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The
Digifire 7.1 features WDM Drivers for Windows 98SE,
Me, 2000 & XP. For some time now Hercules has been
using a universal Driver format for the Game Theatre
XP, Fortissimo II/III, etc. (All the CS4630/4624 DSP
based Soundcards basically), in much the same way
NVIDIA does for its graphics card Drivers. Hercules
should certainly be applauded for this approach and
certainly is a lot more user friendly than
Creative Labs staggered (needing CD drivers for
applying web updates, or in the case of their
DVD-Audio player, it was necessary to download 3
different updates, which needed to be installed in
order).
The only
option Hercules offers you when it comes to these
Drivers is whether or not you want to download it with
a DLS Soundbank, beyond that it includes both Driver &
Control Panel.
Shown
beneath is the Main tab of the Control Panel:
This tab allows
you to specify the output mode for the Digifire &
adjust the master volume level & volume level per
channel, as well as test each channel. Basic bass
management is available via the Small Speakers option
(Which enables bass content to be redirected to a
subwoofer which requires a separate input), though as
it lacks an adjustable crossover frequency it’s much
less flexible than, say, the Audigy/Audigy 2, nForce &
Revolution 7.1 are. Some time back Hercules had said
they were planning to release a utility to allow you
to adjust the crossover frequency, though this never
came to light it seems. To put this into a fairer
perspective though, this should have absolutely no
effect on the majority of those reading this review,
especially those using multimedia systems.
The Mixer tab
provides the ability to adjust the volume level for
the various sources, or to mute them completely as you
see fit – nothing particularly interesting so far. The
EQ tab does however provide access to a 10-band
hardware equaliser.
This is
a nice feature for those of you looking to better fine
tune amplification levels for the different frequency
bands. The less experienced would of course would well
do to stick with the 8 presets. Comparatively the
Audigy/Audigy 2 only offer basic tone control (1 Bass
& 1 Treble slider, though a parametric EQ is available
if you’re willing to play around with the EAX Control
Panel – assuming you’re even aware of it).
Should you have
installed the Drivers with the DSL Soundbank, then a
MIDI tab will be available to adjust various
parameters as regards that. That said, I didn’t and
have no real use for it.
Last up there’s
the ‘Other’ tab, which does provide 2 options of
interest:
The 3D
Audio Acceleration option sets the level of 3D Audio
support, the 3 available options being;
Maximum -
This options enables full 3D hardware support
of the Soundcard for DirectSound 3D & supported
DirectSound 3D extensions (A3D, EAX 1.0/2.0, I3DL2,
Sensaura Macro FX, Sensaura Zoom FX, Sensaura
MultiDrive, Sensaura 3D & Sensaura Environment FX).
This is the recommended setting for full 3D audio
features in games & is what it was set to during the
review.
High -
This option enables support for DirectSound 3D
though disables support for the previous
DirectSound 3D extensions - A3D, EAX 1.0/2.0, I3DL2,
Sensaura Macro FX, Sensaura Zoom FX, Sensaura
MultiDrive, Sensaura 3D & Sensaura Environment FX.
This is recommended should you wish to have 3D audio
positioning in supported games, though not wish to use
DirectSound 3D extensions, which may lead to reduced
performance or other compatibility issues with certain
games.
Off -
This option disables DirectSound 3D &
DirectSound 3D extensions support. This should only be
needed for troubleshooting purposes.
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