High-End Audio: Creative and Terratec

3D Sound And Games

Fairly logically, the Creative cards, with their hardware synthesizers, were better than the Terratec cards, overall. The tests performed on the Comanche 4, Quake III, and Splinter Cell consistently demonstrated the superiority of the two Creative cards, followed by the Terratec Sky, with the Space card bringing up the rear, which was handicapped by its 7.1 channel sound.

It's up to the user to see if operating at 6.1 or 7.1 channels is indispensable for gaming applications. The difference with a 5.1 configuration, for which the speakers are correctly positioned, will be slim and possibly inaudible.

Background sound results depended largely on what the games. Still, Creative, with its EAX HD technology, did well with the games that took advantage of the capability.

Audigy 2's DSP technology elaborate background sounds did justice to even the most amazing gaming graphics. There is more realism than ever before, thanks to techniques such a sound morphing, which assures smooth sound changes when changing scenes in a game, such as moving between different rooms in Quake.