[richx]

Why not try the Audigy LS? It's got a WM8746 with 24/96 bypass modes, and I think the sound quality is pretty good. The problem is that it doesn't really use the EMU10k2 so it's pretty different from all the other Audigys. AFAIK, it only does up till EAX2 on hardware, while EAX3 is provided on the drivers. Not a big deal since most games are still using EAX2. The drivers make a reference to the "p17", which probably has close relations to the "p16v" component on the Audigy2 that allows direct 24-bit streams to bypass the EMU10k and avoid the 16/48 path ...

 

[Soulhunter]

Only for my personal education...

Does the Audigy2 ZS upsample to 48 kHz or 96 kHz ???

Thought it was 48 kHz only for pre ZS models...

Addition:

Assuming there is a software that is able to resample any DirectShow audio source...

Source -> Player -> Decoder -> DirectShow -> The resampling filter -> Output (mixer / soundcard)

Have I to resample it to 48 kHz or 96 kHz with a Audigy2 ZS ???

Should I change the bit depth to 24, or keep it @ 16bit in the same scenario ???

Have I to change something @ the drivers as well (for analog output...) ???


Tia n' Bye

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soulhunter Only for my personal education... Does the Audigy2 ZS upsample to 48 kHz or 96 kHz ??? Thought it was 48 kHz only for pre ZS models...

When the ZS first came out, people claimed it didn't resample. It does. Sure, you can set it to output 44.1kHz audio, but that audio gets resampled from 44.1kHz up to 48kHz and then resampled again to 44.1kHz. The guys at Creative are such fine engineers.

Quote:

Assuming there is a software that is able to resample any DirectShow audio source... Source -> Player -> Decoder -> DirectShow -> The resampling filter -> Output (mixer / soundcard)

I have no idea if there are any DS resampling plugins. Almost everyone uses Foobar for playback these days, in order to bypass the whole DirectX/kMixer apparatus and enjoy an accurate floating-point pipeline. Foobar comes with an excellent resampling plugin.

Quote:

Have I to resample it to 48 kHz or 96 kHz with a Audigy2 ZS ???

Only if you want good sound quality. Do a search for "udial.wav". Try it without software resampling and with software resampling. You'll see the difference it makes.

Should I change the bit depth to 24, or keep it @ 16bit in the same scenario ???

If you're resampling, change the bit depth to 24.

Quote:

Have I to change something @ the drivers as well (for analog output...) ???

No.

 

[Soulhunter]

Thanks for all this info !!!

But there are still some questions left...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wodgy When the ZS first came out, people claimed it didn't resample. It does. Sure, you can set it to output 44.1kHz audio, but that audio gets resampled from 44.1kHz up to 48kHz and then resampled again to 44.1kHz. The guys at Creative are such fine engineers.

Resampling, yes...

But somewhere I read that the Audigy2 ZS upsamples to 96kHz not to 48kHz like the non ZS cards !?!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wodgy I have no idea if there are any DS resampling plugins....

The next version of ffdshows audio filter will have SRC resampling !!!


The chain would look like this...

Source -> Player -> Decoder (-> PCM) -> Resampling filter (-> PCM) -> Output (mixer)


So, when the signal is feeded to mixer without resampling, it will feeded this way as well, but...


If the resampling transforms it into 48kHz (96kHz), is there still resampling happening ???

-> Coz it not bypasses the mixer...


Or will it be passed through "untouched" then ???

-> Coz it already matches the right samplerate...


Tia n' Bye

 

[Soulhunter]

Small update...

Ive downloaded this Udail.wav and done some tests !!!


- Normal playback -> Audigy2 ZS = Ringing in the upper frequencies

- Playback with ffdshows Cubic resampling = Even more ringing

- Playback with ffdshows Bblackman resampling = Near like no ringing

- Playback with ffdshows Kaiser resampling = Also near like no ringing


Only one problem...

The resampling seems to output the R channel louder than the left...

Havent posted a bug-report till now, coz there will be a new build (with SRC) the next days !!!

Hope this balance bug is already fixed then...


Bye

 

[Soulhunter]

UPDATE:

Found a solution for the Audigy + ffdshow resampling L/R problem (see above) !!!

So, If you own a SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS or similar...

+ If you use a 5.1 (or other multichannel setup) for the output

+ If you wanna use ffdshows resampling @ 96kHz to bypass the Audigy's bad resampling


Disable all outputs except 32bit floating point...

Enabling 16bit integer output changes the balance (assume 25%) to the right channel !!!


Bye

 

[Soulhunter]

UPDATE:

Ok, a new build with SRC resampling is available here !!!

For Audigy2 ZS owners, use ffdshow's audio filter with this settings...

