Just glanced through Tom's NForce-2 Ultra roundup, and noticed that no mention was made of onboard sound quality at all. Which is a shame, as there's something here that needs pointing out:
Manufacturers cripple the sound of the MCP-T by use of a really cheap codec, the ALC650.
NVidia's reference board used two Sigmatel codecs, and it shows. The outstanding results are at http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/reviews/nForce/nForce-p5.html
I tested my MSI board, and the results are rather horrible:
http://www.shawnbehrens.de/rmaa-results/MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR.htm
Now, some of this will be down to MSI's implementation, but most of it, I am sure, is due to the codec used. Heck, even my aging SB Live! Value beats the living daylights out of that codec.
It seems the OEMs have all decided to go for the ALC650, with one exception, Epox, and they use the C-Media CMI9739A ... no idea whether that's any better than an ALC650.
So, here's my appeal:
Download RightMark Audio Analyzer from http://audio.rightmark.org/ and test it on your NForce-2 (Ultra) board. And let us know the results.
And if you're unhappy with the sound results you get, write to the CEO of your mobo maker .
Shawn
P.S.: For Audio Testing, the RMAA wizard works well. Connect Line Out to Line In (not Microphone) with a stereo cable. Mute everything but Wave, Master, Line In, to avoid picking up noise from a bogus source. Disable all equalizer, EAC, etc. effects. And go for it.
Manufacturers cripple the sound of the MCP-T by use of a really cheap codec, the ALC650.
NVidia's reference board used two Sigmatel codecs, and it shows. The outstanding results are at http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/reviews/nForce/nForce-p5.html
I tested my MSI board, and the results are rather horrible:
http://www.shawnbehrens.de/rmaa-results/MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR.htm
Now, some of this will be down to MSI's implementation, but most of it, I am sure, is due to the codec used. Heck, even my aging SB Live! Value beats the living daylights out of that codec.
It seems the OEMs have all decided to go for the ALC650, with one exception, Epox, and they use the C-Media CMI9739A ... no idea whether that's any better than an ALC650.
So, here's my appeal:
Download RightMark Audio Analyzer from http://audio.rightmark.org/ and test it on your NForce-2 (Ultra) board. And let us know the results.
And if you're unhappy with the sound results you get, write to the CEO of your mobo maker .
Shawn
P.S.: For Audio Testing, the RMAA wizard works well. Connect Line Out to Line In (not Microphone) with a stereo cable. Mute everything but Wave, Master, Line In, to avoid picking up noise from a bogus source. Disable all equalizer, EAC, etc. effects. And go for it.