For playback I used
MP3s for the most part: Air Force One complete score
(192kbps), Matrix Reloaded complete score (All VBR), Matrix
Revolutions complete score (VBR & several 320kbps),
Equilibrium complete score (256kbps), Starship Troopers
complete score (256kbps), The Perfect Storm score (CD),
Radiohead – The Bends (CD), The Bourne Supremacy score
(192kbps) & several others. For music playback I used my
Foobar 2000, Version 0.8.3, currently my preferred media
player over Winamp 5.
Settings used are as
displayed beneath; while for output I used Kernel Streaming
(these settings would apply well to any other Envy24 chipset
based Audio solution as well if anyone’s interested):
In addition with the
Ultimate Edge’s resampling to 48 kHz/96 kHz I used the
resampler (SSRC) DSP in Foobar to resample content to 48/96
kHz.
Playback quality was
unsurprisingly good as has been the case with all
Envy24-based soundcards I’ve tested so far. The Ultimate
Edge, Revolution 7.1 and Audigy 2 ZS are all quite close
when it comes to music playback performance. The Audigy 2 ZS
and Ultimate Edge are at somewhat of a technical
disadvantage in that they resample 44.1 kHz sources whereas
the Revolution 7.1 does not. The Revolution 7.1 does offer
perhaps the most accurate playback of sources, with the
Audigy 2 providing a brighter, more vocal-biased
performance. The Ultimate Edge on the other hand tended to
perform somewhere in between with a warmer sound.
You will no doubt be
interested in the QSizzle and QRumble effects available in
the Sound Agent 2 which “helps restore compressed digital
music to its original fidelity by compensating for lost
harmonic detail.”
Well, I wouldn’t go
that far. QSizzle and QRumble can indeed add some punch and
loudness to playback of MP3s and the like, though it doesn’t
seem to go anywhere near restoring lost detail. If you want
CD-quality playback then play a CD or rip it to a lossless
format, you definitely won’t restore what’s not there
anymore.
In addition to
QRumble and QSizzle there is also a 10-band equaliser should
you prefer more specific adjustments.
