News:  January 10-16, 2000

Sunday, January 16, 2000

Dolby 6.1 Encoded DVDs and DVD audio - Mikael @ 06:31 EST

When we mentioned that StarUSA would release (or at least design) a 6.1 soundcard I mentioned in the newsletter that I didn't think there was any DVDs that support it yet but Nick Graham pointed out that according to the site DVD File Austin Powers : The Spy Who Shagged Me and The Haunting support it even though they don't advertize it. While these tracks will work with your current DD 5.1 decoder they won't extract the rear center channel, which is phase matrixed into the two standard rear channels in the same way Dolby Surround is matrixed into standard stereo channels. Could be worth mentioning that the site in question posted reviews of these two DVD movies and found the rear center channel to be of great use in The Haunting but found it to be useless in Austin Powers where he also found the other two surround channels to be of little use. I saw that in another review (Wild Wild West) he mentioned that he found the rear center channel to be useful even though the movie, according to the review, doesn't support the EX channel.

For more about surround EX you should check out the Surround EX FAQ. Here you learn that Dolby Digital - Surround EX is licensed by Lucasfilm THX for the home consumer market and will be known as `THX Surround EX.' BUT "Some manufacturers are choosing to implement their own 6.1 decoding features (apart from THX/Dolby.) These units will be compatible with Surround EX encoded DVDs and are said to provide very similar results to THX Surround EX decoding." You will find a lot more info and some discs that have been found useful with Surround EX receivers, Wild Wild West isn't one of them though. It also mentions that A Bug's life support THX-EX.

I also noticed that the official DVD FAQ thinks we should call it 5.2 since the center rear channels won't be full-bandwidth. While checking out that FAQ I noticed that the DVD-audio players have been delayed until mid this year. We reported earlier that they would be delayed but never mentioned to exactly when.

Pioneer DR-104S DVD ROM review - Mikael @ 06:18 EST

CDR Info has posted a review of Pioneer's 10X DVD-ROM drive, DR-104S. As usual their 6 page review includes a lot of testing include DAE tests and they also tried out the region free firmware that's now available.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Live!Drive II and Digital Output Module update - Mikael @ 05:45 EST

I mentioned last week that Creative's European online shop said that the Live!Drive II would only be compatible with the CT4760 (Live!Player 1024, X-Gamer, MP3+) and the CT483x boards (Live OEM cards). I asked Creative why they didn't list the original full Live (CT4620) and they said it was a mistake it should be fully compatible with the original Live and that they would update the webpage but at the moment it's still just mentioning the CT4760 and CT483x boards. You can pre-order the Live!Drive II now but it won't ship until next month. Not sure when Creative US will offer it but they have said it will be available.

One other interesting point is that the Digital Output module that will give you Coaxial (RCA) and Optical (Toslink) output is said to only work with the CT4760 boards and not the CT483x OEM boards and the reason for that is the digital outjack of the CT483x doesn't have enough power. I'm not sure how much power they have but I guess about 0.5V since they said you should still be able to use it with a mini-jack to RCA converter to get AC-3 out. You can buy the Digital Output Module now in Europe directly from Creative. Creative US have no plans to sell it but they will later this year sell the Optical Digital i/o 2 that's already available in Europe. This is a daughtercard that will work with the CT483x cards as well as the CT4760 and CT4620 card. With some limited functionality it will also work with the original Live!Value.

Planescape: Torment Version beta patch out - Mikael @ 05:44 EST

A beta patch for the EAX supporting Planescape: Torment has been released. You can grab the the patch from the official site where you can also check out the readme with all the fixes, none of them audio related. If you don't have the game yet you can grab a copy of it from Gamestop.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Monsoon MH-700 Flat Panel review - Mikael @ 03:52 EST

Atomic Geek has put up their thoughts on how the flatpanel system Monsoon MM-700s sounds using the ACS48 as their reference system. Here's a snip

Also, due to their very directional sound, these speakers aren't the greatest for filling a room with sound. While these are clearer and have more definition than my Acs-48s, if I need to fill a room with sound for a DVD movie or just for more people in the room, the 48s would make a better choice for their ability to project sound better. These speakers can get very loud, but at distance their sound quality degrades below what the 48s can do at the same range.

For those of you with SoundBlaster live cards or an A3D enabled card, these speakers do a fine job of placing the positional sounds. You can tell much better where something is happening. It's not at the level of a 4-point speaker set, but these two speakers make is easier to tell where you want to be, and where you don't. To say the least, I'm impressed.

