The current State Of Sound Cards(ASUS etc.)
Dec 26, 2009 at 6:21 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 7

Paradigm

100+ Head-Fier
Joined
Jun 28, 2001
Posts
189
Likes
11
Howdy! Fellow Head-fiers. I need your highly regarded Input and Wisdom

I have a Very important Question to ask in regards to the Current availible Sounds Cards in the PC market space. Since EAX is fazed out and most Games are now relying on the OPENAL standard, does it really matter it terms of sound quality/effects when gaming weather I have a Pro soundcard or Consumer Grade Asus essence STX? CPU in mY PC is plenty Powerful(Phenom II X4 965)

Currently I have owned for 4 years a EMU-1212m(paired with a Gilmore Lite/HD650) which I think sounds miles ahead of even todays top grade Onboard Audio(No surprise here). Recently I have been thinking about Upgrading My sound Card to an "ASUS ESSENCE STX"
My Only question is, would this upgrade be worth it? I mean is the ASUS going to make my Gaming experience any better, does it enhance the Games Sound engine.

My understanding(which is basic) is that Modern Games Employ OpenAL which is a open standard SOftware language, and it's the Job of the CPU now to process the Games sound engine. If this is the case it really should not matter since Stereo is Stereo. Since the 1212M is a very transparent and detailed PC Soundcard, what does the Xonair Offer in terms of Improvement.
 
Dec 26, 2009 at 6:51 PM Post #2 of 7
OpenAL is a open sound API yes, but the level of support given by other cards varies greatly. The Prelude, or other X-fi's will have full hardware support for the openAL API and any effects built from it. Now, others card will support openAL but it is called generic software support and it does not give you all the features of a card will full support. The Essence cards have GX2.5 which is a emulation driver and can help with effects for games in Vista, etc. Now, I would take hadrware EAX,1,2,3,4,5 and oepnAL over GX emulation but GX is not too bad and is much better then have no effect in your games. YMMV.
The 1212m is a recording card so it will offer you little in the ways of features for any other tasks. Really if you want a new card for gaming tasks I would suggest ou buy one that has the support you need.
 
Dec 26, 2009 at 8:40 PM Post #3 of 7
First off, Thank you for responding to my Post ROBSCIX.

Quote:

Now, I would take hadrware EAX,1,2,3,4,5 and oepnAL over GX emulation


I am confused, I thought EAX was dead(thank God) It's of very little concern to me to have Hardware accelerated EAX or any latter supported EAX ver.

In regards to this GX emulation what is it trying to emulate? I thought since EAX is fineato, most games relay entirely on there Own Software sound engine. From your post what I gather your saying and please do Clarify if I am not understanding the concept here, is that gaming sound cards add/enhance the sound effects from the Sound engines?

Also Can anyone tell me if the ASUS STX is really going to sound any better(I am sure it will have different sound signature) than the 1212M for Stereo Critical Audio listening?
 
Dec 26, 2009 at 11:57 PM Post #4 of 7
Quote:

Originally Posted by Paradigm /img/forum/go_quote.gif
First off, Thank you for responding to my Post ROBSCIX.


No problem, glad I can help.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paradigm /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I am confused, I thought EAX was dead(thank God) It's of very little concern to me to have Hardware accelerated EAX or any latter supported EAX ver.


Well yes and no. Some people confuse information related to Vista and the release of the UAA. There was not a great deal of information lreased which caused many to speculate.
Vista marked the end of the Directsound HAL which was used with EAX up until that point. However, EAX effect can still be used through the OpenAL API. This is why ALchemy works. It just re-write the API to OpenAL instead of Directsound but still uses EAX effects.
So you can think of it like this:

In XP we had:
Direct sound->EAX effects

In Vista we have
OpenAL->EAX

OpenAL was still used in XP but the above is just to illustrate.
Game houses can still design games to use the EAX 1,2,3,4,5 in this way with the OpenAL API.
That being said, I doubt many new games will come with EAX running through the openAL API but you never know. OpenAL is still fully hardware accelerated in Vista etc as it has always been. This API is still in development also and new effects set are being developed to be used with it such as EFX. Many are betting on new effects APIs such as EFX and others designed by MS for gaming such as Xact.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Paradigm /img/forum/go_quote.gif
In regards to this GX emulation what is it trying to emulate? I thought since EAX is fineato, most games relay entirely on there Own Software sound engine. From your post what I gather your saying and please do Clarify if I am not understanding the concept here, is that gaming sound cards add/enhance the sound effects from the Sound engines?


GX is similar to ALchemy in it's idea. The GX coding in the drivers intercept the effect calls from games and translate them to effects calls that can be used with the Effect engine on the Xonar cards which are fully software based.
GX is meant to provide effect for other games that would otherwise be crippled in audio reverting to 2.0 and no effects whatsoever. Taken the alternative GX doesn't sound all that bad and I tested it out with quite a few games. Some have great compatibility with their system and games and others have troubles. I woudl still take hardware based gaming effects though as they just sound more refined in comparison.
If the game itself has built in audio effect engines then the quality of the effects are based on the quality of the card being used as it is straight reproduction.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Paradigm /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Also Can anyone tell me if the ASUS STX is really going to sound any better(I am sure it will have different sound signature) than the 1212M for Stereo Critical Audio listening?


The STX is a good soundcard but I have only heard the 1212m in passing in a recording situation. I cannot really say which would sound better as really they are meant for totally different tasks...
Hope that helps.
 
Dec 28, 2009 at 12:07 AM Post #5 of 7
ROBSCIX what is your opinion on the Auzentech X-fi Forte. This card retails $75 cheaper than the Asus STX. I need a gaming card that is also able to produce high quality Stereo Sound for Music and Movies.

People have said that the Forte has Bloated buggy Drivers and is not as good as the Asus which I am told has a better/smaller footprint.

Also Someone said in an older thread "EAX and OpenAL makes next to no difference when you only have 2.0" Any truth to this?
 
Dec 28, 2009 at 12:19 AM Post #6 of 7
Well the Forte and STX are meant for different tasks. If you want the gaming features then Forte or other hardware card is the way to go. The drivers on the Forte are fairly light in foot print compared to other X-fi cards.
EAX or OpenAL makes no sens because of just 2.0?
I wouldn't go that far, headphones are only 2.0 and people use those for gaming all the time. I would prefer to play games with surround but that doesn't mean EAX or OpenAL based effects are not used for stereo sound. They still offer in game effects that are heard on 2.0 aswell as surround. I think you need to decide what is most important to you and decide from there.
 
Dec 28, 2009 at 12:25 AM Post #7 of 7
Quote:

Originally Posted by Paradigm /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Also Someone said in an older thread "EAX and OpenAL makes next to no difference when you only have 2.0" Any truth to this?


Someone is confused. EAX is not a 3d or stereo technology, it's reverb for games. Old games like Thief 3 benefit greatly from EAX no matter how many speakers you have or don't.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top