Auzen X-fi Prelude Pic!

Interesting. They seem to have used the Elite Pro board layout as the starting point. I like that the DACs are closer to the analog outs, as opposed to X-Meridian -- in theory, this will lower the noise floor. The one socketed opamp looks lonely :(:p
 
That is probably the same optical/coaxial combo connector like on X-Meridian. Btw where is the connector for the X-Tension board?
 
Lm4562 is already on the front channel but why don't they use socket for other channels as well? Keep buying their cards guys, after people bought their X-Plosion/X-Mystique, they used the money and came out with the X-Meridian, now they use the money for thier X-Meridian sale and come out with this, I wonder what is next.
 
What could be next? I mean this card has something for everyone. Even tough I own a X-Meridian I want one...
 
i'm pretty sure it should but has it been confirmed this will have DDL/DTSc?

n/m in the linke

and you get support for realtime Dolby Digital and DTS encoding and future support for HDMI 1.3
Click to expand...
 
I think that was a misprint. Dolby Digital has been annouced. DTS has not been officially annouced BUT I think they may have DTS encoding for it possibly with a driver update etc..who knows? The XM has both and some of the circuitry is based on the XM. I am guessing...
 
So with DD Live, I can now use optical out to my home theater receiver and hear OpenAL EAX games the way they are meant to be heard??? If this is the case, then I am moving my PC and ditching my Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultra and the rats nest of analog cables!

Can someone with more knowledge comment on this?

I know that my X-fi Elite will only push out 2 channel PCM stereo via digital....and that is because it does not support DD Live.

Thanks! :D
 
In a nutshell, yes. The DDL encoder (software-based) will take the output and encode it into the 448kbps AC3 bitstream (not the greatest thing in the world, but reasonable). Additionally, the extension board to be released later will support HDMI 1.3, and so, feasibly, you can get everything the X-Fi chip can output via an un-compressed digital out at up to eight channels.

EDIT: Oh, and we've had this capability for a while now, actually, thanks to the 8780/8788 chips and some software trickery, which can route the audio from the X-Fi internally to the Oxygen-based card's encoder for a slight-to-moderate latency hit.
 
Yeah the Velbac application. Alot of guys have this working just fine. Nobody has complained about Latency as of yet. I have had it installed since it was released. It is really a great app. If your mobo has DTS/DD enocding you can link your X-fi to that aswell. The app doesn't care about the output card.
 
So this soundcard will let us output dolby true hd and dts master from hddvd and bluray?
 
iansilv said:
So this soundcard will let us output dolby true hd and dts master from hddvd and bluray?
Click to expand...
Yes and no. Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD require HDMI 1.3. While the X-Fi Prelude does not have HDMI out of the box, both the X-Fi Prelude and X-Meridian will be able to output TrueHD/DTS-HD using the forthcoming X-Tension DIN addon.
 
Shakey_Jake33 said:
Yes and no. Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD require HDMI 1.3. While the X-Fi Prelude does not have HDMI out of the box, both the X-Fi Prelude and X-Meridian will be able to output TrueHD/DTS-HD using the forthcoming X-Tension DIN addon.
Click to expand...

No. TrueHD and DTS-HD MA only require HDMI 1.3 if the end device is doing the decoding. HDMI 1.2 and possibly even some 1.1 devices can pass the decoded TrueHD/DTS-HD MA bitstreams just fine.
 
PCMusicGuy said:
No. TrueHD and DTS-HD MA only require HDMI 1.3 if the end device is doing the decoding. HDMI 1.2 and possibly even some 1.1 devices can pass the decoded TrueHD/DTS-HD MA bitstreams just fine.
Click to expand...
If we're talking post-decoding, then we're talking about something completely different... you'd either send it as 5.1/7.1 PCM (in which case, you do need HDMI 1.3 to send 5.1 or 7.1 PCM digitally), or send as 5.1/7.1 analogue (which any card capable of 5.1/7.1 analogue can do).

Either way, post I quoted specifically asked about outputting TrueHD/DTS-HD.
 
Well screw DD Live and DTS Connect if this thing will support HDMI 7.1 uncompressed LPCM! (for those of us with HDMI receivers)

:)

Finally I can hook my system up to my home theater and also get rid of Creative Labs once and for all!
 
Shakey_Jake33 said:
Yes and no. Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD require HDMI 1.3. While the X-Fi Prelude does not have HDMI out of the box, both the X-Fi Prelude and X-Meridian will be able to output TrueHD/DTS-HD using the forthcoming X-Tension DIN addon.
Click to expand...

It is not the X-tension DIN that give the cards these abilities. It is another board that has yet to be annouced called the X-meridian HDMI 1.3 X-Tension board. The upcoming HDMI 1.3 board will be compatible with both the X-Meridian 7.1 and Prelude 7.1. This info was let out through tech support.
 
That connector card- wow- that could be the holy grail- if I am not wrong here. I want to be able to pass true hd and dts master, I don't care if it is decoded in to pcm on the source or at the reciever- I just want that digital quality. Any idea when it will be released?
 
Shakey_Jake33 said:
If we're talking post-decoding, then we're talking about something completely different... you'd either send it as 5.1/7.1 PCM (in which case, you do need HDMI 1.3 to send 5.1 or 7.1 PCM digitally), or send as 5.1/7.1 analogue (which any card capable of 5.1/7.1 analogue can do).
Click to expand...
This is not accurate.

Any iteration of HDMI, including 1.0, can transmit up to eight channels of LPCM at bit depths up to 24 bits per sample and sampling rates up to 192kHz. The interface fully supports this transfer, and all decoded streams, DTS, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, can be decoded to raw PCM streams. The decoding device tacks on HDMI header information, and the stream is interpretable by any HDMI device.

