Auzentech Forte $97.34 less $10 MIR = $87.34 plus S/H

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flylow

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Back again: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1437529

http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=35596&vpn=AZTXFF7102550&manufacture=AuzenTech&promoid=1192

Promotion currently shows:
43 left as of 07/23/29009 at 5:30 AM

$89.28 less $10 MIR = $79.28 plus S/H

ends 7/28/2009. Limit 1 per customer



This is where I bought mine last week when it was $5 cheaper, I was charged $11.46 for S/H FedEx Express Saver to WA State. They did not offer ground shipping to me last week. They used Purolator courier service to send it to Bellingham WA and then FedEx. It took one day to get to Bellingham WA, then only 1 business day to get to Olympia. FedEx kept it an extra day before delivering. No idea what S/H costs might run to other places in the US. There was no customs charges and no sales tax.

US RMA's are sent to Auburn WA

Only thing I have ever bought from them. 9.64 rating at resellersratings http://www.resellerratings.com/store/NCIX
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NCIX is a solid company. They are based out of Canada, but sometimes a good deal trickles over to the states.
 
thanks OP, I was about to purchase a Asus Essence STX, but @ this price, I just went w/ the Forte =D
 
yang88she said:
thanks OP, I was about to purchase a Asus Essence STX, but @ this price, I just went w/ the Forte =D
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I am very pleased with the Forte. I can only compare it personally to onboard and my old Audigy2. Even though I would not mind trying an Asus soundcard, I would not hesitate to buy again especially at this price.

IMHO the Forte offers a lot of bang for the buck. Sound quality is great, probably better than most people need or want.
 
yang88she said:
sweet, glad I bought it, hope you got your other 295 working?!
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I ended up selling it and then bought an XFX 285 + XFX mobo with the cash. Everything has been great since. I'm gonna pick up another 285 and try SLI for the first time.
 
Darnell said:
Well they both use X-Fi, so I thought they would be similar. :(
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The main thing is the opamps on the Forte. Technically you could make your creative card amazing if you soldered off the opamps on it and soldered on some higher quality opamps (note this is very hard and not recommended for beginners, I tried on my old X-Fi Extreme Gamer and fucked it up :D)

I may have to finally bite on this deal.....must...resist.
 
X-Fi is a chipset. A motherboard does not make the computer, no? CPU, RAM, etc... Those all change the computer's performance.
 
Anyone see any reviews on this card? The Azuntech website has some good info under the "tech specs" tab but they are loop back tests and don't let the output shine because the input is not as good.
 
[QUOTE="I'm not a crook";1034366417]Anyone see any reviews on this card? The Azuntech website has some good info under the "tech specs" tab but they are loop back tests and don't let the output shine because the input is not as good.[/QUOTE]

Plenty of reviews listed at http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_forte.php just look on the left and you can see them scrolling.

Another source for reviews is google.com...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...avclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS328US328&ie=UTF-8
 
Wow those were all jerk-off reviews. I went through about 8 of them, starting from the bottom up, non of them are professional reviews. Yeah I'm sure the card "sounds good". lol.
 
[QUOTE="I'm not a crook";1034366589]Wow those were all jerk-off reviews. I went through about 8 of them, starting from the bottom up, non of them are professional reviews. Yeah I'm sure the card "sounds good". lol.[/QUOTE]

If you do not like it, don't buy it...
 
[QUOTE="I'm not a crook";1034366589]Wow those were all jerk-off reviews. I went through about 8 of them, starting from the bottom up, non of them are professional reviews. Yeah I'm sure the card "sounds good". lol.[/QUOTE]
So what qualifies as a professional, non-jerk-off review in your exalted opinion?
 
Darnell said:
Would this be a significant upgrade from an X-Fi Platinum?
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On typical computer speakers and headphones? I doubt it, but I dropped out of the audiophile rat race a few years ago. Too much voodoo for me.
 
Shipping to NY is almost $15 and will probably take over a week to arrive. But at this kickass price, I'm in. Seems like it should work better than the X-Fi Fatal1y I got. I'll get better air flow in my SSF chassis. And I'll also get front-panel headphone/mic without having to use a home-made adapter. Thanks OP for the post and review links.
 
GlimmerMan said:
Shipping to NY is almost $15 and will probably take over a week to arrive. But at this kickass price, I'm in. Seems like it should work better than the X-Fi Fatal1y I got. I'll get better air flow in my SSF chassis. And I'll also get front-panel headphone/mic without having to use a home-made adapter. Thanks OP for the post and review links.
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$15 bucks out of Canada and then all the way across the country isn't bad. The charge to me, than 200 miles away from Richmond, BC, Canada, was $11.46. Still a good deal even with the shipping.

I dunno, I think if you ordered this morning using FedEx express saver you might get it in 6 days, maybe 7. Purolator courier across the border is one day, weekend wastes two days, three days for FedEx if all goes as it is supposed to.

I have tried the front and rear headphone jacks, the rear seems slightly better. The rear does not auto mute when you plug into it. The front does though as long as you have it selected to in the console panel. Shoot, they want $75 for the Creative panel. I was thinking of getting one but I do not think I would really use it as I have a mic and headphone/line in jack on the top of my case anyway that I don't use often. I am going to try out one of their better opamps. It sounds great to my ears the way it comes stock but knowing me come the first week of next month I will get either the OPA 627AU or the OPA 637AU.

I hope that you get enough of an improvement over your X-Fi Fatal1y overall to make it worthwhile besides the front jacks. If you have time I would appreciate your opinion of the Forte sound quality versus the X-Fi Fatal1y. My ears say that it kicks the old Audigy2's butt.
 
