New Audio Review Articles for TechSpot! (give your input)

[TS | Thomas]

I can only hope that EAX HD and OpenAL will promote developers to make more use of advanced audio effects. As far as games go I have yet to see a single title use 24/96 sound samples as opposed to the standard 16/44.

Uggh, I can't even imagine when they'd make the switch to 24/96. If I recall right even Doom 3 (Which had *great* sound - not much else though ) was compressed to Ogg files for memory savings. Seems developers are content enough with average quality sound (A lot of effects are 16/22) & would rather have all RAM & CPU used for graphics & (now) physics. Understandable enough, look at how many people think MP3 is the best format ever & sounds just like the CD.
Guy that I used to work with me said when he was at school he's sell CDs to classmates - not 1 of them complained about the CDs, despite being encoded from 64-128Kbps sources. Hell, I can't really stand listening to anything beneath 192Kbps

 

[DragonMaster]

1) What level is your audio knowledge? Well, I DIY amps & speakers, play music, mod my CD player, find that a Creative card is not high-end(Not for processing power, but sound quality), etc. BUT, I haven't listened to every $1000+ amps out there.
2) How interested are you in learning more about audio? A lot, to see if there's a real -good- soundcard out there!
3) Are there any specific products you would like to see reviewed or compared? http://www.auzentech.com/
4) Are you interest in the pros/cons of 2.0,2.1,4.1,5.1,7.1, or all? speakers setups? Somewhat, I'd like to know if you really feel like you're in an other place or not (Worth having more than a 2.1 or not?)
5) Are you more interested in powerful high fidelity systems or small, easy to setup systems with sound quality as a second concern? Powerful hi-fi? Joking?
6) Are you interested how much quality a new sound card will bring you? Yes
7) what do you use your PC audio for? (please list in order of heaviest use) Music, to know when I get e-mails
8) What is your current sound card and speaker set? Ensoniq AudioPCI ES1371, sound system(Vintage h/k amp with 3-way speakers - DIY speakers and subwoofer coming!)

 

[YellowC4S]

I would pay just about anything for a soundcard made by:
Lexicon
or
Boothroyd/Stewart Meridian
or
Krell
or
Mark Levinson
or
Classe
or
Theta Digital
or
Denon

While we're at it, gimme a graphics card by Runco or Faroudja

 

[DragonMaster]

I would pay just about anything for a soundcard made by:
...

There are EXCELLENT USB codecs made by Texas Instruments(Burr Brown), which provide the DACs for a lot of companies (From low-end to high-end).

They are just 16/48 but computers then sound better than high-end CDPs once you use them. (You can connect an external DAC if you aren't happy with the internal one)

 

[DragonMaster]

By the way Audiotrak and Terratec seem to make a few good things.

 

[Nukey]

1) Very high
2) Always like learning about new things, adds to the experience
3) I think all audio products are important, irrelivant of their costs.
4) It's always good to have a full view of the range as some setups are more suitable than others for home use
5) I have an interest in all setups because not everyone can afford high-end
6) Of course quality is everything, as well as features for money.
7) Music, Audio Editing, Video Editing, Movies, General "nick-nack" Use, Games
8) Apollo Dolby Digital 5.1, connected to Goodmans GDVD101R DVD 5.1 system via Audio Phono on the AV2 (Pro logic on line-out output from sound card)

All I can say is give everything a chance because more expensive doesn't actually mean best.

 

[salviablue]

1) What level is your audio knowledge?Fair, but needs to be impeccable
2) How interested are you in learning more about audio?Extremely, considering im supposed to be a musician and will be running a college studio v.soon
3) Are there any specific products you would like to see reviewed or compared? breakout boxes vs hardwiring to rack mounted units (specific and unspecific to PC) vs diy electronics adaptors/convertors etc..
4) Are you interest in the pros/cons of 2.0,2.1,4.1,5.1,7.1, or all? speakers setups?Yes, speakers vs monitors vs ext. amp powered cabs
5) Are you more interested in powerful high fidelity systems or small, easy to setup systems with sound quality as a second concern?power hifi vs cheapness vs versatility
6) Are you interested how much quality a new sound card will bring you?would i have bothered replying to this otherwise?!?;>
7) what do you use your PC audio for? (please list in order of heaviest use)sound Recording/ editing and general music creating, dukebox, games, divx
8) What is your current sound card and speaker set? sb live! 5.1 w/LIVE drive II connected to a Sansui 200 W RMS amp powering a pair of ARC 101 actives and a pair of JAMO`s w/sub.(although no 5.1 surround!) Soon to be implemented once i have finished the units will be some high quality homemade EQ, Expander, Compressor,noise gate and 32 channel mixer. The only thing letting me down now is the state of my PC; AMD `thunderbird`@2100MHz on a VIAK133 chipset mobo with 768 SDRAM, although it has 2HD`s, a 4g to run winxp and a 30g to run music software, plus a 200g seagate in a USB2.0 icybox for storeage. The up side is that my main PC can do the crunching whilst i have a 1000MHz AMD with 200g seagate that can be recorded onto via outboard units (only 12 band EQ and compressor/noise gate up and running at mo)! I also have a 2000MHz laptop to run as the sequencer/sound library and controller to the keyboard. All this stuff has been aquired on the cheap over time, i`m not rich!(although this stuff doesnt cost that much anymore!)

 

[iMoose]

Mr. Moose D. Nooberton III

1)What level is your audio knowledge?
I cannot swim whilst chewing gum. So....medium? lol

2) How interested are you in learning more about audio?
I'd like to know just enough to not get taken, but still be fun at parties.

3) Are there any specific products you would like to see reviewed or compared?
Yes, the "best bang for your buck" kind of stuff. Maybe even what's older and available used for a good price?

4) Are you interest in the pros/cons of 2.0,2.1,4.1,5.1,7.1, or all? speakers setups?
Yes, but need to have the differences explained in simple terms, so a mouth-breather like me can understand.

5) Are you more interested in powerful high fidelity systems or small, easy to setup systems with sound quality as a second concern?
I have found incredible sounding gear for home audio that wasn't particularly expensive, and I'm not out to impress anybody.

6) Are you interested how much quality a new sound card will bring you?
Well, the card is kind of the key, right? Then probably speakers are next important. Then maybe wires?

7) What do you use your PC audio for? (please list in order of heaviest use)
Videos, DVD's, and now I'm using my PC as a "library". So now data back-up has become quite the concern. Might be doing some kind of RAID thing soon, so I can sleep better at night. Florida has some interesting lightening storms in the summer months. Thunder in broad daylight!

8) What is your current sound card and speaker set?
I was just given an Audigy SE by a friend that took pity on me! And using a Logitech set-up that's a hand me down. No idea what the model is, but it's two lil' small guys and a sub. It's actually pretty good. But I'm newly interested in audio for PC. And not sure about connecting the PC to my home stereo just yet. It's alright as-is....

But it's NOTHING compared to my home stereo system. That's something I've been expanding and upgrading for nearly 20 years!

Klipsch KG 4.5's as mains, lil' KG .5's for rears, matching series Klipsch center, Optimus powered 10" sub, Onkyo TX-SR727 receiver, and two big 'ol Sony changers. A 400 disc DVD, 200 disc CD.

So even though I have no trouble cranking the home system up loud enough to hear at the other end of the house where the PC is, my neighbors don't dig it.