[Banti]

Spec:
- Envy24 HT-S Chipset(VT1721)
- AK4396 DAC, AK5353 ADC
- Supported sampling Rates : 44.1 / 48 / 96/ 192Khz
- RCA Stereo, Headphone output
- Analog input(but only works on "Digital-in" option in control panel)
- Via Reference Driver

 

[Soundstorm]

Will this be a 0404 killer for 2 channel listening? Better DAC and better opamps straight out of box than the 0404. And you don't have to contend with the Patchmix, the Audiotrak control panel is much more user friendly and has auto sample rate selection. Can't wait for this.

 

[chong]

Looks like there's a review here:
http://www.betanews.net/bbs/read.htm...e=1&num=334887

Passing it though google translator or altavista yields total gibberish!

 

[JazzJackRabbit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soundstorm Will this be a 0404 killer for 2 channel listening? Better DAC and better opamps straight out of box than the 0404. And you don't have to contend with the Patchmix, the Audiotrak control panel is much more user friendly and has auto sample rate selection. Can't wait for this.

It probably won't be available in the US/EU just as AudioTrak Prodigy 7.1XT wasn't. Most likely it will be limited to asian markets.

 

[Zorander]

How much are they priced roughly? Perhaps our friends in Singapore/Hong Kong (or even better, Korea) can help source these cards?

 

[jp0518]

its about US $100.

 

[thedoctor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jp0518 its about US $100.

at the same pricepoint as the EMU0404. with amplified headphone out.
but suppose that the newer EMU0404's now comes shipped with AKM4396 also.

socketed Opamp, looks like better oscillator, and maybe better implementation. would be very interesting to see a compare againts the EMU0404. not selling yet over here in Malaysia, and suppose to be available in only Korea or Japan (if my memory recalls correctly).

 

[Seaside]

Regarding chong's posting above;

Translating that long review word by word is PITA, so I will pass that job to someone else.

Here's what the review said, in summary.

1. It is more focused on 2ch sound quality, rather than bells and whistles.
2. White PCB and quality part gives you luxury feel.
3. No on-off noise due to anti-pop curcuit called PNK(PCI Noise Killer)
4. Limited usability to compare with other cards.
5. Via reference driver is used, instead of Audiotrak driver. NO ASIO 2.0 or Directwire support with this card.

The author compared prodigy HD2 with prodigy XT. I can not find XT in US. Thus, many of us never seen XT though, you may think XT as a new version original. HD2 has been released at korean market. It is not certain that Audiotrak will sell it in US market in the future. Ego system sold Audiotrak PC soundcard division to Gyrocom, another Korean company a few month ago. We will wait and see what's gonna happen tho, I do not count on it because of that.

The author's comaparison b/w XT and HD2;

WITH INCLUDED OP amps
XT - Warm, comfortable sound with thick body. Good depth, average seperation. Good at mid-to-low range.
HD - Superb seperation, Very clear and sharp sound, that cause sound dry, sometimes. Good at mid-to-high range.

*you can always change this by switching OP amps arrounds.

IN TERMS OF USABLITY
XT is way better than HD2. HD2 is focused on 2CH stereo, while XT is designed to be a jack-of-all-trade.

THE GOOD, BAD and ...
XT
- The good;
7.1 ch multi sound output. Headphone amp curcuit. Soft, but dynamic sound. A lot of bell and whistle with its own driver
- The bad;
OP amp only in front channel, so so sepreation.

HD2
- The good;
Triple OP amps for 2ch stereo sound. Very crispy and clear. LP sized board means it can be used with mini PC.
- The bad;
Limited input/output capability. Somewhat dry sound. And the VIA reference driver. (what do u expect from that driver?

CONCLUSION;

If you do not need all the bells and whistles, but still want good 2CH stereo sound, this is the card for you.

The author keep questioning himself... why, why, why... Via driver???
That means we will loose ASIO, Directwire etc all those advantages are provided by audiotrak driver, and we just lost them all. This sound quality of new HD2 card should worth it... or else...

***
In my opinion, HD2 is sort of like... luxurious AV710 with better parts and DAC. I am more than willingly try HD2 if it is sold under the $60. I had some spare OP amps, and panasonic condensors arrounds for the modification.

 

[003]

If the card does not support ASIO, you can still use kernel streaming, correct? The DAC on the HD2 is compareable to the 1212m, and better than the AP192 and Juli@. Or at least thats what I've heard.

 

[Tachikoma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 If the card does not support ASIO, you can still use kernel streaming, correct? The DAC on the HD2 is compareable to the 1212m, and better than the AP192 and Juli@. Or at least thats what I've heard.

I think it is, the emu 1212m is using the flagship CS dac while the HD2 is using the flagship AKM dac. The AP192 and Juli@ are using slightly inferior AKM dacs if I remember correctly. But more often than not, the implementation of the DAC is more important than the chip being used.

 

[Xakepa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tachikoma But more often than not, the implementation of the DAC is more important than the chip being used.

Could not agree more. That's why it's better to judge with your own ears.

 

[akkored]

As to the driver, actually Audiotrack has released a EWDM driver for this card which fully support QSound, DriectWIRE, ASIO2, GSIF etc. like the old Prodigy cards.

here is a short step by step installation guide:
1. download the software:
rom update pack: http://www.audiotrak.co.kr/audiotrak...om/HD2EEPW.zip and http://www.audiotrak.co.kr/audiotrak...rom/eeprom.zip
driver update pcack:http://www.audiotrak.co.kr/zeroboard...3264_00975.zip
unzip the three packs you will get two DOS EXEs the driver pack folder

2. uninstall the VIA driver. And you also may need to run the "UnInstall_32.exe" under the "win32\" in the driver pack folder ("x64\" if you are using a 64bit windows) to do some cleanup if you are trying to upgrade from a previous Audiotrak driver. The "UnInstall_32.exe" has some bugs to process the INF files which will crash this program. A simple way to omit this is to temporary move these INF files to another place and after the clean up move them back.

3. tweak your card and update the ROM:
a) power off the computer and uninstall the HD2 card, set jp4 jumper to on (connect the two pins) and keep it on after then. If you change it back the analog will not output any signal. After the tweak you can install it back to your computer.
b) startup to DOS and execute the rom update program "HD2EEPW.exe" restart to DOS again and run "eeprom.exe". If the program output "PASS" the ROM update is performed successfully

4. start up to your windows, the device manager will popup to say new hardware is found. follow the steps to install the driver. Don't forget to add the new driver pack path to the the driver search path. The new hardware will appear as "Prodigy HD2 controller". During installation the device manager will warn you about the "no signature" stuff you have to install anyway. When this driver has been installed successfully two other device will be found. Let the windows install them automatically.

5. After the driver installation the new sound system is ready. You can find two new sound device in XP sound property configuration page one with QSound plugged in and one bypass the QSound technology (also for ASIO).

6. The recording of this card is just so so, the RMAA loopback test from it's output to input won't give a impressive result. Use a good recording card (I don't have one) may signicantly improve the results.

 

[soncao]

Thanks akkored very much, I'm searching a long time for this guide.