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Don't mess with the drivers on the CD. People previously were using the Daniel_K pack for win7 instead of the official drivers. I am running win7 64-bit Build 7127 with 8GB GSkill RAM with no issues with the latest beta drivers.

Use these:

Latest drivers:
* Driver name: Auzentech_Forte_Beta1.zip
* Download Size: 207 Mb Zipped file
* Release Date: 07/10/2009

http://www.auzensupport.com/site/download/updates.php

The X-Fi Forte driver supports the following operating systems:

* Microsoft Windows® 7
32-bit and 64-bit
* Microsoft Windows® Vista
32-bit and 64-bit
* Microsoft Windows® XP
32-bit and 64-bit
* Microsoft Windows® XP
Media Center Edition (MCE)
Versions 2004 and 2005

If you register it you get an extra years warranty:

Auzentech Plus+1 Warranty Extension

http://www.auzentech.com/site/support/warranty_plus_one.php

Free Warranty Extension for Qualified Registered Customers

Qualified customers who register with the Auzentech Registration Desk enjoy one (1) additional year of Auzentech Limited Warranty coverage for select Auzentech products.

How to Qualify

Soundcards Purchased between July 1, 2007 and July 31, 2008
Register with the Auzentech Registration Desk by August 30, 2008.

Soundcards Purchased after July 31, 2008
Register with the Auzentech Registration Desk within 30 days of purchase.

Covered Products

The Plus+1 Warranty Extension is available for the following Auzentech products:

* X-Studio 5.1, X-Raider 7.1 (added 7/14/2009)
* X-Fi Forte, X-Fi HomeTheaterHD (added 2/23/09))
* X-Plosion, X-Plosion Cinema, X-Fi Prelude (added 8/5/08)

Notes

* Registration is only required for Plus+1 Limited Warranty Coverage. The standard One Year Limited Warranty does not require registration.
* Qualifying customers who have recently registered at the Registration Desk are automatically granted a one-year warranty extension.
* At the time of warranty repair or replacement, it is the customer's responsibility to establish the date of purchase by providing a sales receipt.
* The Plus+1 Warranty Extension is not available for products not listed on this page. Auzentech reserves the right to add or remove products without notice as the product line evolves. However, your warranty will apply to covered products at the time of your registration and any additional products that are added
 
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Alai said:
LOL! Would a Lambo be an upgrade from an Acura?
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The short answer is 'no.' Labmoghini looks nice and is expensive, but handles like utter shite. Acura TL Type-S is much cheaper, still looks nice, and is much more smooth to drive. Now if you had said Porsche, I would have been right there with you :cool:
 
LAiN_OfTheWired said:
The short answer is 'no.' Labmoghini looks nice and is expensive, but handles like utter shite. Acura TL Type-S is much cheaper, still looks nice, and is much more smooth to drive. Now if you had said Porsche, I would have been right there with you :cool:
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Wow. Funny stuff. Lambo times on the ring? How about the top gear test track? Top Lambo 9th place. Acura ? Doesnt even make it to the list (of 160+ cars INCLUDING things such as a Saab 9-5 and VW R32...)

Not even REMOTELY in the same performance class.... (Hey guess what the OPAMPS on a SB card are the Acura, and the OPAMPS on the Auzen are the Lambo...)
 
Here is my XFI eval:
-Do you consider yourself an audiophile, even in the mildest sense?
-Do you use analog out?
-Do you use headphones?


If you answered no to all (or even any) of these questions, than maybe the Auzen stuff is not for you. (But for $100 it is the same or less than the competition with better hardware...!!)
 
Thanks... I couldn't take the crackling of my onboard audio anymore and I've always wanted a PCI-E X-fi. Mine ended up $111 shipped to atlanta before rebate.
Just what I need, more credit card debt ;)
Great deal though!
 
How does the Forte compare to the Prelude? I have a Prelude. Is the Forte an upgrade?
 
GreenGoose said:
How does the Forte compare to the Prelude? I have a Prelude. Is the Forte an upgrade?
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Looks like if you already own a Prelude there is no point in upgrading unless you need a PCIe card.

Both reviews are from the same person.

Forte, 23 February 2009: http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=689&Itemid=27 Conclusion says: "While it doesn't really hold much over its older predecessor, the X-Fi Prelude, unless you absolutely require PCI Express support, for anyone else in the market for a discrete sound card the X-Fi Forte is the new king of the hill in our book."

Prelude Thursday, 06 September 2007 :
http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=456&Itemid=27

Link to Auzentech's cmparoson popups:
http://www.auzentech.com/site/support/comparison.php#
 
My year old Prelude crapped out on me a few months ago, so I replaced it with a Forte. There's an un-fucking believable improvement in sound!!!! I mean, everything sounds like an orchestra is jamming right in front of me!!!! I swear, there's gotta be some amazing new technology in the Forte to make it sound so awesome!!!

Nahhh... Just messin' with ya! :p

I honestly can't tell any difference between the cards. I got the Forte 'cuz it's newer and PCI-e is supposedly better.
 
ajhodges said:
Thanks... I couldn't take the crackling of my onboard audio anymore and I've always wanted a PCI-E X-fi. Mine ended up $111 shipped to atlanta before rebate.
Just what I need, more credit card debt ;)
Great deal though!
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wolf and I are in ATL also ! :D
 
Rock on, ATL!!

I'm actually in Vegas for about 3-4 weeks -- I know, I know... how can I stand living in such squalor and depravity? :p

I'm about to head down to the Bellagio casino for some blackjack action!
 
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