High-End Audio: Creative and Terratec

Platinum EX : Letting It All (or Nearly All) Hang Out

By housing the Platinum EX in an external casing, Creative managed to incorporate all of the plug-in ports inside the device, except the speaker output ports that remain on the card's connector bracket. There are also three 3.5 mm jack plugs, two twin-channel jacks for the front and back, and a third with three center, center-rear, and bass channels). The three-channel output remains compatible with the 5.1 system: if you configure the card that way and plug in a twin-channel jack, everything should work perfectly.

The external casing offers six input channels, divided into three stereo inputs. There are two 1/4" jacks on the front, and a pair of Cinch sockets at the back. While it's fairly different from a professional-standard card, the six high-definition input channels represent a rare and interesting feature. The mixes or multi-tracks are left up to the user. One of the front inputs is fitted with a potentiometer, which can be used as microphone and instrument input port with gain control. However, the microphone input is not equipped with a phantom feed-cable.