Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1
PrintWho’d have thunk it? Long considered a dead zone, soundcards are making a resurgence. Driven by an outcry for audio that doesn’t sound like a box of snap, crackle, pop every time you access your USB ports, manufacturers are releasing new soundcards that surpass the free audio that comes with your motherboard. This month, we test an Auzentech card that uses a Creative Labs chip and Asus’s new entry into PC audio.
It used to be that if you wanted the latest Creative audio chip in your PC, there was only one way to get it: buy a Sound Blaster soundcard. That changes with Auzentech’s X-Fi Prelude 7.1 card.
The Prelude packs Creative’s top-end X-Fi DSP along with 64MB of XRAM. Auzentech doesn’t stop with the vaunted X-Fi; the card also sports higher-spec’d digital audio converters and includes both SPDIF and optical I/O ports. An added bonus is the inclusion of a standard AC97 header that allows you to plug in your case’s front-panel jack. Finally!
In a listening test using 24-bit/96kHz audio samples, two editors compared the Prelude to Asus’s Xonar D2 and both preferred Auzentech’s card.
In gaming, the X-Fi Prelude represented well. Its scores were in line with a Creative X-Fi’s, albeit slightly slower. What’s really important, though, is the Prelude’s full support for all of Creative’s proprietary EAX technologies.
Hearing
X-Fi and HD Audio headers on the card.
Smelling
Must use Auzentech-provided X-Fi drivers.
9
| BENCHMARKS | |||||||
| X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Analog Mode | Xonar D2 Analog Mode | Xonar D2 Dolby Digital Live | X-Fi Fatality | ||||
| Fear Software Mixing (FPS) | 262 | 248 | 249 | 256 | |||
| Fear Software Mixing with Advanced EAX on (FPS) | 257 | 242 | 259 | 250 | |||
| Fear Software Mixing with Advanced EAX off (FPS) | 254 | N/A | N/A | 252 | |||
| 3DMark03 0Sound (FPS) | 114 | 114 | 118 | 117 | |||
| 3DMark03 24 Sound (FPS) | 104 | 108 | 104 | 106 | |||
| 3DMark03 60 Sound (FPS) | 94 | 102 | 96 | 98 | |||
| Best scores are bolded. Our test bed is a Windows XP Pro machine using a Core 2 Quad CPU, 2GB of DDR2/800 Corsair RAM, an EVGA 680i SLI motherboard, an EVGA GeForce 8800GTX, and a Western Digital 150GB Raptor. | |||||||
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lanws01
September 12, 2010 at 11:52pm
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timestrty
January 15, 2010 at 7:01am
That's very cool ! I want to know more about this , some videos available ? Online Casino Games
pseizure2000
March 19, 2008 at 11:47pm
Wouldn't you say that the Prelude trumps the Creative offerings and therefore deserves a "Kick Ass" and "best of best" recognition? After all, not only is the card better designed with that crappy flexijack removed and better driver features such as the dolbydigital live, it has stuff such as 5.1 optical out which the creative option lacks. The drivers are better imo too, as new features are on track for addition, unlike creative which seems to seldom if ever update drivers.
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