Items tagged with 7.1
While not quite as exciting as Asus' bevy of new notebooks this morning, the newest card in the growing Xonar line will certainly tantalize those scouting an audiophile-level sound device. The Xonar DS 7.1 Channel Audio Card gets back to the basics by ditching the HDMI output on the Xonar HDAV1.3 and offering up the more traditional 3.5mm jack array. Unlike most cards, this one packs a 107dB signal-to-noise ratio, which supposedly eliminates 91% of background noise. Asus also integrates the GX 2.5 audio engine, which enables the latest EAX technologies, DirectSound effects and full surround sound in Windows Vista without additional software. For online gamers, there's VocalFX -- a voice processing...
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A few months ago, ASUS jumped into the audio card market with both feet with the introduction of their Xonar product line. One of the first models to market was the premium Xonar D2 Ultra Fidelity 7.1 sound card. The D2 boasted a superb retail package with all of the cabling, software and extras one would need thrown in, along with a slick, eye-catching design, for around $180. Not only did the Xonar D2 Ultra Fidelity 7.1 deliver on all fronts, but it also proved to be solid competition for Creative, who still has somewhat of a stranglehold on add-in audio card marketTo further infuse themselves into the audio card market though, ASUS didn't stop with the Xonar D2...
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Just a few years ago, if someone said that integrated audio would deliver great performance with many of the features of a full-blown add-in card, it might have raised an eyebrow or two. Today, however, thanks to vastly improved integrated technologies, today's integrated audio solutions are often more than satisfactory for a large portion of consumers. Nonetheless, there are those who want a better audio experience, which can only be delivered from the likes of an add-in card.A few months ago, ASUS jumped into the audio card market with both feet with the introduction of the Xonar product line. One of the first models to market was their premium...
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Crystal Clear Audio for Gaming and Home Entertainment The ASUS Xonar DX PCI-e 7.1 soundcard delivers 35 times cleaner audio than integrated motherboard solutions FREMONT, CALIFORNIA (March 17, 2008) - Providing an alternative to flat and murky motherboard audio, ASUS, leading manufacturer of high quality computer components, releases the Xonar DX soundcard. Engineered for pristine, clean audio quality with a 116 dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), the Xonar DX is equipped with innovative technologies such as Dolby Home Theater and DirectSound3D Game Extensions 2.0 (DS3D GX2.0) offering immersive home theater audio and rich gaming sound features. 35 Times Cleaner Audio QualityToday’s motherboards...
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Just in time for the weekend, AMD has released a brand new set of Catalyst drivers. The Catalyst 7.12 suite incorporates a number of performance tweaks and bug fixes for all flavors of Windows. A quick glance at the release notes reveals the following interesting bits of information... Enhanced ATI OverDrive support for the ATI Radeon HD 2900 SeriesThis release of Catalyst introduces an enhanced version of ATI OverDrive for the ATI Radeon HD 2900 Series. Users can now Overclock both GPU engine and graphics memory clock speeds in CrossFire mode (and over-clock single ATI Radeon graphics accelerators as well). Performance Improvements The following performance improvements are...
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Asus makes bold claims about their new Xonar sound card being the “best” PC audio card on the market currently. We took the product to task in an effort to prove out these claims. At the very least, perhaps a company with the Hardware and Software Engineering resources that Asus has, can deliver reasonable audio fidelity and hopefully a better set of drivers than the likes of Creative’s X-Fi debacle.Read on:ASUS Xonar D2 Ultra Fidelity 7.1 PCI Sound Card...
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Claiming to be the best at anything is bold. From professional athletes to product manufacturers, stating you or your product is the best out there opens things up for closer scrutiny. Being the best at what you do, or what you make, means near flawless execution. Regardless of the context, one thing is certain, if you claim you are the best at what you do, you better be prepared to back those statements up. This is the position ASUS has put themselves in, stating that their latest product is the best of its kind, period.In this HotHardware showcase we're going to take a look at a new sound card from ASUS called the Xonar D2 Ultra Fidelity 7.1 PCI Surround...
