround digital format such as ddl or dts (dts is 2wice the quality - 1.5 mbps as opposed to ddl at 754 kbps)
the chaintech does netierh of these,
movies are pre-encoded in ditial surround formats (often both dts and ddl)
so the chaintech just allows that to pasthrough to the decoder (reciever or w/e)
but for gaming, the sound is made up as it goes along so you need a real time encoder for dts or ddl which is what the xplosion (only one that does dts) otherwise you get 2channel sound -like the chaintech
if you only watch movies the chaintech is perfect, but you only get 2channel sound through digital if it isnt precencoded like a movie
there are only a few cards that encode into ddl or dts on the market now, and none of them are creative. i have the xplosion and it is really a great card.
it took me a week to figure out which card i needed and finally realized that the only cards that are good for a digital connection + gaming are the mystique, xplosion and the turtle bay montego
i decided on the xplosion because my reciever does dts and ddl so why not take advantage of the better qualtiy?
sailer
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I have a X-Fi Platinum myself, but I do a lot more than just gaming. I agree with what was elsewhere said, that the music edition is good enough for most gaming, unless you have very good ears and can notice the small differences in the higher (more expensive) cards.
choirbass
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i put in another vote for a ddl or ddl/dts interactive realtime encoding sound card, if youre using a digital output that is
over analog outputs, the cheapest x-fi will work just fine even
so really... i guess its more of a matter regarding which type of interface youd be using, and then the sound cards can be narrowed down from there
over analog outputs, the cheapest x-fi will work just fine even
so really... i guess its more of a matter regarding which type of interface youd be using, and then the sound cards can be narrowed down from there
ElMoIsEviL
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DDL is Dolby Digital Live and DTS is another form of multi-positioned Audio. Both are encoding algorythms done in realtime. In games, either of the two are inferior to EAX. All they do is take a non Dolby Digital or DTS audio stream and convert it on the fly. This is of course not near as precise as using a native EAX Multi-positioned audio stream.
Also you're stuck with an audio stream that is decoded, converted then re-decoded. Therefore the audio at the end of the stream has gone through quite a few changes.
The best Audio positioning is Dolby Digital EX, or 5.1 as well as DTS. But a native Audio stream of the sorts would take considerable space on the hard drive. That's why EAX exists.
DDL and DTS encoding are nothing more then upmixes.
For games.. X-Fi all the way.
kg4icg
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hey the x-fi platinum does have digital outputs right on the front panel mount. both optical and coaxial. does dolby 7.1 and dts and eax and guess what, thx too. you guys need to read up on the cards to read up on the cards before saying something about it. I myself have a X-FI Platinum
R Collins
R Collins
ElMoIsEviL
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choirbass
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DDL is Dolby Digital Live and DTS is another form of multi-positioned Audio. Both are encoding algorythms done in realtime. In games, either of the two are inferior to EAX. All they do is take a non Dolby Digital or DTS audio stream and convert it on the fly. This is of course not near as precise as using a native EAX Multi-positioned audio stream.
Also you're stuck with an audio stream that is decoded, converted then re-decoded. Therefore the audio at the end of the stream has gone through quite a few changes.
The best Audio positioning is Dolby Digital EX, or 5.1 as well as DTS. But a native Audio stream of the sorts would take considerable space on the hard drive. That's why EAX exists.
DDL and DTS encoding are nothing more then upmixes.
For games.. X-Fi all the way.
ill agree about audio being re encoded on the fly, but the rest, well, not quite so much...
