Recent content by HSE

IMO it's more a proof of concept than a solution and I'd only use it if my receiver didn't offer analog inputs, but just to stop this "I know but I won't tell you!" nonsense, here it is for anyone who wishes to give it a try...

Do you want a shrink wrapped retail package? if you don't, CL's outlet store has refurbished A2ZS cards.

All the retail XtremeGamer cards (model SB073x) have an HDAudio-compatible front panel connector.

It's a 20 pack.

Does that make my post any less valid? or did I hit a sore spot?

The 'generic hardware' allows to use the card-specific routines, therefore the final result can be the output of Sensaura or Qsound algorithms. However with 'generic software' the user is at the mercy of CL, in reality it's passable (for realtek users it's better than the generic hw) and most...

That paragraph brings (x/a)^2+(y/b)^2 = 1 to my mind, for those who catch my drift.

It would imply a native OpenAL device implementation, which 'talks' directly to the soundcard without intermediaries and can be enumerated independently from the 'Generic Software' and 'Generic Hardware' devices. Those fallback implementations rely on MMSYSTEM/DS and DS3D respectively, thus...

The only data you should need to verify better 3D positioning can be obtained from rightmark 3Dsound or a sample DS3D/OpenAL program, do your homework. As a hint, play with the vertical axis and short distances to the listener with a 'dry' mix. Now would you care to explain how do you came to...

The X-Fi isn't better because Donnie says so, it uses more refined 3D positioning algorithms. Whether the improvements are enough to say it "kills" the A2 is a matter of taste, but it's not too adventurous to say that most of the people who have owned both cards find the X-Fi more convincing in...

Here's the howto for the A2ZS and X-Fi series: http://audigy2zshowto.blogspot.com/ If the original A2 comes with the same DELL_FP the same adapter will work.

Last week frys had a promotion on the Elite Pro, it was $160 after MIR. Those who catch it in time got the best bang/buck deal (unless one has an opamp fetish).

In the next few months ASUS and Creative will release PCIe x1 solutions, no date has been announced but the cards were shown at recent expos.

There is a solution that does the switching automagically: http://www.freewebs.com/spectra9/xfmc.html

~$200 is the price most often quoted around. I don't really know if it's correct but if the Prelude is being positioned as an enthusiast/audiophile product it is likely that they will sell it for a price similar to their current flagship.