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When it comes to sound cards, think Creative is the only game in town? Guess again. While Creative has name recognition cornered, there are other viable options. Take BlueGears HDA X-Mystique 7.1 Soundcard. This little gem can encode Dolby Digital 5.1 streams and has a slew of other impressive features, all for less than comperable Creative offerings. The guys at Penstarsys even list some advantages over the Creative line. "The sound card market is a very strange one these days. When Creative released the Sound Blaster series computer sound really took off and there were quite a few solid competitors in the...
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The X-Mystique 7.1 Gold brings Dolby Digital Live technology to an add-in sound card. DDL can take DirectSound3D and EAX sound streams and translate them into Dolby Digital 5.1 streams. This can also take place with CDs, MP3s and WMV-HD movies. If you're a HTPC buff, this card can bring some features to the forefront that were previously unavailable in a sound card."For those of you who have been hiding under a rock the X-Mystique was the first add-in sound card to have Dolby Digital Live (DDL) technology. This is exciting for HTPC users as it allows any system with an open PCI slot to gain what was previously only possible with the aging NVIDIA nForce 2 chipset or as...
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Hey everyone. Well I finally got a chance to give the F.E.A.R. demo a run... it's all right. The game it's self, while not being anything we haven't seen before(except for the creepy little girl), seems to promise some intense action and killer graphics. However the demo seemed to need a little more polish, and unfortunately I am one of the ones who are experiencing horrible stuttering. If Monolith can iron out that issue and the other bugs that are found in the demo, we'll be in for a real treat later on this year. Oh, and speaking of the demo, Mr. Ghazi from TweakGuides has put out a quick guide for your tweaking pleasure. Now, on with the news. HP/Compaq TC4200 Tablet PC "As far as any...
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Well today the net is flooded with reviews for the brand spankin new Athlon64 FX-57 CPU(San Diego Core). Here at HH, Marco and Dave both had the pleasure of reviewing one of these bad boys, and of course, there was some overclocking ;) Make sure to check back later tonight for a roundup of the reviews from across the web! If your looking for some different news, check out the selection below, including a different kind of review by The Tech Zone. Enjoy! HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold Sound Card Review @ 3DXtreme "Bluegears has released a new sound card, the HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 Gold. For years gamers like us have relied on Creative Labs and their Sound Blaster line of sound card to...
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MAD DOG Entertainer 7.1 DSP Sound Card 8 Channels of Chest Pounding Sound By Tom Laverriere February 17, 2004 Many of today's motherboards are equipped with more than ample integrated sound solutions, which has made aftermarket sound cards a bit of an afterthought for some users. While some will correctly argue that add-in sound cards offer much better sound quality, this "improved" sound quality does come at a price. Thanks to companies like MAD DOG Multimedia, that price can be a very reasonable one. Today in the HotHardware...
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The M-Audio Revolution 7.1 Viva la revolución! "Burned in" by Robert Maloney June 23rd, 2003 The history of the audio card industry can be summed up by saying there has always been Creative Lab's SoundBlaster line, and then there have been the "others". When Aureal disappeared from the picture in 2000, it seemed to spell the end of any true competition for the audio giant. Other companies just couldn't risk going up against Creative's "beat 'em or buy 'em" strategy. On one hand, that might not have really been too much of a bad thing. I mean, after all, many games or applications were designed on and for SoundBlaster cards. In fact,...
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The Hercules Digifire 7.1 Sound Card 360o Of Sound Emersion By Jay Gibson December 11, 2002 Since our last look at a Hercules sound card, the Gamesound Fortissimo II, there have been a few advances in the technology that audiophiles will rejoice over. As Hercules' flagship product, in their audio line-up, the Digifire brand sports the leading edge audio processing capabilities, as well as a host of other features, including of course, Firewire connectivity. With support for 7.1 digital surround sound and FireWire DV Editing, this card should cover just about ever aspect one could ask for in a sound card. But, the thing to keep in mind is that quantity of features does not always mean quality,...
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