Monsoon MH-500 Flat Panel review - Mikael @ 03:44 EST

GameWire has just released a review of the Monsoon MH-500 Flat Panel speaker system, written by a new freelance writer, Warmonger. He seemed to be very pleased with them, especially the subwoofer. Here's a
clip from the review:

On the performance side of things these speakers really shine.
They provide good tones through the whole spectrum of sounds. I started off playing Slave Zero (a personal favorite). The speakers didn't give me any hassle with this game. I got good lows from the subwoofer and great middle range and highs from the satellites. These speakers only have two satellites, but they provide very good 3D sound. The sound flows out of both the front and rear of the satellites.

Saturday, January 15, 2000

Problems with MX300+MX25 using 2040 or Later Reference Drivers? - Mark @ 23:30 EST

If that headline describes you then check out this post in our forum or go directly to the possible fix at Vortex of Sound. If it helps or does not please let us know in the forum or email Vortex of Sound directly.

DVD Genie 3.28 Released - Mark @ 16:45 EST

TweakFiles has posted DVD Genie 3.28. New features include a new install program, better compatibility with Microsoft's MPEG-1 video and MP3 codecs, some bug fixes and more. The program allows you to modify the region code for popular software-based DVD players such as Software Cinemaster, PowerDVD and WinDVD, and others. It also allows you to tweak these programs with undocumented features to better fit your system. DVD Genie also allows you to select which program runs when a DVD disc is inserted into the drive and contains support for full screen zooming on wide screen movies with certain players. DVD Genie has hardware acceleration support for most 3D accelerators.
News Source: 3Dfiles

Film Studios Bring Claim Against DVD Hackers in Federal Court - Mark @ 16:40 EST

On January 14, 2000, in response to the illegal hacking of the DVD encryption system ``CSS,'' and subsequent Internet distribution of an unauthorized de-encryption formula, the major motion picture companies filed injunction complaints in the Southern District of New York and District of Connecticut against three defendants to prevent them from making the formula available on their Web sites. You can read more about it in yesterday's press release, at the Motion Picture Association web site and from a story posted on Yahaoo.

D-Link USB FM Radio Reviewed - Mark @ 16:34 EST

I have not really figured out the point of these devices but if you are someone who wants everthing on your PC then you might want to check out the 3DGN review of the D-Link USB FM Radio.

Aureal Vortex SQ2500 Review - Mark @ 16:02 EST

Review News has posted a nice review of Aureal's SQ2500. My only comment is it would be nice if there were really hundreds of titles with A3D 2.0 support but unfortunately that statement is only true about A3D 1.x (and just barely) based on a quick scan of Aureal's own list. My rough count shows a bit over 200 games shipping or announced with some form of A3D support and somewhere around 100 games shipping or announced with some form of A3D 2.0 or 3.0 support. Thats still nothing to sneeze at though and I think the A3D 3.0 engine should lead to even more support for the future. When it comes to the A3D 2.0 supporting Quake 3 Area I must say I completely agree with their conclusion that

...playing Quake 3 Arena with A3D was amazing! Of course I take a hit on the frame rates, but I hear noises I never thought existed (in games that is)! If you have a card that supports A3D 2.0, I'd definitely suggest trying it out. I would definitely suggest it to players who are out to have a good time and not on a hardcore frame rate rampage. It makes the game a lot more enjoyable as well as more entertaining.

Friday, January 14, 2000

Tread Marks Ships - Mark @ 23:15 EST

According to the official Thread Marks web page the A3D 2.0 supporting game is now shipping and is only available from the Longbow Digital Arts store for $40 including shipping. What is Tread Marks? Tread Marks is an Off-Road Battle Tank Racing and Combat game. Unlike most off-road racing games, in Tread Marks you can actually put holes and scorch marks in the terrain, which last for as long as the race does and don't hurt performance. With a suitably powerful weapon, you can even dig yourself a new canyon, or level a significant chunk of the map. You can grab the demo from 3Dfiles.
News Source: Blue's News

Apex AD-600A DVD / MP3 review - Mikael @ 23:02 EST

UGeek has posted a review of the Apex AD-600A DVD / MP3 that will allow you to play DVD, CD-audio, Video discs and MP3. They found the DVD aspect to be better than the MP3 one but with a steet price in the US$149-$179 you're not really paying anything extra for the MP3 functionality.
News Source: AGN Hardware

3D MiDi v0.3 - Mark @ 22:56 EST

3D MiDi, the first computer software application designed specifically to transform both live and pre-recorded MIDI data streams into exciting 3D graphics. The graphics generated by 3D MiDi are derived directly from the musical information embedded within a MIDI data stream giving the performing musician the ability interactively to customise the visualisation of the music being performed, in real-time, without the need for expensive multimedia production teams.

