Good altenative Soundcard to Audigy/live

[NTBlowz]

Gainward Hollywood@Home Sound Card (http://www.ascent.co.nz/mn-product-spec.asp?pid=118174)

http://www.ascent.co.nz/images/products/118174-2.jpg

Based on Envy24HT-s chipset.. for only $78 but you get much better audio quality than Live/Audigy

Review (http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/Gainwardhollywood/)

[Feliz]

Mm I'm looking at something a little more satisfying than good ol' AC'97 does this support large soundfonts (great for old games!)

[tanivula]

hmmm i duno if it will be better than an audigy.. i would bet it would be better than a live though.. but i wouldnt be surprised if the ouptut quality is pretty close to that of an audigy.

well if anyone gets one keep this thread alive cos im pretty interested into getting a new card aswell (as well as a whole bundle of things..!)

but i think this puts it well.. taken from that review:
Whilst there is no great WOW factor in the sound as with a Creative Audigy 2 this card isn’t aimed at the same market and so when viewed against the products in its category or as an upgrade from an ageing stereo soundcard or onboard sound chip the Hollywood at home should be top of your list of budget cards.

[Viper_NZ]

Well here's my dillema. I love the SoundStorm on my 7NNXP. But the Realtek 650 has average analogue output.

Do I fork out for a stand alone sound card (which will leave the SoundStorm doing nothing. . I hate that, it feels wasteful), or do I fork out for insanely expensive digital speakers?

[whetu]

go for the standalone card.

I dont feel wasteful about not using the soundstorm on my board.. I consider its presence sort of like a long term investment... when I upgrade, chances are this mobo will go to my parents, and having the onboard sound means I dont have to worry about looking around for and buying a suitable soundcard... it's also an extra selling point if you sell it off on tardme etc

[dustyslapper]

What do you recommend for a good quality 2 channel card guys? I want something better than my live! to use with good phones.

I'm still thinking the Audigy2 ZX, or whatever their $200 card is.

I just hate Creative and am wondering if there'll be a comparable card for sound and game performance - otherwise I'd jump on an older Philips

[whetu]

sadly there's not much choice in NZ... I had to import my Acoustic Edge for example...

In your position I'd give the card mentioned in the first post a shot:
http://www.ascent.co.nz/mn-product-spec.asp?pid=118174 (and tell us what DACs it's using ;))

failing that I'd save up a bit more for an M-Audio Revo:
http://www.ascent.co.nz/mn-product-spec.asp?pid=119153

or a Philips Rhythmic Edge:
http://www.stylespc.com/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=1445&cat=139&page=1

[mattnz]

What's with that dude on the front of the box? Is it hammertime?

Also, you can eeke a few more frames out of most games if you don't use the onboard sound. At least you can with built in AC97, not sure if soundstorm has any impact.

[Maverick]

Originally posted by dustyslapper
What do you recommend for a good quality 2 channel card guys? I want something better than my live! to use with good phones.

I'm still thinking the Audigy2 ZX, or whatever their $200 card is.

I just hate Creative and am wondering if there'll be a comparable card for sound and game performance - otherwise I'd jump on an older Philips

Audigy2 would be the best card IMHO, but if its just for headphones, anything from:

1) Hercules Fortissimo 2/ 3/ Game Theatre XP
2) Philips Rhythmic / Seismic/ Acoustic Edge
3) Creative Audigy 1/2/ZS etc
4) Any VIA Envy chipset (Revolution, Aureon Space, holywood@home etc) board.

I hate to pimp, but I have a Fortissimo 2 that I will part with if interested (PM me). Has excellent headphone support -insanely better than the nforce2 MCP-T analogue outputs. It drives my big old Sony cans very well.
____________________

In terms of what Viper said, the MCP-T I find is excellent for gaming (EAX2, OpenAL support is excellent), but only so-so for music cf. the Fortissimo 2 -which has Crystal chipset and DACs (I think). Overall, best card would be an Audigy2 ZS -from reviews only, I havent yet had the pleasure.

I havent plugged the MCP-T into my DD receiver/amp yet, so I dont know how good DD Encoding is, or music quality bypassing the ALC650 chip. But *should* be a lot better than analogue.

Long term I think I will go with an Audigy2. I havent had a Creative Labs card in my rig since my 486/DX2-66 days (Soundblaster 16 ISA). But for me its personal, since CL destroyed Aureal in the courtroom rather than the marketplace {the b4stards!}.

