Creative Reveals Multi-Core Sound Processor

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[citation][nom]GreaseMonkey_62[/nom]Finally something cool sounding that is not related to tablets or smartphones. Would be great on an HTPC.[/citation]
Agree. A good idea for budget mobo or small form factor.

But 102dB DAC is hardly HiFi, especially when you add in the error from the headphone amplifier.
I was hoping Creative would improve on the sound quality, since they've been lagging behind for a while now.
 
Hmmm.... don't see the point of all these "pristine" digital audio quality specs from audio cards when all the plugin companies are selling tape emulators to make your stuff sound analog and warm again.
 
If you have $500 then go out and buy some nice speakers and this sound card- personally though I would rather have like a GTX 580 or something I can notice immediately- sound for headphones is good enough for me using standard motherboard sound.
 
[citation][nom]mediv42[/nom]would love to see a double blind study on sound quality upgrading from a good, but 4 year old sound card to this new sound card, using the same speakers. I really doubt anyone could tell a difference. I doubt most people could even tell the difference using a ten year old sound card and the same speakers.[/citation]

it all depends on hoe old the person is and how good their ears are. some people can hear it, some people cant. its like if glasses never existed, and no one knew about them, some people would see the world fuzzy while others see the word crystal clear. there is a way to objectively test eyesight though, their just isn't for sound... aside from the can you hear this tone tests, but thats more can you hear it, and not how you hear it. it would b like turning lights of various powers on, and asking if you can see it, but not being able to ask is it in focus.

[citation][nom]mediv42[/nom]I'm sure when people buy an expensive sound card, they will believe they can hear a difference between that and their older sound card, but I kind of doubt it unless their speakers changed too.[/citation]

trust me, going from intergrated to a decent sound card gives you a change, though i dont know if a 5 year old one or this one would be much different... as i cant imagine what this one would sound like.

[citation][nom]memadmax[/nom]Well, everyone else is doing the multicore thing. Why not audio cards I guess....[/citation]

there are genuine needs for multi core, but the needs would only come if you can hear the difference between the best and the second best

 
[citation][nom]11796pcs[/nom]If you have $500 then go out and buy some nice speakers and this sound card- personally though I would rather have like a GTX 580 or something I can notice immediately- sound for headphones is good enough for me using standard motherboard sound.[/citation]
Its for onboard audio, you dont have to buy a sound card, it will be on your new motherboard "We designed a sound and voice processor that will enable our OEM partners to deliver the highest quality Sound Blaster audio ever available for a motherboard "
 
This new sound processor should prove to be useful for gamers who appreciate good quality sound systems.
I hope to see these processors in HTPCs.
 
oh great another board to not function properly when you have more than 4gb of ram in your system. Then spending hours emailing and calling tech support people who have their heads up their posteriors and end up sending the ticket up the chain to even more inept people who ignore it for 6 months.
 
ok, this is nonsense. years ago when I built my real time editing rig (which I was super proud of back in the pentium 3 days lol). I forked over the money to get an audigy platinum ex. It was a great card and I used it all the way until I switched to win7 3 years ago (because it wont work with win7). It was a great card with a 105sig/noise and a ton of great hardware interconnects. But now with the win7 driver I can get much better quality on my crappy on-board audio... which is both cool and sad. I'd love to have another card, but I think next time it will be an interface card like a tascam as on-board audio is completely useless in an age with digital audio output.
 
i dont know how any one can use on board sound. it sounds like some one hitting a tin can with a stick its awful.
ive used CL cards for a long time (15+years) and have never had any problems with their drivers, i have never had the sound card crash the computer
 
[citation][nom]skyjogger[/nom]i dont know how any one can use on board sound. it sounds like some one hitting a tin can with a stick its awful.ive used CL cards for a long time (15+years) and have never had any problems with their drivers, i have never had the sound card crash the computer[/citation]

Just becaues your onboard soundcard sucks doesn't mean everyone else's does. Mine's just fine, and I have a sound card in a box ready to use if I get some ridiculously nice quality speakers and the onboard can't handle it.
 
Well I am hapy owner of X-FI elite pro and I would newer go back to onboard sound. The elite pro did cost something like 400$ a few years ago, but it is still much cheaper than the headphones that I am using with them...
It is all relative. If you have poor plastic speakers like creative or logitech or somethin like that or highend hifi-speakers. Plastic bass box does not sound any better with onboard or external sound card, with better speakers you can tell the difference. Almost the same thing as with mp3 files. They normally are so bad that they sound better with low guality headphones than good ones, because good ones reveal the quality of the original mp3. On the other vice it would be terrible to hear classic music for example in flac format by using poor headphones vs. highend headphones.
summasummarum: the result is as good as the weakest link. Normally it is the speakers, so good sound card does not add in those situations. It would a be waste of money in most cases. But if you have good speakers or headphones, I would recommended of using good DAC or other devise to produce the sound.
 
I decided to stop buying Creative products when they wouldn't make drivers for their older cards to run on Vista and then forced a guy who had made his own, home-grown drivers available to stop posting them. Why deal with a company like that?
 
Personally, I hate the onboard sound chips. The CL sound cards are indeed much better at producing sound while taking very few CPU cycles - more fps in games. However their software has been utter trash.

I categorize the people who say they dont get discrete or it costs too much are the same ones who say integrated graphics are good enough. These are high end cards (with crappy s/w) that are for true enthusiasts, just like current GPU's are for real enthusiasts - they are not for everyone...
 
[citation][nom]mediv42[/nom]would love to see a double blind study on sound quality upgrading from a good, but 4 year old sound card to this new sound card, using the same speakers. I really doubt anyone could tell a difference. I doubt most people could even tell the difference using a ten year old sound card and the same speakers.[/citation]

You've seriously got to be kidding me...I can easily tell the difference between my X-fi (which is not even supposed to be a great music card compared to some of the other options out there) and the Realtek 888 onboard sound. Hell, if nothing else, the added noise would be the first tell, and its pretty obvious. Nevermind the obvious soundstage difference between the two..the Realtek sounds all compressed, and the X-fi (for better or worse, depending on your audiophile beliefs) has a very wide, airy sound to it.

Even doing a switch on my hackintosh between a cheap outboard USB X-FI 5.1 and the integrated Realtek audio reveals an obvious difference in sound quality.

Maybe somebody who isnt a critical listener wouldnt be able to tell, but the analog output stages of onboard sound and a decent standalone card can be worlds apart.
 
Whoops, that last reply should have been to this:

"I'm sure when people buy an expensive sound card, they will believe they can hear a difference between that and their older sound card, but I kind of doubt it unless their speakers changed too."
 
[citation][nom]iam2thecrowe[/nom]Its for onboard audio, you dont have to buy a sound card, it will be on your new motherboard[/citation]

You still pay for it though, I highly doubt they will sell these to mobo manufacturers for the same price as say the current flavor of Realtek (ALC 889/892 if I remember correctly) chips mobo manufacturers mainly use atm; and that's without factoring in the 'Creative' brand/labeling tax.

You could bet your bottom dollar that those costs would be later reflected in the retail prices us end users pay for the boards at the end of the line.

[citation][nom]HansVonOhain[/nom]Useless to me unless they fix up their 'updating with better drivers' routine.[/citation]

and don't sue other people who pick up the slack for them:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/04/daniel_k-who-fi/

[citation][nom]Learn_w_Graffix[/nom]I decided to stop buying Creative products when they wouldn't make drivers for their older cards to run on Vista and then forced a guy who had made his own, home-grown drivers available to stop posting them. Why deal with a company like that?[/citation]

Same here, see above link for a refresher.
 
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