Hercules has been present in the PC
soundcard market for a few years now, since the release of
the
first Fortissimo card in 1999, the company (then
Guillemot) went after the same audience that was familiar to
them, famous for producing high-end videocards meant for
enthusiasts and gamers.
Fast forward to
present time, we are about to review the Digifire 7.1
soundcard that remains as Hercules’ flagship card despite of
the fact it was introduced about a year ago. Based on the
Cirrus Logic CS4624 chipset, the Digifire 7.1 offers sound
output for up to 8 channels like its name describes, that
can translate in support for Dolby Digital EX decoding
(7.1), up to par even with latest offerings from Creative
Labs and M-Audio.
Perhaps one of the
biggest selling points in the Digifire are the 3 FireWire
ports which Hercules hints can be used to connect a DV
camcorder and create “professional-quality videos” using the
bundled PowerDirector Pro software. And that is indeed the
difference between the Digifire and the Fortissimo III, both
of which share the exact same components and can be used for
gaming and surround audio however the latter lacks the
connectivity and software, hence the lower price, even then
you will want to know none of these cards will break the
bank at
$75 and $45, respectively.
Out of the box &
Connectivity
The Digifire 7.1
features a Line/Mic Input, 4 Stereo Line Outputs, an Optical
S/PDIF Output (no S/PDIF input) and a MIDI/Gameport add-on
bracket. Additionally 2 FireWire ports are provided on the
bracket (as opposed to one on the Audigy/Audigy 2) and a
third extra port is available internally. Despite of the
recent trend of removing legacy connections, the board did
come with headers for CD-In and the like, in case you need
them there although I’ve not used them for years.
Installing the
Soundcard itself was no more hassle than any of the other
Soundcards I’ve reviewed previously and just as before I did
not bother installing the MIDI/Gameport bracket. Over the
course of testing the Digifire I connected it to the
Creative
MegaWorks 510D,
Inspire 6700 &
Videologic ZXR 750 Speaker systems using available
Line-Out's as well as conducted some testing using a pair of
Philips headphones. For testing digital output the Optical
S/PDIF Output was connected to a SoundBlaster Extigy.
The Digifire 7.1
comes with a printed manual and an html manual into the
Drivers CD. As per norm, this covers basic hardware &
software installation as well as a vague few paragraphs on
the Control Panel.
In addition, the
Digifire comes with a software bundle comprising PowerDVD 4
Pro EX, PowerDirector Pro, Yamaha XG Player, Hercules
MediaStation II and Acid Xpress. The standout software is
undoubtedly PowerDVD 4 Pro EX which supports a Dolby Digital
Surround EX (7.1) decoding which I’ll cover more in the DVD
section.
PowerDirector Pro will be of good use to those connecting a
digital camcorder to the Digifire’s
FireWire ports, allowing you to edit movies and such. The
other 3 applications allow for various audio format playback
&/or recording – personally I am happy enough with WinAMP
for playback.
Technical
Specifications
-
Data transfer
PCI 2.1 bus
DSP
Cirrus Logic SoundFusion CS4624
Audio quality
· CD and professional audio
quality
· 20-bit quad output and 18-bit dual stereo input codec
· upto 48kHz sampling rate
Game compatibility
· Sensaura based 3D positional
audio with support for Microsoft DirectSound™ 3D, EAX™
1.0, EAX™ 2.0, A3D™ 1.0, I3DL2™, MacroFX™, MultiDrive™,
ZoomFX™, EnvironmentFX™
· Sound Blaster®
· DSP accelerated engine for an
unlimited number of voices (64-voice hardware)
· 8MB General MIDI/GS™ sample set
· DLS 1.0 compatible
· GM™ (General Midi) and Yamaha XG™ compatible
· Yamaha S-YXG50:
- 676 instrument sounds and 21 drum kits
- Effects: reverb, chorus, variation …
External Connectors
· Analog output connectors:
· Front speakers out
· Rear speakers out
· Centre / LFE out
· 7 & 8 channels / Headphones out
· Line in / Mic in
· MIDI / Game port (MPU 401™ compatible)
· Digital S/PDIF out (optical)
· 2 FireWire® ports
Internal connectors
· CD-in; CD-in 2; Aux-in; S/PDIF
in
· FireWire port