'when' a source (eg, a game for example), includes multiple surround audio channels by default (and then is re encoded in an ac-3 or dts format by a ddl/dts interactive card), those channels dont get misplaced, or misconstrued, or 'faked' at all... they are correctly positioned to the appropriate channels, audio quality in the worst instance being 16bit (the same as commercial cds and dvds), dts is 20bit audio, hence even better
the main advantage that going digital in that scenario, has over analog... is the ability to take advantage of an external digital signal decoder/processor and high quality speakers even then (which in all cases are noticably superior audio quality to pc speakers, due to a pc speakers typically compact size, so theres a few acoustic sacrifices made in exchange... a few naysayers may object to that though)
sure you can go multicabled analog to your external signal decoder, and acheive roughly the same thing, though you also risk having analog hissing, humming and such being introduced into the sound too... but thats why going analog for gaming again, with pc speakers even, is better suited to an x-fi
but, i have to correct this though... saying ac-3 and dts are only upmixes of 2 channels sources, is simply wrong... take a game that has 6 channels on average (as most games have), the card then reencodes those 6 channels into a digital stream, the external decoder decodes those 6 channels, and you end up with 5.1 on the receiving end, just how it was to begin with, aside from the digital compression that took place for transmission over the digital stream (16bit for ddl, and 20bit for dts, and 24bit for dvd-a as a comparison)
saying however that dolby digital ex, or dts es, are upmixes, is more correct... cuz theres not many sources that carry more than 6 channels (5.1, most ac-3 does, some dts), fewer that carry 7 (6.1, most dts formats do), and very little that carry a native 8 channels (7.1)... so, after the decoder decodes the ac-3/dts signal, it can then be matrixed up to 7.1+ by DD EX or DTS ES
when a source only contains 2 channels (most mp3s as an example), sure, the audio is then upmixed, as it doesnt contain more than 2 channels in most cases... but not if the source contains more than that... its like, upmixing from 6 channels, to 6 channels... that wouldnt be upmixing then, theres no matrixing even... UNLIKE with EAX that you brought up... ...EAX on the other hand is entirely a simulated matrixed surround sound algorithm, taking 2 discrete front channels, and matrixing additional channels off of that, just like dolby surround, or dts:neo... ...taking 2 channels originally, and gives a more surround feel, and even a different surround feel depending on the matrixing algorithm used, like the difference between eax 2.0 and eax 4.0 even, they may not sound the same, but they have the same basic principal, everything is derived from 2 channels (though i know every audio source starts as 2 channels to begin with anyhow, but, thats beside the point)
speaking of which, EAX can also be carried over a digital stream as an ac-3/dts signal... so you end up with 6+ correctly positioned discrete channels with the addition of EAX, including all the other benefits the external decoder and quality speakers can provide
x-fi falls abit short there in that respect... it cant do digital surround for gaming, limited strictly to 2 discrete channels in that respect, as it would only send its digital audio stream out as a 2 channel pcm signal, whichcase, you could then perform very similar processing as EAX, with prologic and such... and those other external decoder algorithms can be applied to all sound sources, and isnt just limited to games that support eax
so... analog for x-fi, it has some quality dacs which would be used then too... digital for ddl/dts (the dacs from the card arent anything to worry about then, as its strictly a digital signal when its output from the card, and then the decoder can worry about it at that point)... quality comparison between the two cards isnt worth going into, unless you really dont like how most dvds sound, whichcase, eh
but again, if you dont even have a digital signal decoder and mediocre speakers even... then x-fi is definetly the choice to go with for gaming.
edit: come to think of it, i can imagine the reason creative didnt want to pay the licensing fees to introduce ddl/dts into their sound cards, is because of the performance hit that would occur... you do take a loss of about 5FPS with ddl/dts encoding enabled, but that shouldnt matter if you have at least semi capable hardware... ...creative is known for their low cpu usage gaming cards, and i guess they didnt see losing that slight FPS advantage as being remotely worth it, compared to the definite audio improvement and advantage that would occur if they did choose to include either format...
...its very possibly why they sell the DTS-610 as a seperate component, rather than integrating it into their cards... so i guess licensing aside, they probably didnt include it, most likely due to the performance hit, if anything... cuz they offer it as a seperate interconnect component regardless.
*haven't read the thread so bear with me if I repeat others*
The important question is which games do you play? OpenAL games support the X-RAM on the Fatal1ty and Platinum versions of the X-FI. Some examples are BF2, Prey, FEAR, Quake 4.
If you don't play X-RAM capable games, there is absolutely no reason to get anything more than the XtremeMusic card. The hardware is identical sans X-RAM. Of course, you also lose the external bay, so if having those extra connections is something you'd use, then the X-RAM argument is out the window.
There is no reason to get an Audigy Z unless you are on an extreme budget. My experience was that jumping from the Live to the Audigy was amazing, the Audigy to the X-Fi was more of an "eh". But my philosophy is always get the best you can afford when building a system; that way it's not obsolete by the time you open the box.
Of course, unless you're using a semi-decent set of speakers, I doubt you notice any real difference between any of these choices and your onboard sound.
The important question is which games do you play? OpenAL games support the X-RAM on the Fatal1ty and Platinum versions of the X-FI. Some examples are BF2, Prey, FEAR, Quake 4.
If you don't play X-RAM capable games, there is absolutely no reason to get anything more than the XtremeMusic card. The hardware is identical sans X-RAM. Of course, you also lose the external bay, so if having those extra connections is something you'd use, then the X-RAM argument is out the window.
There is no reason to get an Audigy Z unless you are on an extreme budget. My experience was that jumping from the Live to the Audigy was amazing, the Audigy to the X-Fi was more of an "eh". But my philosophy is always get the best you can afford when building a system; that way it's not obsolete by the time you open the box.
Of course, unless you're using a semi-decent set of speakers, I doubt you notice any real difference between any of these choices and your onboard sound.
Okay, so since you're not really an FPS person, then X-RAM really isn't going to help you out much. Go for the XtremeMusic unless you really need those extra connectors on the drive bay (1/4" headphone, 1/4" line-in, optical in/out, digital coax in/out, MIDI in/out, infrared remote control)
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