HDMI 1.3 incorporates the capability to transmit TrueHD and DTS-HD streams that can be then decoded by the receiving unit. The only advantage to this is to reduce the costs of the source player by not requiring it to have decoding capabilities. There is zero advantage to the end user.

Quoted from HDMI.org:
Q. Do I need v1.3 HDMI to hear the new Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master HD audio content on HD-DVD or Blu-ray players?

No. The Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS-HD Master Audio can be decoded by the playback device into multi-channel Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) digital audio streams, which is an audio format standard that can be sent over any version of HDMI. In fact, all versions of HDMI can support up to 8 channels of PCM audio at 192kHz, 24 bits per sample.
Click to expand...
 
Just so you guys know, "DTS-HD" and "DTS-HD Master Audio" are totally different.

DTS-HD is not lossless

DTS-HD MA is lossless

Also, Dolby Digital TrueHD & DTS-HD Master Audio are nothing but wrappers or compressed folders that contain the lossless multi-channel LPCM info.

If this supposed daughter card can push out multi-channel LPCM via HDMI, then this IS the holy grail for HTPC users!
 
phide said:
This is not accurate.

Any iteration of HDMI, including 1.0, can transmit up to eight channels of LPCM at bit depths up to 24 bits per sample and sampling rates up to 192kHz. The interface fully supports this transfer, and all decoded streams, DTS, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD, can be decoded to raw PCM streams. The decoding device tacks on HDMI header information, and the stream is interpretable by any HDMI device.

HDMI 1.3 incorporates the capability to transmit TrueHD and DTS-HD streams that can be then decoded by the receiving unit. The only advantage to this is to reduce the costs of the source player by not requiring it to have decoding capabilities. There is zero advantage to the end user.

Quoted from HDMI.org:
Click to expand...
Thanks for the correction, I am mistaken - and very glad about this too!
 
mike_j_johnson said:
If this supposed daughter card can push out multi-channel LPCM via HDMI, then this IS the holy grail for HTPC users!
Click to expand...
I think that will be the main feature. I'm a tad concerned about what kind of Vista compatibility there will be here (my guess is that if Auzentech wants full capability in Vista, they'll need to support HDCP), but in XP, it should spit out every sample the kMixer normally spits out. That's not the greatest thing for music, per se, but we'll have other usable alternatives.

Shakey_Jake33 said:
Thanks for the correction, I am mistaken - and very glad about this too!
Click to expand...
Yep, it's a very good thing. I suppose I have my complaints about HDCP, but HDMI is the perfect consmer interface (wish more professional products supported it, actually), and it's about time we PC users get a chance to utilize it.

I'm just hopeful that the extension board doesn't have too many caveats to make it worthwhile. This isn't exactly the easiest thing for a fairly small company like Auzentech to pull off, but I credit them for taking the plunge where others have not.
 
The actual date was never publicized or put in any forum I can find. The HDMI board has a connector for DVI for integration into the cable...
 
Updates: June 05, 2007
"Auzen X-FI™ Prelude 7.1 Release Update
Santa Clara, CA -June 4, 2007: Auzentech, Inc. - developer of the world's first Dolby® Digital Live and DTS® Connect PCI sound card, announced today a revised shipping date of the end of June for the company's new sound card based on the Creative X-FI™ chipset. The revised June 2007 release date for the Auzen X-FI™ Prelude 7.1 is a response to confirmed parts availability. The original date -- based on projected parts availability -- had placed the ship date near the end of May." -Information taken from Auzentech site directly.

(I copy-pasted this from: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/audio/1451-auzen-x-fi-prelude-pic.html)
 
No, I believe they're referring to the X-Plosion, which I guess was the first 8788-based card on the market, and the first to support DDL and DTSC.

This announcement isn't very timely considering the original predicted shipping date, but whatever. I suspect the end-of-June "date" is final.

Auzentech said:
Auzen X-FI™ Prelude 7.1 will fully support EAX 5.0 and have the same expandability as the Auzen X-Meridian™ 7.1. Support for Dolby® Digital Live real time encoding for Vista is scheduled for Q4 of this year.
Click to expand...
Weren't we expecting DDL support in Vista sooner, and will Auzentech slip this as well? If Auzentech misses the ball on DDL for the Prelude, they will be putting themselves in very troubled water with their customer base.
 
First off. No the X-Plosion is NOT 8788 based. I don't believe they will have problems if they release the card without DDL at this time. It can be added at a later time in software. Alot of people like that feature but alot of people use their cards based on the sound quality alone.
This new card will be the best sounding "Gamer" card on the planet. DDL will be a nice asset and the card will most likely ship with it, but if it didn't I think they will still sell like hot cakes. Most liley what we will see is this card will ship with Dolby Digital Live and there will be a driver update adding DTS connect.
 
Ah -- my mistake. The X-Plosion is indeed based on the 8770.

And the potential issue regarding DDL is not that the card will not ship with support in Vista, but that there's an expectation that DDL is an eventuality, and if Auzentech misses Q4 2007, they can expect a fair amount of heat (as well they should).

Oh, and the fourth quarter is October through December, so I don't see any possible way DDL is going to be functional in Vista on the launch date.
 
@Phide, Possibly - I seriously doubt that will hamper the sale of the card at all. Nice to know the hardware features can be augmented with software. Such as the company adding Dolby Digital Live! to the card at a later date. Consider this card will probably have a better Digital to Analog conversion section then alot of the gear people will be connecting it to. Alot of people bought the X-Meridian for digital considering all the features. Once they were told to try it out in analog few actually went back to digital for the reason above. I think the same analog sound quality will apply with the Prelude.
 
I just want a card that has HDMI output. Then the whole DDL/DTS:Connect vs analog debate would be meaningless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top