The latest version released today makes 3D MiDi capable of rendering scenes using POVRay 3.0. Users can use the powerful yet simple POVRay scene description language to create a script file, which is fed into 3DMiDi. Given a MIDI file, this POVRay script is used a basis by 3DMiDi for generating a POVRay animation script. The latter is then rendered by POVRay into a set of images. These are merge into an AVI movie file. For all the details and download links head over to the official 3D MiDi web site.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

Live!Platinum review - Mikael @ 22:55 EST

Ars Technica has posted their thoughts on the Platinum version of the Live and while they spend a lot of time complaining about what I would call minor or non issues they come to an overall positive conclusion. The wrapper they mention at the end of the review is probably the A2D files which will give you 3D sound in most A3D 2.0 games and occlusion if they use wavetracing but they won't give you reflections.
News Source: AGN Hardware

DroneZ interview - Mikael @ 22:54 EST

Daily Radar spoke to Giovanni Caturano, the development leader of Zetha GameZ, about his ambitions with DroneZyou reflections. Here's the audio snip

DR: Will DroneZ support 3D positional audio?

GC: Yes, while 3D audio is already working, we are currently adding support for both EAX and A3D. Sound is a very important aspect for the player's involvement. That's why we also realized different soundtracks, with different music styles, for the different sites.

Benwin BW2000 review - Mikael @ 22:54 EST

CTnews have just posted their impression of Benwin's flatpanel speakers BW2000. Like many other they found the sats to be of good quality but complained about poor subwoofer. I don't agree with their conclusion that this makes them good for games I would rather say ok for music, depends of course as the reviewer point out what type of music you listen to.
News Source: AGN Hardware

Monsoon MH-500 Flat Panel Speaker Review - Mark @ 18:44 EST

Thanks goes out to Dougster for pointing us to a review of the Monsoon MH-500 flat panel speakers over at Absolute PC. This entry level hybrid flat panel system consistently gets positive reviews and this one is no exception. One comment about the revew is IMO they make too much about how hard it is to set cone based speakers up for good sound (its not hard) and also seem miss the fact that its a hybrid system (each satellite is made up of a cone based driver and a flat panel) as all the quality is attributed to the flat panels.

Slave Zero Article At A3D.com - Frank @ 17:06 EST

Over at Aureal's A3D site, an article has been posted based on Slave Zero in their First Reflections Section.

If you submit an article based on 3d audio Aureal will give you your choice of a new soundcard (I assume SQ2500) or crisp $100 if they use it. For more details go to Aureal's How to Write for First Reflections Page or drop them a line.

Midiland S4/7100 5.1 Review - Mark @ 13:53 EST

Anandtech has posted a fairly positive review of the Midiland S4/7100 5.1 Channel Surround Speakers. The 7100 features 100 Watts RMS of power, with 5 shielded 10 Watt satellites and a 50 Watt subwoofer. Just to avoid any confusion I will state up front this is an analog system that does not have its own decoder. This is actually good news as we are going to be seeing more sound cards that offer Dolby Digital and even DTS decoding in hardware with an option to output to 6 analog outputs. If you get one of those cards you won't want to spend money twice on that decoding capability but might want the center channel. This is where the 7100's come in. Look for more on this system when we post our own review.

Experience A3D 3.0 - Mark @ 13:33 EST

Well not yet but Voodoo Extreme has the posted their developer update with Patrick Moynihan on Experience which notes the following:

As far as technical features go, the 3D engine continues to become more robust. The latest development is the implementation of a full-blown 3D audio engine courtesy of Aureal A3D 3.0. Aureal has provided us with an engineer to implement the new A3D 3.0 features, which include volumetric sound sources, obstruction/occlusion, and digital effects. Expect the sound in Experience to be truly state-of-the art, and compatible with all audio cards including both A3D and EAX users.

Drivers from Terratec - Mikael @ 11:01 EST

Not sure how much are new drivers but Terratec dropped us a note about the version for their current driver.

