Philips Accoustic Edge soundcard

[kelly]

I received the Philips Accoustic Edge soundcard this week from IT in my work machine which had previously only had an on-board sound.

The soundcard played fine when I played any soundfile on the PC but produced a crackling noise when playing back CDs. This crackling sound was present whether I was playing the CD from the Windows 2000 CD player, Microsoft Media Player or WinAmp.

I had installed Exact Audio Copy and also ran Forse ASPI and VOB ASAPI so that EAC could now be made to read in three modes: ASPI, Native and ASAPI. When I played CDs back in Native or ASAPI, there was no crackling. When I played it back in ASPI, the crackling returned.

Next I downloaded the CD Reader plug in for WinAmp (this plug-in essentially tells WinAmp to send the signal digitally to the soundcard's DAC rather than using the CD player's lesser DAC and sending the signal to the soundcard via analog). Though much trial and error, I eventually discovered that the CD would play back without crackling if I set the Sector setting to 1.

The operating system was Windows 2000, WinAmp 2.8 and a Toshiba DVD drive. If anyone has further advice/tweaking, let me know. Otherwise, I'll just leave this thread as a bit of a warning to people with this configuration considering this soundcard.

Other than the above mentioned issue, the soundcard isn't bad. I had no problems with lockup or system performance that apparently the similarly chipped Turtle Beach is known for causing in Windows 2000 machines. Sound quality seems firmly planted between my Soundblaster Live (that I have at home) and the ART DI/O. That is--it's far better than the Soundblaster Live, smoother, more detailed and more coherent where the Live was harsh, but never beating the stock ART DI/O.

This of course, leads me to the thought that I will eventually attempt to use the ART DI/O via the coax out of the soundcard at work--and I hope that'll work. I'll find out for sure when I get my Corda HA-1 back.

 

[Satori]

I just recently sold my Acoustic Edge because of the snap, crackle, and pops. It becomes maddening. Philips has been making a good set of Windows 2000/XP drivers but had been plagued with problems try to get ridding of all the crackling sounds. Here's a forum where you can get some information on the various beta drivers out there and some other tweaks as well. http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/cgi-bin/...&Board=Forum18 There are a few beta testers in htere that should be able to answer all your questions. BTW the CS4630 chip that the Santa Cruz/Sonic Fury/Game Theater uses has fixed their problems through driver updates, so there is hope for the AE.

 

[CalvinQ]

Satori,

Hey dude, seen you over at soundsurge. Gave it up I see. Yeah those clicks and pops are maddening. I was "this close" to tossing my AE as well. I spent countless hours on that problem.

Anyway today I'm running an AE out to a set of Senn HD590's, driven by a HeadRoom Little More Power. Sound quality is very good, certainly a notch better then any SB setup I've had or heard. The only way I've seen posted (that actually works that is) to resolve the clicking issue is to move it to a new mb, one with either SIS or Ali C (ie non VIA) chipset (and presumbly Intel). For me the latter did the trick. Thankfully no more clicks because I was ready to be committed!

Can be nice if you combine it with the right mb. What did you replace with?

 

[kelly]

I visited the message board Satori posted and a lot of people say the newest beta drivers resolve the pops and clicks for them. I didn't see the drivers on the Philips site. Can anyone point me to them? Thanks a lot, by the way--I appreciate all the information.

 

[kelly]

A&M found the driver. Here's the link if anyone else needs it:

http://philips.3dsounds.com/PSC706_WDM_ENG_V186.exe

 

[Satori]

Quote:

Originally posted by CalvinQ Can be nice if you combine it with the right mb. What did you replace with?

I originally had the AE on an Intel motherboard with a P3 but when I went to the Via KT266a and XP processor I never could get it work right. I was debating between the Santa Cruz and Game Theater since both have the same chip in it and finally went with the Game Theater because of the breakout box. Very easy to plug headphones into and my minidisc player throught the optical out as well. The Santa Cruz I would have had to buy an adapter from Turtle Beach for the optical out and I thought that was to much of a hassle.

No popping or crackling with the Game Theater but the drivers are a little flaky. I had to turn off the headphones auto detect otherwise it would sometimes not work right. Also, after playing games the sounds continue for almost a full second after the game is closed. But those things are minor and sound quality is good so I'm pretty happy.

kelly,
here is the page where they will post new beta drivers and tell you the changes for future reference: http://3dsoundsurge.com/drivers/Acou...e/WDMbeta.html

 

[CalvinQ]

Kelly - did the 1.86's do the trick? Curious.

Satori - heh, that's the other fix that works. Plus you get to keep your good memory bandwith, one area where the Ali chipset does lag a bit. Still I'm not complaining, finally getting to enjoy my investment in my phones+headamp.

 

[Satori]

Yep, i was unwilling to give up the kt266a chipset for either the ali or sis. Although to be honest I think I could probably only tell the difference in benchmarks.