Hercules Fortissimo 7.1 price

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NV30

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Why is this card so much cheaper than say the Audigy 2? Seems to have almost as many features, but the A2 is ~$250CAD and the Hercules is around $80CAD.

Any ideas why?
 
The quality both of the product and the sound produced, as well as the Creative name would account for the price differences. The Fortissimo is more on par with the original Audigy or the later Live! series as far as sound quality goes. The Audigy 2 also boasts THX certification and is the only sound card capable of processing DVD-Audio music.
 
Yeah that about sums it up really, not to mention though that the Audigy 2 uses good quality 24bit DACs. I'm not sure what the Fortissimo 2 uses though I'm pretty sure they're 20 bit DACs. Price wise are you on about the Audigy 2 (regular) or Audigy 2 Platinum, obviously the Platinum has the additional Audigy drive as well. The Fortissimo 3 uses the fairly old (now) CS4624 DSP as well.
 
THX certification is the main reason why i think the creative card is more expensive, basically creative need to pay to get that certification on the product. Fortissismo 3 7.1 is bases on the Fortissismo 2 which uses the CS4624 DSP but with new support of Dolby Digital EX and 7.1 Digital surround. Yup they are 20bits DACs.
 
just an FYI - The Dolby Digital EX support in the Fortissimo 3 is down to an updated software decoder (power dvd I think they come with), theres nothing in the way of hardware decoding with the card though.
 
Originally posted by TS | Thomas
just an FYI - The Dolby Digital EX support in the Fortissimo 3 is down to an updated software decoder (power dvd I think they come with), theres nothing in the way of hardware decoding with the card though.

Yes indeed, every package of Fortissismo 3 comes with Power DVD Pro EX which supports Dolby Digital EX through software decoding. However, DTS is not supported, required audio packs are needed to be purchased in order to activate DTS. Anyway i m not sure whether Fortissisom suports DTS.
 
While we're on the topic, would you guys recommend the Audigy X-Gamer or Gamer? I use audio for games most of the time, with some DVD and MP3 listening.

Thanks
 
IMHO, you would be better off with Audigy 2 as it is much more future proof than the Audigy X-Gamer. 6.1 surround may come handy in the future, the Dobly Digital EX support may be useful too.
 
No worries, NV30. BTW FYI Audigy 2 is one and only soundcard in the consumer market to be able have improved to play DVD-Audio. Audigy 2 is a wiser choice as DVD-Audio sales has improved, as you can see consumers are shifting from CD-Audio to DVD-Audio.
 
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