1. AudioSystem EWS64 L/XL/XXL
   1. Windows 95/98: vxd 2.28 drv 2.15 firmware 2.20
      
   2. ASIO: vxd 2.38 drv 2.15 firmware 2.21
      
   3. NT 4.0 (only for L/XL): Beta 3
   
   
2. DigitalXtention microWave PC
   1. Editorsoftware f?r microWave PC: microedit 1.2
   
   
3. AudioSystem EWS64 S
   1. Windows 95/98: vxd 2.28 drv 2.15 firmware 2.20
   
   
4. AudioSystem EWS88 MT
   1. Windows 95/98: 4.2.15 Build 90
      
   2. NT 4.0: 4.02.12.75
      
   3. Control Panel for Windows 95/98: 1.2.15.90
      
   4. Control Panel for NT 4.0: 1.2.15.90
   
   
5. SoundSystem DMX
   1. Windows 95/98: 4.05.00.0802
      
   2. NT 4.0: 4.02.49
      
   3. ControlPanel for Windows 95/98: 1.01
   
   
6. XLerate Pro
   1. Windows 95/98: 4.06.2041
      
   2. NT 4.0: 2.05.05
   
   
7. XLerate
   1. Windows 95/98: 4.05.00.1187
      
   2. NT 4.0: 1.17.01
   
   
8. SoundSystem Maestro32/96
   1. Windows 95/98: 2.50 B
   2. NT 4.0: 2.00
   
   
9. M3PO
   1. Firmware: 1.98g

230V ProMedia is in the plans - Mikael @ 02:19 EST

A post in our forum by Eddy gave a pointer to an interesting post on the Klipsch forum where they mention that a 230V version of the ProMedia is in the plans but they have no info when it will be available.

Thursday, January 13, 2000

BattleZone 2 Patch - Mark @ 22:48 EST

This patch for the A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX supporting Battlezone 2 is a beta patch. Although it fixes a lot in the game (nothing audio related), the reason for its release is to test its multiplayer fixes. Grab it from 3Dfiles.

Quake III Arena Final Patch - Mark @ 20:51 EST

This is the first official (non beta) patch for Quake III Arena. I have not yet tested to find if just maybe this one fixes the A3D menu problem (the previous 2 beta patches did not) but regardless if you have Q3A you should grab this one from 3Dfiles. Accoding to Voodoo Extreme the three primary fixes in this version (over the 2nd beta) are:

crash when bots chat on dedicated servers

crash when bots chat under linux

bots no longer "keep" trying to score after they respawn if they died carrying the flag

SQ2500 Review - Mark @ 20:47 EST

Arasha's Best has posted a short review of Aureal's SQ2500 and declare it a real winner. Just a couple of comments. The Vortex 2 is not know for high CPU usage. Its acutally the top performer in most categories. Wavetracing on the other hand, the main feature of A3D 2.0 does have a CPU impact but you don't need wavetracing for 3d sound. The review also mentions EAX in beta. Those drivers are of course not officially released. The review also implies that the SQ2500 has a price advantage over the Live products but the truth is the Live X-Gamer and MP3+ sell for the same price as the SQ2500.
News Source: Anandtech

Eiger Announces Generation 2 MP3 Player - Mark @ 20:31 EST

Eiger Technology, Inc. today announced the launch of its second generation MP3 player - Eiger Man 2000. The Eiger Man 2000 is a fully loaded 64 MB internal memory with Smart media card optional upgrade. Also, the Eiger Man 2000 has voice recording for dictation, USB PC interface, Repeat play for selected area, BOOKMARK function, Advanced File Management, 90dB signal to noise ratio, 10 hour playback time battery life, enlarged LCD display and convenient enlarged finger controls. For some additional details you can check out the announcement.

Windows Media Sounds More Like CD-Quality Music than MP3?? - Mark @ 20:28 EST

Thats what Microsoft says a new consumer study proves in today's announcement. The ZD Labs study tested two major consumer usage scenarios. During the first test scenario, participants listened to a live streaming-quality usage scenario, which included listening to Internet radio, live music events over the Internet, and Web-based jukeboxes. Results showed that 97.6 percent of test participants responded that the music created with the Windows Media Audio codec sounded more like the original than the music created with the RealNetworks/Xing MP3 codec.

For the second test scenario, consumers were asked if they thought the Windows Media-formatted clip or the MP3 clip sounded more like the original CD recording. Each participant was asked to listen to 15 seconds of three clips. The first clip was, unknown to them, always the original CD music. The second two clips were a random ordering of the same 15 seconds of the Windows Media- and MP3-encoded files across different genres of music. Each file was encoded at CD-quality bit rates of 64k bps for Windows Media and 128k bps for MP3. Results from this test showed 8.9 out of 10 people either preferred Windows Media at 64k bps over MP3 at 128k bps or could not tell which of the two more closely resembled actual original CD clips, even though the Windows Media Audio clips were 50 percent smaller than the MP3 clips.

