|
The
Inspire 6700 also features an up-mixing capability. In this
instance a 5.1 -> 6.1 switch is located on the back of
the Subwoofer which can easily be toggled on/off. This will
generate a rear center channel by mixing rear left/right
channels together (Intended for 5.1 capable Soundcards &
not 6.1 Soundcards like the Audigy 2). Perhaps this would be
better left disabled except for DVD playback where
you may find the extended surround effect a nice addition to
playback. In games it would be best left disabled so
as not to interfere with 3D positioning. Certainly it’s a
decent enough addition to the system and certainly the
implementation of it is more desirable than the one featured
with the Inspire 5300 (which would generate a center channel
when the Center/Subwoofer input was unplugged).
The Inspire 6700 was
tested on a PC comprised of the following components:
-
Windows XP
Professional SP1
-
256MB DDR RAM
-
AMD Athlon 1.2Ghz
-
GeForce 4 Ti 4400
-
Abit NV7-133R
nForce
-
PURE Digital
SonicXplosion DVD
-
SoundBlaster
Audigy
-
SoundBlaster
Audigy 2
-
Sigma Designs
REALmagic Xcard
For testing music
playback I used a variety of sources, including Episode II:
Attack Of The Clones soundtrack (192Kbps MP3), Medal Of
Honor: Allied Assault (128Kbps MP3), The Towers soundtrack
(192Kbps MP3), Sing When You’re Winning (CD), Black Hawk
Down soundtrack (CD) and the DVD-Audio sample disc provided
with the Audigy 2. As with most speaker systems your
impressions may vary to some degree depending on the type of
music you listen to, with my preference being instrumental
soundtracks for the most part.
With the main
exception of the improved Subwoofer my impressions of the
6700 aren’t all that different to those I had of the 5300.
The satellites offer essentially the same level of quality
as before, offering a somewhat muddy midrange for sources
tested & sufficient enough bass from the satellites to a
point, though the Subwoofer in this case does offer improved
power over the 5300’s and as such did offer a more
pleasant experience than before. Similarly though, the
system did become fairly distorted as the volume level was
raised and this was particularly noticeable on tracks more
biased towards lower-range frequencies such as several of
the tracks of the ‘Black Hawk Down’ soundtrack or ‘The
World Is Not Enough’ theme.
Keeping the volume
level to a more subdued level should be enough for most
users though and distortion shouldn’t really be an overly
noticeable factor with the system.
The front centre
channel as you might expect, plays no part when listening to
stereo encoded music unless your Soundcard/Media Player
offers some sort of up-mixing feature, e.g. CMSS or Dolby
Pro-Logic 2, though to be honest I’m fairly loathe to use
any of those anyway.
Using one of the discs bundled with the Audigy 2, I was able
to test DVD Audio playback, this provided a nice test for
multi-channel music through the comparatively better front
centre channel which seemed to make the system sound
somewhat uneven.
Overall music
playback through the Inspire 6700 was average enough,
though for the price you will be paying that shouldn’t
really be unexpected. Some better bass than the previous
Inspires but not on par with higher-end systems targeted at
audiophiles.
|
