RMAA benchmarks for Sblive24 Bit

[amol]

http://www.geocities.com/amol2003/sblive24bit2448.htm

This card does really sound excellent. Infact is sounds so good, that i was forced to sell my Revo 7.1 and save some dough , considering it cost me only $30. After repetitive comparsions i came to the conclusion that the vocals were actually smoother than what they were on the Revo, and the clarity/musical separation was on par with it.

Mind you, the Dynamic range and other factors are limited by the card's own ADC. It bmarks higher on better cards with better ADCs.

Here's a close up of the card

 

[terrymx]

http://www.geocities.com/amol2003/sblive24bit2448.html

thats some suprisingly good score, though i'd have to hear it first to beleive.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Note the quantization and sampling rates used in the tests: 24-bit, 48kHz.

Try running the same tests at 16-bit/44.1kHz to determine whether the card or its drivers resamples or not.

 

[necropimp]

it's a low price creative soundcard... if it doesn't then prepare yourself for THE END OF THE FRIGGIN WORLD

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by necropimp it's a low price creative soundcard... if it doesn't then prepare yourself for THE END OF THE FRIGGIN WORLD

Actually, it already is THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE FRIGGIN' SOUNDCARD WORLD. The newest entries of the Creative Audigy2/Audigy4 line, the Audigy2 Value and the Audigy4 Pro, though they resample to a multiple of 48kHz by default, can be configured in software to not resample.

 

[sgrossklass]

These are excellent results for this card, probably it likes the PSU used. Seriously, I changed the PSU in my second comp (to a better model no less) and the output S/N *dropped* to ~91 dB (from ~97 dB before). That's a picky beast. Anyway, yeah, really not a bad deal for what it costs, and probably the least expensive card capable of 24/96 recording available (with really decent rec quality, provided your sources aren't too quiet - you can't turn up the gain all too far), but output quality wise it doesn't really knock me off my socks. I mean, the tone quality is good and all, but the soundstage isn't very large. Not good for ambient music (e.g. jazz). The Aureon just blows the Live! 24-Bit away there.

 

[yeeyy]

http://www.ixbt.com/multimedia/creative-live!24bit.shtml

The dynamic range can go as high as 107dB, as measured by RMAA Team.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver Actually, it already is THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE FRIGGIN' SOUNDCARD WORLD. The newest entries of the Creative Audigy2/Audigy4 line, the Audigy2 Value and the Audigy4 Pro, though they resample to a multiple of 48kHz by default, can be configured in software to not resample.

Hold on! Not so fast. The SB Live! 24-Bit still resamples 44.1kHz audio to 48kHz and back, based on the RMAA results (which showed a wavy response above the midrange). But since there is no hardware DSP on the card, the software-based driver-level resampling on the Live! 24-Bit is just about as bad as the hardware-based DSP-level resampling on the Audigy2 ZS.

At least the Live! 24-Bit doesn't drop off in the highs at 48kHz playback sampling rate like the Audigy2 ZS does.

And, as I said previously, the new Audigy2 Value and the Audigy4 Pro have non-resampling hardware DSP's -- but their software drivers resample 44.1kHz to 48kHz and back by default.

 

[tschanrm]

Quote:

And, as I said previously, the new Audigy2 Value and the Audigy4 Pro have non-resampling hardware DSP's -- but their software drivers resample 44.1kHz to 48kHz and back by default.

The audigy 2 zs notebook has this option as well.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tschanrm The audigy 2 zs notebook has this option as well.

Well, that makes three Creative Sound Blaster (not E-MU branded) products which come with drivers that resample by default and can be configured in software to not resample.

 

[Soundstorm]

A4Pro and Live 24bit resamples. You can ask Chastity from 3dss about the A4P failing the udial test. Both cards do not have the clock crystal for 44.1KHz native operation. And eventhough the Live 24bit has the same DAC as the A2ZS and measures well, put either the A2ZS or L24 up against the AV-710 and both will get a nice trashing in the sound quality department.

 

[maarek99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soundstorm A4Pro and Live 24bit resamples.

What if you just use a software resampler? Which card then wins?

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soundstorm A4Pro and Live 24bit resamples. You can ask Chastity from 3dss about the A4P failing the udial test. Both cards do not have the clock crystal for 44.1KHz native operation. And eventhough the Live 24bit has the same DAC as the A2ZS and measures well, put either the A2ZS or L24 up against the AV-710 and both will get a nice trashing in the sound quality department.

Except that the AV-710 is not a very good soundcard for multi-channel sound to begin with. You see, the relatively great sound from the AV-710 can only be attained in stereo-only mode -- and only through the rear-channel outputs set in Hi-Sampling mode. The drawback of those outputs in Hi-Sampling mode is that the audio support is permanently fixed at 96kHz and 24-bit; therefore, you must force the resampling of everything to 96/24 by changing a software setting when using such a Hi-Sampling mode (if you don't, then you will get stuttering and dropouts).

For multichannel (7.1) output, the AV-710 relies on the VIA AC'97 codec for all channels, which is limited to 48kHz and 18-bit output. And the sound quality in multichannel mode is only on a par with most motherboard-integrated audio. And yes, the AC'97 codec resamples EVERYTHING to 48/18 no matter what.

And I stand corrected about the newest SB cards. They still have to resample 44.1kHz audio to 48kHz and back even if you select the so-called "Bit Accurate" setting if the audio is to be routed through the analogue outputs. (Remember, all audio that is to be output through the analogue output jacks must go through the hardware DSP on those three cards no matter what.) However, the "Bit-Accurate" setting on the newest SB Audigy2 Value, Audigy4 Pro and Audigy2 ZS Notebook merely allows audio to be routed through the digital output jacks to bypass the DSP (and thus resampling) without having to turn off any of the DSP effects (the DSP effects will be automatically disabled when switching on Bit-Accurate mode, and restored when turning Bit-Accurate mode off).

Similarly, those three cards also have a "bit-accurate" input mode, which (once again) works only for audio going into the soundcard through the digital inputs. And once again, all audio going in through the analogue inputs (for recording) must go through the DSP, resulting in resampling.

 

[necropimp]

are you sure it's 18bit... my computer has onboard AC97 and it's 20bit/48KHz (input is 18bit/48KHz though)

 

[]|[ GorE]

The Live! 24bit also has bit accurate 44.1Khz SPDIF OUT.ITs there in Device Control in the Control Panel.