ZD Labs performed the double-blind study using audio tracks encoded in Microsoft Windows Media Format and the RealNetworks/Xing Technology implementation of the Motion Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 (MP3) audio format. The 96 participants ranged in age from 18 to 44 and listened to 18 sets of six different 15-second audio clips representing a range of musical types, including classical, adult contemporary and pop/rock genres. The full study results can be viewed on the ZD Labs Web site.

QSound New Soft Audio Technology Included with Boston Acoustics - Frank @ 16:46 EST

QSound Labs, Inc.announced today that Boston Acoustics is marketing their first Universal Serial Bus (USB) multimedia sound system with QSound's 3D audio software. The BA735 USB is an innovative speaker/software audio system that according to the PR "combines fast digital streaming, easy hookup to the computer and four-channel gaming with only two speakers". The QSound software, based on proprietary audio algorithms, provides superior 3D audio effects without the need for any additional hardware. These speakers are now available and are being marketed to Boston Acoustics' major OEM customers. Hopefull we will get to hear these but I must admit that I find the claim of 4 channel gaming with only two speakers a bit strong as 2 speaker surround is not nearly as good as true four speaker systems. The PRs also don't make any specific mention of QEM so I wonder if there is any reverb engine with the system. You can read more about the system in Boston Acoustics' own announcement.

Early impressions of ACS56, ADA880 and DMX/MX400 - Mikael @ 04:02 EST

We just updated our Early Impression page with quick looks at two speaker systems from Altec Lansing. Specifically we look at the ACS56 which is a good quality 4 speaker system and we also look at their ADA880 Dolby Digital system. In addition to the speakers we also posted an update on Terratec's DMX card. This is timely in that the DMX is based on the same Canyon3D chip that Diamond's just shipping MX400 is using and we even managed to get the DMX running on the MX400 drivers!

Finally we have put together some performance numbers on the MX400 drivers using the DMX as the test platform. When it comes to 3D sound and EAX we found it to be on par with the Digital-XG which uses the same 3D sound engine and reverb engine from Sensaura. We are not sure if the MX400 will ship with later drivers but we downloaded the MX400 drivers from S3's site, dated December 28th.

Sound Blaster Live MP3+ and X-Gamer - Mikael @ 03:56 EST

In this review we will look at two of Creative's new Sound Blaster Live! cards that are targeted at specific North American markets and sold at the $100 price point. Specifically we mean the Sound Blaster Live MP3+ and the Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer. As you can tell from the names, one version is targeted at the digital music fan and the other is targeted at the person who is primarily a gamer. Both versions use the same CT4760 board that is also found in the box for the Americas and European version of the Platinum and the Sound Blaster Live Player 1024 that is found in Europe. In this review we will take a close look at the hardware and also run through the software bundle in order to help you decide if the Live is the card for you and if it is, which one is best suited to your tastes.

Could also mention that we have updated our Live!Player 1024 and Live!Platinum Europe version with some of the new info we have learned since those two were posted last year. Most importantly that the Live supports DTS pass-thru just fine (not with the bundled WinDVD though) and that the 1/8" mini-jack outputs 2.0 volts DC and the COAX SPIDIF out spec calls for 0.5 volts DC. We have not run into any problems with this but we are uncertain if it could be any issue with some SPDIF inputs.

Wednesday, January 12, 2000

SQ3500 contest and Fantasia 2000 review @ A3D.com - Mikael @ 22:26 EST

A3D.com has started a contest where you can win a SQ3500 soundcard. They have also posted an article titled "Fantasia 2000: The IMAX Experience" written by Vortex of Sound's David Gasior.

Deer Hunter 3 patch - Mikael @ 22:17 EST

The A3D 1.X supporting Deer Hunter 3 just got a new patch that includes several fixes including "3D sound issues resolved". You can grab this patch from 3dfiles or if you don't have the game you could buy it from Gamestop.

DigiTheatre review - Mikael @ 22:13 EST

Gamespot has posted a review of the DigiTheatre speaker system. They spend quite sometime complaining about difficulty to set it up, don't really agree it's just standard speaker wires you connect to the amplifier and with the test button it should be really easy to change it if you connect it incorrectly. It is slightly more difficult than the RCA and DIN cables you use to connect the satellites to the amplifier in the ADA880 (and I guess ADA885) system but then you're stuck with the cables Altec Lansing provides. I agree with his complaints of the control functions of the decoder box but the remote control really makes this a non issue.