[Ragnor]

Creative just bought Sensaura. Every respectable non-creative solution including via envy and nforce (except philips which uses Qsound) uses Sensaura for 3D audio, EAX ala gaming .

I wouldn't be investing in any non creative card right now untill we see how this pan's out.

Odds are Sensaura is headed the way of Aureal now. Creative will absorb the patents, technology and IP of Sensaura, drivers updates will go MIA and Sensaura will die.

A cynical approach one might say but entirely based on Creatives past actions and history.

[Spoon]

Originally posted by whetu
I dont feel wasteful about not using the soundstorm on my board..
I feel the urge to point out your wrongness :p. (hoping you are still talking about your A7N8X) . Rojak's Pot has an Article (http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=3&var1=20&var2=0) that points out that theres only three boards with soundstorm: the ABIT NF7-S motherboard, the MSI K7N2G-ILSR (with S-Bracket) motherboard and the Shuttle SN41G2 small form-factor PC. However, you're almost right, it still seems to meet all specs/requirements ;)

[Binky Stunt Cat]

Originally posted by Spoon
I feel the urge to point out your wrongness :p. (hoping you are still talking about your A7N8X) . Rojak's Pot has an Article (http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=3&var1=20&var2=0) that points out that theres only three boards with soundstorm: the ABIT NF7-S motherboard, the MSI K7N2G-ILSR (with S-Bracket) motherboard and the Shuttle SN41G2 small form-factor PC. However, you're almost right, it still seems to meet all specs/requirements ;)
Meh.
I've got the same board (ex Harley even) and the sound on this pwns a SB Live!
So shuddup :p

[Spoon]

Originally posted by Binky Stunt Cat
Meh.
I've got the same board (ex Harley even) and the sound on this pwns a SB Live!
So shuddup :p
Meh, I got an NF7-S, and not only does the sound also pwn my old live, it also has the flash sounding 'SoundStorm' name all over the place.

[whetu]

spoon, stop being pedantic.. your own linked article (which is very old now by the way) states very clearly that what is on my motherboard is soundstorm design and compatible.. it just doesnt have a stupid certificate for some pathetic reason that I've long since forgotten.. it's been a while since I last trawled the nforcershq forums

oh and also, look for my mobo on this page:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/motherboards.html and pay close attention to the column with the name of "Soundstorm Certified" ;) :rolleyes:

[Spoon]

Originally posted by whetu
oh and also, look for my mobo on this page:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/motherboards.html and pay close attention to the column with the name of "Soundstorm Certified" ;) :rolleyes:

Oh well. pwned I guess. *hides under rock*. Well mine supports the nvidia system utility :p. *gets back under rock*

[Maverick]

Originally posted by Ragnor
Creative just bought Sensaura. Every respectable non-creative solution including via envy and nforce (except philips which uses Qsound) uses Sensaura for 3D audio, EAX ala gaming .

I wouldn't be investing in any non creative card right now untill we see how this pan's out.

Odds are Sensaura is headed the way of Aureal now. Creative will absorb the patents, technology and IP of Sensaura, drivers updates will go MIA and Sensaura will die.

A cynical approach one might say but entirely based on Creatives past actions and history.

Sensaura is its own brand of 3D sound that converts EAX1/2 calls into Sensaura's 3D, so it doesnt sound exactly how a Live/ Audigy sounds in EAX. IMHO, Unless games were going to write specifically for Sensaura, then it would never really shine -The fact is, developers have never bothered -and simply support EAX- and then often only half heartedly.

The cool thing about the Envy24HT (at least on the Revo), is the support for SRS2, which does a pretty good job of multi channel creation (similar to QSound3D).

But yeah, the "choice" is clear for the next iteration of soundcards: Creative or Creative.

Lets hope nVidia will make the effort to step up and compete with a 24bit/96kHz, EAX4 compatable, SRS2/ DD7.1/DTS 7.1/ with decent DACs.... (yeah I know... dreaming).

[Ragnor]

Pretty true that, I've never heard of a game that was developed with specific support for Sensaura or QSound.

There is an important distinction between 3D sound API's and environment and effects engines.

DirectSound3D and openAL are 3D API's. EAX, Sensaura's thingee and Qsound3D are environmental effect engines or extentions of the 3D API's (for reverb etc). So the 3D positioning should be relatively similar on all cards but the effects like reverb will sound quite different.