M audio revolution 5.1
Jul 11, 2008 at 9:36 PM Post #3 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Yes, it should be an upgrade, especially since the Audigy line resamples everything. The Revolution 5.1 should give you bit-perfect audio.


I didn't know about this. How does the Audigy "resample" everything?
 
Jul 12, 2008 at 12:13 PM Post #4 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Goit /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I didn't know about this. How does the Audigy "resample" everything?


The drivers resample all audio to 48 kHz regardless of its native sampling rate. This process is lossy and done badly because the drivers are built for speed and not quality.
 
Jul 12, 2008 at 5:11 PM Post #5 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The drivers resample all audio to 48 kHz regardless of its native sampling rate. This process is lossy and done badly because the drivers are built for speed and not quality.


So even 16bit gets sampled to 48khz?
 
Jul 12, 2008 at 10:28 PM Post #6 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Goit /img/forum/go_quote.gif
So even 16bit gets sampled to 48khz?


16-bit is the bit depth (amplitude range), 48 kHz is the sampling rate (frequency range). Most 16-bit recordings, including everything on CD, have a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, which is then converted to 48 kHz for no reason with the Audigy and Live! lines of SB sound cards.
 
Jul 12, 2008 at 11:45 PM Post #8 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Lettu /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Im using HD555 with Revo 5.1 =)
Revo 5.1 is pretty much as good as creatives X-fi cards in sq so yes it should be better


So which is better? X-Fi or revolution 5.1?

Also, will the via chip in the revolution 5.1 slow down games?

And how are the drivers?
 
Jul 12, 2008 at 11:47 PM Post #9 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif
16-bit is the bit depth (amplitude range), 48 kHz is the sampling rate (frequency range). Most 16-bit recordings, including everything on CD, have a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, which is then converted to 48 kHz for no reason with the Audigy and Live! lines of SB sound cards.


Is it better to let it to sample to 48 or 96?
I have these two options.
 
Jul 13, 2008 at 3:23 AM Post #10 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Goit
So which is better? X-Fi or revolution 5.1?

Also, will the via chip in the revolution 5.1 slow down games?


Sound cards shouldn't slow down games. One advantage of the X-Fi line is that it can speed up some games that support X-RAM (a feature found on some X-Fi cards). The other advantage is that X-Fi supports the latest EAX standard (which is written by Creative anyway), though it's only useful in games that support it. For games that don't support X-RAM or EAX, there is no improvement. Also note that these features have nothing to do with the actual sound quality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goit /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Is it better to let it to sample to 48 or 96?
I have these two options.


48 kHz, but they're both bad. 44.1 kHz -> 48 kHz -> 96 kHz.
 
Jul 13, 2008 at 4:42 AM Post #11 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Sound cards shouldn't slow down games. One advantage of the X-Fi line is that it can speed up some games that support X-RAM (a feature found on some X-Fi cards). The other advantage is that X-Fi supports the latest EAX standard (which is written by Creative anyway), though it's only useful in games that support it. For games that don't support X-RAM or EAX, there is no improvement. Also note that these features have nothing to do with the actual sound quality.


48 kHz, but they're both bad. 44.1 kHz -> 48 kHz -> 96 kHz.


I heard that creative sound cards take the load away from the CPU, where as c media and via chips like used in the revolution doesn't, which results in more cpu cycles used up for sound.

Is this true? I don't really care about the x ram, only 64mb anyways. I'm on XP with 2 gigs.

Also, I'm deciding between the revolution 5.1 and the Xfi extreme gamer with 2mb of xram. They are about the same in price.
 
Jul 13, 2008 at 7:36 AM Post #12 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Goit /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I heard that creative sound cards take the load away from the CPU, where as c media and via chips like used in the revolution doesn't, which results in more cpu cycles used up for sound.

Is this true? I don't really care about the x ram, only 64mb anyways. I'm on XP with 2 gigs.

Also, I'm deciding between the revolution 5.1 and the Xfi extreme gamer with 2mb of xram. They are about the same in price.


Less CPU cycles if you playing games, as it done all in hardware, especially in EAX games

There is a good reviews about X-Fi and XtremeMusic (an older and larger version of new XtremeGamer) here
 
Jul 26, 2008 at 4:25 AM Post #13 of 33
Audio really isn't very CPU-intensive, you're unlikely to notice any difference in game performance whether you have an EAX card or not. Whether or not EAX makes a game sound better & more immersive depends on who you ask, it seems rather subjective.

Creative cards have a notorious crackling / popping issue; there's a stickied ~150 page thread on their forums about it, and I've read that they've censored out some of the replies and other threads about it. While it's generally conceded that it's a conflict between nforce4 mainboards and the Creative cards, naturally with each company blaming the other, many people without that chipset also experience the problem, so it's sort of a crapshoot. Oddly enough, other sound cards don't have this mysterious issue caused by nVidia O.o ...

I'm the unfortunate owner of a bowl of Rice Krispies. I mean, an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. Because of the crackling / popping issue since I rebuilt my PC (using an nforce4 board), in addition to the worst driver support I've ever experienced in my life (and I've used Linux), I will -never- buy another Creative product.

Anyway, if you want a Revolution you'll probably have to find one used, they're discontinued.
 
Jul 26, 2008 at 5:00 AM Post #14 of 33
i went thru what you guys are going thru years ago...if you prize good sound as much as i do the biggest difference in computer audio can be made by moving the sound card out of the case (ie, an external usb or firewire unit)...the amount of noise/hum drops subtantially by moving it outside the case...its also easier to work with and hook up cables
 
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