When it comes to sound they are positive about the DVD experience but complain about poor music quality, which I don't really agree with. Not sure what they really compare it to but it's certainly way ahead of the DTT2500 when it comes to music IMO. Could also mention you can use it as 4-speaker gaming system if you connect the sound directly to the inputs of the subwoofer but unless you have a soundcard with LFE output bass will be a bit lacking. Check out my review for more about my impression of this system.
News Source: AGN Hardware

CES Overviews - Mark @ 19:07 EST

Two Consumer Electronics Show (CES) overviews for you. The first one from Thresh's Firing Squad which is their second report from the show. In this second CES update they look at a couple home MP3 components, a few MP3 portable players including Casio's WMP-1V Wrist Audio Player and some new products on the MP3 car audio front. The second report is from GameSpy which also includes coverage of MacWorld. This article is a much broader look at both shows.

Atriarch Music Clip - Mark @ 18:50 EST

The website for World Fusion's upcoming massively multiplayer RPG, Atriarch, has been updated with a new music clip from the game. According to the site, Atriarch music reflects the history, culture and personality of each of the individual species. I don't see any mention of 3D audio or EAX anwhere but the game sounds pretty cool none the less with an original epic Story about the alien world of Atriana. In this persistent world (the game doesn't end and the world will continue almost 24 hours/day, 7 days/week) you can build an empire, run the local market or adventure through the untamed wilderness...it's the best of all worlds. Head on over and check out the music and the game.
News Source: Voodoo Extreme

AOpen 4x4x20 CD-RW Review - Mark @ 18:34 EST

Our FGN affilitate, System Logic, have posted a nicely written positive review of the AOpen 4x4x20 CD-RW drive. My only complaint is the review is IMO a little light on the write aspects and software of the package but everything else is covered.
News Source: Anandtech

Maxi Sound FORTISSIMO - Mark @ 18:15 EST

Absolute PC has posted a review of Guillemot's YFM744 based Maxi Sound FORTISSIMO. This is yet another review that incorrectly states that the rear speakesr mirror the front on this card. I have no idea why these people make this statement. Perhaps it the fact that with shipping drivers it only supports 8 3d sound streams so sounds beyond that would be stereo panning. Perhaps they don't understand that a game has to support DS3D or A3D in order to give 4 speaker positining. When they say it works great in Unreal Tournament it really makes me think the latter point is the reason since they say it does not work well in other games since maybe they are testing Quake 2! Regardless of the reasons, its just not the case. Four speaker positioning works just great! It is worth noting that they cannot get 3D sound in Quake 3 Arena like they claim unless they use the A3DAPI.dll from Aureal that you can get by installing Aureal's A2D drivers. Aureal says those drivers have not been tested with 744 cards (just with the Live) so try at your own risk. At the end, they come to a very positive conclusion about this inexpensive card.

The Hoontech Digital-XG that we just reviewed uses the lastest reference drivers for the YMF744 and with those drivers now has support for 32 3d streams and adds EAX 2.0 and I3DL2 to the APIs already supported. Guillemont has not yet released those drivers for their card but they work fine with it based on our testing. For more on what we thing of the YMF744 cards like the Fortissemo check out our Digital-XG review. If you read the Digital-XG review, just keep in mind that we tested the Digital XG with the new 2013 drivers so performance would be much better than what Absolute PC would get with the Fortissemo's shipping drivers and also keep in mind that the Fortissemo only has an optical output. Our own Fortissemo review will come as soon as we find out if and when Guillemot will release the 2013 drivers as those drivers make a big difference in what we think of the card. If you have a Digital-XG or a Fortissemo you can grab those 2013 drivers for a much richer feature set.
News Source: Anandtech

MX400 and Sonic Impact are now shipping - Mikael @ 12:44 EST

S3 just announced the shipment of their latest audio solutions, the Diamond Monster Sound(TM) MX400 and the Diamond Sonic Impact(TM) S100. The MX400 uses as I mentioned this morning the Canyon3D chip and the 3D sound and reverb engine is done by Sensaura. For our impression of Sensaura check out our Digital-XG review. The Canyon3D should be a more powerful chip than the Digital-XG but so far the drivers we have seen for it has been rather unimpressive. The MX400 ships with later drivers than we have tried so should hopefully perform much better. The press release is very thin on details but you can find all the details you want at S3's site. A couple of interesting details are SRP only $79, it will ship with EAX 2.0 and I3DL2 support just like the Digital-XG, it will support 48 3D channels, it will come with a software DVD player, some MP3 encoding and ripping software and also some music apps. Very thin on the game bundle with just an OEM version of Slave Zero and a trial version of Demolition Racer. S3 seems to try to compete with the Live MP3+ more than the X-Gamer and SQ2500 with a key advantage being the software DVD player, assuming it's of good quality.

