[breez]

This card goes for ~$30 (froogle.com) and I think it could be a good alternative to the popular Chaintech card for people on a tight budget.

8 channel 24bit / 192KHz DAC from Cirrus Logic with seemingly better specs than the 2 channel Wolfson in Chaintech (WM8728):
http://www.cirrus.com/en/products/pro/detail/P282.html

Op-amps at outputs, one of them being NJM/JRC 4556A dual op-amp which is capable of driving headphones (on a level of a simple CMOY I'd estimate). One thing Chaintech fails at and has let down many new users and surprised them when they need to use another $40 for an amp. Rest of the channels got ST4558C op-amps.

This SB still resamples 44.1KHz audio in hardware with bad results, but when you give it 48KHz or 96KHz audio it measures very decently and a bit better than Chaintech. Let's not forget that most Chaintech users do resample their audio to 96KHz so this isn't a real downer at all.

SB Live! 24-bit RMAA (24/96) with LynxTwo as the recording device: http://www.ixbt.com/multimedia/creat...out-2496.shtml

Chaintech AV-710 RMAA (32/44). Not the same settings and different sound card used as the recording device (EMU 1212M), but I guess it could be used in comparison. Thanks for Head-Fi'er Iron_Dreamer for the results (only ones I've seen of this card).
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~miklic/RMAA/...MU%201212M.htm

Check the rest of the ixbt review of the SB Live! for measurements of other modes. It is in Russian, but you can see the tables and graphs (under a table there is usually link to the detailed test report).
http://www.ixbt.com/multimedia/creat...ve!24bit.shtml

Can't trust Creative? Bad drivers? Chaintech drivers are quite shoddy as well

Opinions? The card is quite new and and not many have actually heard it, but I don't think it should be ignored just because it is from Creative and it carries the name of "Live!" (brrr!)

 

[AdamWill]

interesting. For Linux users, Google tells me the card is supported under ALSA by the snd-ca0106 module, since ALSA 1.0.8. The only hands-on report I could find said the quality was very poor.

 

[Soundstorm]

The Live 24bit maintains the same sound signature as its bigger brothers, A2/A2ZS. Certainly NOT an audiophile quality card, and the AV-710 already trounces the A2/A2ZS. Despite having a much higher specced CS4382 DAC, the L24/A2/A2ZS doesn't sound better than the AV-710.

Chalk up another good job on Creative sound mangling.

 

[breez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soundstorm The Live 24bit maintains the same sound signature as its bigger brothers, A2/A2ZS. Certainly NOT an audiophile quality card, and the AV-710 already trounces the A2/A2ZS. Despite having a much higher specced CS4382 DAC, the L24/A2/A2ZS doesn't sound better than the AV-710. Chalk up another good job on Creative sound mangling.

Did you actually hear the card or are you just making the assumption? Because even if the DAC chip is the same, the sound quality and signature are affected by the whole analog stage. If I remember correctly, Glassman built a new analog stage Audigy2 ZS and thought the sound was good then. It is quite possible that Creative did a better job this time around.

 

[maarek99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soundstorm The Live 24bit maintains the same sound signature as its bigger brothers, A2/A2ZS. Certainly NOT an audiophile quality card, and the AV-710 already trounces the A2/A2ZS. Despite having a much higher specced CS4382 DAC, the L24/A2/A2ZS doesn't sound better than the AV-710.

Have you actually heard it? Because I've heard from other people that A2 does surpass AV-710.

 

[Soundstorm]

Yes, I've heard the Live 24bit, and all the sound signatures that other people mention about the A2/A2ZS applies to it. I've even compared directly the AV-710 and L24 on the Acoustic Energy Aego2(Stereophile Joint Budget Products of the Year 2001 runnersup) and easily the AV-710 is better.

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showp...20&postcount=6

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer I'll give you that A2s don't sound as bad as the A1 or the old SBLive!, but compared to even the mere Chaintech or other Envy24 based cards, like your own, Paul, the shortcomings are clearly audbile. It is like putting thick drapes between youself and the music, just like what I hear with Realtek ALC650 onboard sound chips, or your typical $10 "5.1 surround" card. Boring, flat lifeless sound, whereas the SBLive! could only be described as terrible sound. So the A2 is not the bottom of the barrel, but close enough, expecially when there are so many better options out there. There is certainly nothing hi-fi or audiophile about the Audigy2 (or its' many permetuations).

 

[breez]

I appreciate your experience with the cards, but that statement (bolded) is about the old SB Live! which is a totally different card from the new SB Live! 24-bit.

 

[cozycactus]

for example,i can't afford av710 in israel so its good option to me to buy sblive 24bit..isnt it?

btw,will i hear difference between my old sblive and new live 24bit card?

 

[Anne]

Quote:

Can't trust Creative? Bad drivers? There is the kX project alternative drivers if Creative's don't work well. Also the Chaintech drivers are quite shoddy anyway

Kx drivers don’t support the live 24bit and audigy ls (same dsp). I bought a live 24 bit OEM without drivers and couldn’t find drivers on the web, no driver support at the creative website. So if you buy the live 24bit, make sure you get the driver cd.

The card does have good specs, measures well and I fail to see (apart from the resampling) why the sound quality would suck in comparison to a av710. In fact, for multichannel use it has a better d/a converter.

 

[]|[ GorE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cozycactus for example,i can't afford av710 in israel so its good option to me to buy sblive 24bit..isnt it? btw,will i hear difference between my old sblive and new live 24bit card?

The Difference is like night and day,my friend.
I have owned the Live! Original for 4 years and the new Live 24 bit is in a different league.
From the following that i have once owned : AD1980,VT1616,VT1617A,Yamaha Sound Card,Live! Value!,SoundStorm1 ;the Live 24 bit is the BEST.
It powers Can very easily.
Plus you know what ? no alien sounds etc on udial.ape.Clear dialing tones.Nothing else.
People here are so into chaintech.........

 

[Edwood]

Yes, but the Live! card still resamples to 48Khz?

-Ed

 

[maarek99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood Yes, but the Live! card still resamples to 48Khz?

And many people resample to 96khz on the Chaintech. Just use a software resampler.

 

[Edwood]

There's more to it than that.

Sound Blasters (particulary the AUdigy line) are infamous for resampling 44.1KHz audio and just about everything else internally to 48KHz. Audio is mucked up in the process. Couple that with resampling in software again, and you get hit again.

This is also a Windows issue too, but many cards can bypass the Kmixer and output pure 44.1KHz. Then you can mangle it any which way you please.

-Ed

 

[breez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood Sound Blasters (particulary the AUdigy line) are infamous for resampling 44.1KHz audio and just about everything else internally to 48KHz. Audio is mucked up in the process. Couple that with resampling in software again, and you get hit again.

It has been long possible to output non-mangled 24/96 from the Creative cards capable of the mode (maybe excluding Audigy1?). The measurement (url in the first post) clearly shows this is the case for SB Live! 24-bit. Applying DSP effects (EMU10K#) will force 16/48, but users are not forced to use them (note: it's not any better with high-end EMU cards featuring the same DSP chip, AFAIK).

 

[]|[ GorE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by breez It has been long possible to output non-mangled 24/96 from the Creative cards capable of the mode (maybe excluding Audigy1?). The measurement (url in the first post) clearly shows this is the case for SB Live! 24-bit. Applying DSP effects (EMU10K#) will force 16/48, but users are not forced to use them (note: it's not any better with high-end EMU cards featuring the same DSP chip, AFAIK).

The SB Live has a control panel setting allowing you to select the sample rate and bit rate .
The options you get are combinations of 16/24 bit and 48/96Khz.