Auzen X-Fi Prelude

Nevakonaza · 8 Nov 2012 at 15:40

Auzen X-Fi Prelude,Is this better than an Xonar D1?

hughythomas · 8 Nov 2012 at 15:47

I would say so yes

Nevakonaza · 8 Nov 2012 at 17:11

might pick one up used somewhere.

hughythomas · 8 Nov 2012 at 18:03

I personally prefer the converters on the Prelude over any other 'gaming' card. A few years back I invited a load of my mates over to the studio and auditioned some popular cards under blind testing (yes I AM this sad).

Prelude came out on top majoritively although it certainly wasn't a patch on my RME Fireface 800.

Please bear in mind these tests were purely subjective and the room plays apart in the conclusion (along with other factors such as amount of alcohol consumed etc!).

As a result I bought a Prelude second hand off ebay - I still think its a great card tbh!

Nevakonaza · 9 Nov 2012 at 16:23

Second hand i can get for £42 posted on another forum is it worth it?,Seller wont drop it any further.

or on an auction site,CREATIVE LABS X-FI XTREME MUSIC 7.1

Whats better?

nightrider1470 · 10 Nov 2012 at 09:50

Yes its worth it.... Depends what for when buying a sound card mate

I would think the Prelude would be better out the two you mention

V F · 10 Nov 2012 at 11:22

hughythomas said:
I personally prefer the converters on the Prelude over any other 'gaming' card. A few years back I invited a load of my mates over to the studio and auditioned some popular cards under blind testing (yes I AM this sad).

Prelude came out on top majoritively although it certainly wasn't a patch on my RME Fireface 800.

Please bear in mind these tests were purely subjective and the room plays apart in the conclusion (along with other factors such as amount of alcohol consumed etc!).

As a result I bought a Prelude second hand off ebay - I still think its a great card tbh!

Drunk or not back in 2007 before the Prelude was launched, the audiophiles on some Canadian hardware site and Guru3D said the Prelude takes parts best of Auzentech's X-Meridian and the X-Fi line.

I just don't know how the Prelude compares to todays cards... after all, it's 5 years old. I still love the card though. Just a pity it's not on the Windows 8 list, yet.

Auzentech said:
11.06.2012

Windows 8 Driver Schedule

Auzentech announces Windows 8 release schedule for Sound Card Drivers

San Jose, CA: Auzentech, Inc (www.auzentech.com) is pleased to announce the following release schedule for Auzentech soundcard drivers compatible with Microsoft Windows 8.

C-Media has promised the driver update that applies to the Auzen X-Plosion and X-Meridian 7.1 2G on Windows 8 by the end of November, 2012
Creative has promised the drivers for X-Fi Forte and X-Fi HomeTheater HD in mid-January, 2013

To track upcoming releases on the Auzentech Sound Card Driver Release Schedule page:
http://www.auzentech.com/site/download/schedule.php

For any issues encountered with Windows 8, please send your feedback via the Auzentech Suggestion Page:
http://www.auzentech.com/site/support/suggestion.php

Richdog · 10 Nov 2012 at 11:24

I've had a Prelude for years now... been very happy with it!

hughythomas · 10 Nov 2012 at 11:34

V F said:
Drunk or not back in 2007 before the Prelude was launched, the audiophiles on some Canadian hardware site and Guru3D said the Prelude takes parts best of Auzentech's X-Meridian and the X-Fi line.

I just don't know how the Prelude compares to todays cards... after all, it's 5 years old. I still love the card though. Just a pity it's not on the Windows 8 list, yet.

There was definitely something to the sound of the Prelude that we all spotted on the night. FYI, this group was comprised almost entirely of friends of mine from the recording industry who spend their professional working life recording/mixing & mastering in various studios with lots of different hardware.

Out of small selection of gaming cards tested (that we had all contributed to) Prelude came out on top and even performed favourably against some budget-mid range pro audio interfaces.

Should have recorded the night in hindsight - maybe I'll do another and video it?

V F · 10 Nov 2012 at 17:29

hughythomas said:
As I did not fully disclose which cards were compared are you able to back up your claim?

I'd have to dig/ask around, can't remember the links since it was 5 years ago as it was a heavily discussed topic back then. But the reason how I remember as I heavily followed the sound cards back then since I was after a really good card for both music listening as well as wanting one at the same time to have good gaming performance. I was originally going to get the X-Meridian but a few told me to hold off for the Prelude since the X-Meridian was mostly for music.

That and these audiophiles on those forums were experimenting with different OPAMPs. It was way out of my depth as I've still been using the stock versions that came with the card. Plus they were tinkering with these for the Prelude via analog on Hi-Fi decoders? the big boxes that are £300-£600+.

hughythomas · 10 Nov 2012 at 18:02

Sorry bro I think I misread your first msg so deleted that as I thought it was a bit rude of me...

Thanks for the reply though and yer, one of the great advantages of a lot of the Auzen gear is the ability to swap out OPAMPs. In fact, I am meeting up with a mate of mine this Wednesday who builds amps/speakers and I'm going to get him to modify some of my audio interfaces! Yes, I am that sad!

Strife212 · 10 Nov 2012 at 21:20

I've had a prelude for years, I guessed it was outdated now but it seems not!

Sadly mine has just been gathering dust for a year or so since with SLI I can't fit it into my board