Auzentech X-Fi Prelude

Also trying to get the answer on this. Considering back in the day of soundstorm (oh how I miss thee) it could do low end EAX (which was a licensing issue rather than a techincal one if memory serves) I dont see why it wouldnt be possible now. Depends how its built/if creative felt like it when licensing i supose.
 
I read something about every sound that comes out of your PC being upconverted to 5.1 if you so wish, even regular stereo games, all through a single optical or coaxial connection.

I'm not sure if this is any different to selecting Pro Logic II on your surround amp?

I really can't believe this is not a PC standard as 360's/PS3's already have digital connections for games.
 
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I dont see how its possible as the X-Fi doesnt do DDLive or DTSConnect, the amp would need to know what to do with the signal and decode what sounds are to go where. Im not all too clued up but I assume if this is possible over PCM then that could be how its done. Would be interesting to know as the X-Fi is useless for anything but analogue out.
 
james.miller said:
what else would you use it for?
Click to expand...

Digital out? Why should I have to switch between analogue and digital each time I want to watch a movie/play a game/listen to music etc. Since the X-Fi only does 2ch over digital, or passthrough its useless for anything but passthrough really.
 
thats all most people would use it for? gaming over analogue on an xfi is better than over digital on a ddLive/dts encoding card, so thats not a problem. and while switching around may be aproblem for you in xp, it simply isnt a problem at all in vista. additionally, analogue is the only option for these card right now if your interested in hd-dvd/bluray
 
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If I were gaming, using the digital out I would leave the signal unprocessed and use a DSP on the av pre-amp.
Although if the game supports 4.1 (EAX) then I guess you want that to be outputted as 4.1, not 2 channel.

There really should be a multi-channel format licensed for games, which is compatible with standard av gear.
DD/DTS live encoding isn't really the way to do it. It's a work around, but not exactly ideal.
 
isn't that what audio in gaming is all about? alsmo, there isnt any latency (introduced by the dd/dts encoding) which may or may not be important to you. it's cerainly noticable, anyway. gaming on my x-fi is just better than any dd-live encoding sound card ive had (x-mystique, soundstorm, onboard realtek on my asus p5w dh)
 
At some point in the process EAX is split down into the 5.1 channels ready to be sent out the outputs to speakers though. There's no reason if the card can encode anything else to DD5.1 why it can't take what is, at this point, a vanilla stereo output on each of the 3 outputs, route it through the encoder and have a DD5.1 output? We shall see I guess.
Again to compare to soundstorm though, that could do take eax1 and spit out a DD5.1 signal so its been done. Just depends what creative have agreed license wise and if they see it as a selling point (and TBH they'd be daft not to if they were allowed to).
 
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indeed they do upmix eax processed surround sound. that was never the problem, the problem is the licencing as you guessed - so far only creative cards have supported anything above eax2.0. it'll be interesting to see how this card pans out.


Squiffy was on the right tracks though. i think the ultimate would be 7.1 pcm over hdmi.
 
Well... previously the EAX codec/wrapper/whatever you want to call it was licensed to pretty much all and sundry. As Auzentech have licensed the hardware too I dont see any REAL benefit unless they have been allowed to upmix EAX4 to DD5.1. Considering the implications of vista and its native 5.1 tech (forget the name) I think creative have seen the end coming as far as keeping a monopoly on gaming grade cards.
As soon as the platform they sell to has a competing tech thats closer to the industry standard DD5.1 no-ones really going to pay for an "inferior" proprietary standard (note the quotes - not saying creative gaming cards are bad but having PC's support DD5.1 or something very close to will have developers making more of it in a fairly short time).

I'd predict we get what we want, a card that will upmix EAX4 to DD5.1. Happy to have a small wager with anyone interested :D ;)
Im basing that on creative testing the water as far as licensing EAX goes. I dont see how they can have a viable business model going into the vista era unless they open their tech up much more for others to use. If its more widely available and has more support from various manufacturers theres a chance it can compete with the native 5.1 vista jobbie.

As a side note though, the one thing thats looking a little suspect is the apart lack of an SPDIF on the backplate (least as far as the piccie goes). Dont really mind using Co-ax and its all the same in the end but would prefer toslink/spdif :)
 
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the only problem i can see with dd5.1 becoming a standard is latency. you cant get away from it when your upmizing analogue to digital - there is always going to be a latency hit. people have measured upwards of 80ms delay between the sound being generated and it actually being played by the speakers. which is honestly terrible for gaming. i noticed it straight away, even the difference between 2 channel pcm and 5.1DDLive is easily noticable.
 
ahhh... shame, soundstorm (yes im an SS fanboy :D) didnt seem to have anything delay wise but guess being on the same PCB...

Im waiting to see what reviews and the "prelude owners in here" thread make of it before I make a purchase on the sound front. Only just moved back to a proper box from having a shuttle for the last couple of years so using onboard until theres some reliable info on these then decide what im getting.
 
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