- Codecs -> Enable "Uncompressed" processing

- Resample -> 96000 Hz (libsamplerate sinc hq)

- Output -> 32bit floating point (not 24bit !!!!)


Bye

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by richx Why not try the Audigy LS? It's got a WM8746 with 24/96 bypass modes, and I think the sound quality is pretty good. The problem is that it doesn't really use the EMU10k2 so it's pretty different from all the other Audigys. AFAIK, it only does up till EAX2 on hardware, while EAX3 is provided on the drivers. Not a big deal since most games are still using EAX2. The drivers make a reference to the "p17", which probably has close relations to the "p16v" component on the Audigy2 that allows direct 24-bit streams to bypass the EMU10k and avoid the 16/48 path ...

The Audigy LS, which is based on the original Audigy1, is a sizeable step down from the Audigy2 ZS. Any audio which is going to be converted to analog must go through the DSP, which in the Audigy LS is fixed at 16/48. And all audio which is directed to the analog output jacks gets resampled to 16/48 and then back. Furthermore, none of the Creative sound cards can even produce bit-perfect output at their native 48kHz sampling rate with any of their "official" drivers.

The only way that you'll get true 24/96 output from the Audigy LS is if you're using direct SPDIF digital output to output a true 24/96 media source, with no DSP effects switched on at all whatsoever (and thus bypassing the DSP entirely). Unfortunately, very few people have SPDIF-compatible digital inputs on their external audio components.

The Audigy2 ZS can produce bit-perfect 24/96 output with their official drivers. But their 48kHz performance on those drivers still ain't so good.

 

[richx]

Are you sure it's based on the original Audigy? It doesn't run the original Audigy drivers, nor have I managed to install hacked Audigy2 drivers (altho another guy said he could do Audigy2 ZS drivers

) And there's no EMU10k2-related items in the drivers, as far as I could see ...

Here's some pictures:

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I stand corrected on the Audigy LS. However, it isn't as good of a gaming card as the Audigy2 ZS series, because the Audigy LS has much more in common with the SB 16PCI: It has no hardware acceleration or support of any of the major 3D positional audio APIs, and even EAX/EAX2/EAX3 support is emulated at driver level on that card. In other words, its "DSP" relies heavily on the CPU to do the audio processing. The Audigy LS is not based on the original Audigy at all - but its lineage dates back to the original Ensoniq AudioPCI card (Creative bought out Ensoniq and renamed that card the SB PCI64).

 

[MiChael.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Radar The Audigy 2 sounds bad for three reasons: 3) It uses poor quality DACs. The channel 7/8 DAC on the $26 Chaintech AV-710 (Newegg link) is better than the ones used on the Audigy.

Oh Really ?
Cause the old generation Audigy 2 Platinum eX used Crystal CS4392 and CS4382-KQ DACs and Audigy 2 ZS uses CS4382-KQ too, those older OEM A2's have CS4382-KEP, but Digit-Life says there's no information about differences.

I'd say DACs are fine, but DAC is only one part of the system, they still use inferior Sigmatel components which I think as the weakest link of the system. Dunno about opamps and caps, but those should be quite junk and Creative drivers certainly don't have the sweetest sound (I think kX doesn't still help much).

http://www.digit-life.com/sound.html
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/...-zs/index.html
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/...-ex/index.html

 

[ImMersion]

Ive got a question about the Chaintec.......is it bad for gaming?? specifically, does it not do ANY eax type 3d positioning? Would it be posible to set the eax to "software rendering" (i.e. cpu/driver) and have it sent through the chaintec?

AND how much of hit does the comp. take when processing 3d sounds w/software. I know it really depends from computer to computer, but on average would the game be 2% slower, or more like 10% slower?

 

[MikoLayer]

does EAX work well with headphones? all i remember about eax is it wasnt true HRTF till 3.0, only worked with 4.1 speaker setup. can anyone elaborate on that?

 

[Mr.Radar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ImMersion Ive got a question about the Chaintec.......is it bad for gaming?? specifically, does it not do ANY eax type 3d positioning? Would it be posible to set the eax to "software rendering" (i.e. cpu/driver) and have it sent through the chaintec?

The Chaintech/Via drivers emulate EAX ("software rendering") with it's Immerzio 3D gaming support. I'm not sure how good it is though.

Quote:

AND how much of hit does the comp. take when processing 3d sounds w/software. I know it really depends from computer to computer, but on average would the game be 2% slower, or more like 10% slower?

It depends on your processer and the game, but in an older game like Half-Life you'd probably see a 2% drop and in a newer game like Doom 3 or Far Cry you'd see much more.

 

[maarek99]

I can get 96khz/24bit out from an Audigy 2. And it sounds better than 48/16. So why do you say that the A2 cannot output 96/24?