The Diamond Sonic Impact S100 is a low cost board that also uses Sensaura even though it's inexpensive, $40, it still have most of the MP3 software, 4-speaker support and uses the same Sensaura 3D sound engine and can accelerate up to 16 3D streams.

Top selling games at Gamestop - Mikael @ 01:17 EST

Here's the top selling games at Gamestop last week that support some form of 3D sound and/or EAX

1. Unreal Tournament (A3D 2.0 with wavetracing and DS3D with EAX)
   
2. Planescape Torment (EAX)
   
3. Battlezone 2 (A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX)
   
4. Quake III Arena (A3D 2.0 with wavetracing)
   
5. Half Life Oppocing Force (A3D 2.0 with wavetracing and DS3D with EAX)

Worth noting:
Planescape Torment may support 3D sound using DS3D but it's possible it just use EAX to create some environmental effects.
Quake3: While it only supports A3D 2.0 it will still produce 3D sound on DS3D cards such as the Live if you download the A2D files from Aureal. Once it's patched for A3D 3.0 it may also support EAX on the Live and other EAX cards.

MX400 will ship later today - Mikael @ 01:17 EST

AGN Hardware got the word from Diamond/S3 that they will release a press release later today announcing that the MX400 will ship today. The MX400 uses the Canyon3D chip from ESS and the 3D sound engine is Sensaura. The drivers that the MX400 will ship with is of a later version than the recent drivers for DMX (another Canyon3D based product) and I think it comes with the same of the Sensaura engine as the Digital-XG we recentrly reviewed so the reverb, 3D sound and API support should be close if not identical to the Digital-XG. You could check out our review of the Digital-XG for our impression of Sensaura.

Tuesday, January 11, 2000

ESS Ships Over 500K Units DVD Chips During Fourth Quarter - Mikael @ 23:34 EST

ESS maybe more famous for their PC audio chips (e.g. Canyon3D) today announced that its DVD solution shipments have exceeded 500K units during the fourth quarter 1999, making it one of the fastest growing products in the company history. ESS announced that it had begun initial DVD production shipments in September 1999 and ramped to over 500K units during the last quarter of the year. ESS's DVD solution is designed to offer a highly integrated and cost-effective DVD player solution with new levels of digital video and audio performance for the Consumer Electronics market. It is based on the production-proven Programmable Multimedia Processor (PMP) core architecture consisting of a 32-bit RISC CPU and a 64-bit Video Processor Engine. Key features include a built-in CPU for DVD navigation, MPEG-2 video & Dolby Digital decoding, sub-picture decoding, Content Scrambling System, On Screen Display processing, NTSC disc to PAL display (and vice versa) with SmartScale(TM), Virtual Surround, DTS audio, digital out and Karaoke.

CineMaster DVD decoder receive WHQL certification on Windows 2000 - Mikael @ 23:32 EST

RAVISENT Technologies today announced that its award-winning Software CineMaster DVD decoder is the first to officially receive Microsoft's(TM) Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification on Windows 2000 RTM (the official shipping release of Windows 2000). In this press release they also mention that CineMaster core engine are currently used by 8 out of the top 10 PC OEMs nationwide. For those with good memory may remeber that late last year InterVideo claimed to be the first to receive the Windows 2000 WHQL logo for their software DVD player WinDVD.

Private Wars split up - Mikael @ 23:17 EST

Avault reports that the soon to be released DS3D and A3D 1.X supporting Private Wars is being split into two independent products: Private Wars: Countdown and the original Private Wars. Here's the blurb on the new Countdown

The Countdown is being described as a slimmed down version of the full Private Wars concept that will attract more casual--i.e. non-hardcore tactical simulation--users and highlight the Private War brand with a twisting plot full of intricate human drama. The game will contain between 8 and ten missions, lots of cut scenes and be priced to move. Closed beta of the product begins Jan. 20.

Quake III Arena Beta 2 Patch - Mark @ 23:11 EST

The Point release beta 2 for the A3D 2.0 with wavetracing Quake III Arena is now out. Listed changes are Control menu works properly, Pure server connection notification, 2D Armor icon appears properly, Arena files are accumulated properly across pk3 files and a few other smallish fixes but unfortunately no A3D menu fix! Grab it from 3Dfiles.

