Lookin forward to hear your review Rob, I still havent purchased a better source yet, mainly due to the essence only providing 2.0, I have some Klipsch speakers that I may end up using for certain ocasions so if this new card scores pretty well I think that will be my ideal solution.
Originally Posted by ear8dmg /img/forum/go_quote.gif As above with EAX4, I'm pretty sure it's not. In fact I think it's a new chip - the CA0110. It's the same one Audiotrack are using in their new X-Fi card (according to Wikipedia).
This card is not really meant for the hardcore gamer types. It is meant more for the music/movie crowds. You can game with it of course as it support EAX 1,2,3,4 and OpenAL. The modder crowds and headphone crowds I think are the main aim of this product.
I do think it's a shame Creative (and others now) use the X-Fi name for chips that don't meet the full X-Fi spec. It's confiusing for consumers. The Xtreme Audio should't really be called an X-Fi and neither should this.
That doesn't make them bad cards - it's just that people will buy them expecting EAX 5 and the rest.
Renaming hardware with the same capabilities is one of my pet hates.
At launch, X-Fi meant EAX5, MacroFX, Elevation Filter and the full version of CMSS-3D. The Xtreme Audio and these new variants offer no benefits for gaming over an Audigy 2 and are arguably worse. Sure there are other features that they share with an X-Fi but it's confusing for consumers. I guess it's creative's product and they can call it what they like (the name being inherited by Auzentech and Audiotrack).
I wouldn't have had anything against the Xtreme Audio if they hadn't called it an X-Fi. I'm sure it's a nice upgrade over most onboard sound. These Bravuras actually look like really nice cards, especially someone really into music who likes the odd game.
I get just as annoyed with nVIDIA and their perpetual G92 GPU renaming. Like I said, just one of my own personal pet hats.
Originally Posted by ROBSCIX /img/forum/go_quote.gif They can call it a X-fi because it is still using X-fi software.
Is there anyway that 'gaming mode' can retain audio quality with something like this? My biggest X-fi disappointment is that using gaming features (CMSS-3d only in my case) noticeably reduces audio quality.
Good to see more companies dipping their toe into this market pool. From what I'm seeing though, this doesn't look like it will sound better than the DAC section of the STX, which is all I'm interested in. Its amp section looks more substantial than the STX's though and I guess that's what they were focusing on in the first place.
I might buy this to test it out, because all of what I've said above is, without actually listening to the soundcard, just speculation.
It is really hard to judge based on just specs. You would really need to compare the sources yourself to see which sounds better to you.
I like the design of the amplifier section on this card though as it allows use to modify the sound signature. I think this may also be a great platform for further modifications.
Such as power, clocking..filtering etc..
Can one use the headphone output from a card like this as a stereo output to another amplifier? The headphone output looks like it has a higher quality DAC.
You could sure but it might be frowned upong by some as driving an amplifier form another amplifier si not such a good idea. There were a few guys doing it with another card that had built in amplifier. I would say provided the levels are within line-level spec you shoudl be ok.
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