Plextor PlexWriter 8/4/32 review - Mikael @ 23:07 EST

We have seen quite a few of these already but now it's Hardware Central that finished their review of this CDRW drive from Plextor. As most if not all the other reviews they found it to perform according to spec and had no problems with stability either. In this review they have a couple of pages about what's important for a a CDRW drive and a bit about the difference between a SCSI and IDE/ATAPI drive. This drive uses the IDE/ATAPI interface.

Week in Review - Mikael @ 23:00 EST

We have posted our latest edition of the 3D Audio Week in Review covering January 3-9. This weekly newsletter covers new driver releases, games, patches and demos that support 3D sound including information on any new bugs, bug fixes and other tips. The newsletter now also includes links to all sound related hardware reviews on the web as well as updates on what we did and what we plan to do in the coming week. The 3D Audio Week in Review is a great way for busy people to be right on top of all latest in the PC audio world.

NASCAR Racing 3 Demo - Mark @ 20:43 EST

The award-winning team that brought you the long running NASCAR Racing series of simulations has done it again. NASCAR Racing 3 includes 45 of your favorite Winston Cup and Busch Grand National drivers competing on 28 tracks, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, all updated to reflect the 1999 season. This demo is restricted to a maximum of a 10% race length in single player mode, and while hosting a multiplayer race. You are able to join longer multiplayer races on a different host. Only the two tracks included (New Hampshire and Texas Speedway) will work with this demo version You can grab the 25 MB demo from 3Dfiles. Given that the full game uses the A3D 2.0 engine for sound support the demo should support 3D sound and wavetracing via A3D 2.0 as well as 3D sound on other cards. I have the full game and will do a review on it one of these days but can say that the wavetracing support for it is excellent and 3D sound also works on non-Vortex 2 sound cards. You can learn more about the sound options from our FAQ and if this is a game for you then you can buy NASCAR Racing 3 from Gamestop.

More on Altec Lansing 885 THX Certified Speakers - Mark @ 13:07 EST

Thanks to AGNHardware for pointing out that Lucas films issued a press release on Altec Lansing's new ADA 885 Dolby Digital 4.1 THX certified system back on Janauary 6th. As we reported back on December 30th, here are some key point on the system.

Total power output is 120 Watts RMS.

10 Watts RMS power each driver in the satellites.

The front satellites are 2 way for a total of 40 watts RMS to the front and 20 Watts RMS to the rear;

All four satellites have a 3 inch full range driver and the front two each have a 1 inch tweeter;

The subwoofer is an 8" dual voice coil driven by 60 Watts RMS.

It won't be the loudest system on the market but its still should be more than loud enough for most people with a SPL of 103dB SPL @ listen position (they don't define listening position);

Frequency response is 27Hz to 20kHz and it has a headphone jack, analog input for 4 speaker gaming and a SPDIF input for Dolby Digital and PCM audio;

Its available in both 120 and 240/250 volt configurations.

So there you have it, THX Multimedia Speaker certicication does not convey ability to hear DVDs with full 4 or 4.1 channel support on these systems. For that you need to make sure your system has that capabilities. It could be via one of the new upcoming sound cards like the Santa Cruz from Turtle Beach or SQ3500 from Aureal, it could be via an external decoder, it could be by a software DVD player that does 4 speaker downmixing like WinDVD or PowerDVD or it could be a decoder built into the system like the 885 THX certified system.

Voquette Announces First Solution for Downloading Streaming Media onto Rio MP3 - Mikael @ 03:33 EST

In another step aimed at bringing Web Audio content to all portable audio devices, Voquette yesterday announced a beta release of the Voquette Media Manager Version 1.3 for Rio 300 and 500 Portable Digital Audio Players.

The Voquette Media Manager PC client software provides an intuitive tool for managing and recording Web Audio content. Users can now select, download and play all popular formats of web audio including streaming media in the leading Real Audio and Windows Media formats, and MP3 music - as well as text-to-speech - for listening anywhere, anytime.

For a limited time, Voquette's new Media Manager Beta Version 1.3 for Rio players will be available to the first 10,000 users for free. The software can be downloaded from Voquette's web site - www.voquette.com.

Cakewalk Releases the Ideal Music Software for iMac Users - Mikael @ 03:28 EST

If you happen to have a Mac (less than 1% of those that check out this site) you may be interested to know that Cakewalkr today announced the release of Cakewalk Metro(TM) SE for the iMac. Based on Cakewalk's award-winning Metro 5 professional recording software for the Mac, Metro SE is designed to enable iMac users new to music software to start recording and mixing music on their computer without having to make a significant investment in software and compatible hardware. Metro SE is priced at $29 U.S. and will be available on January 15, 2000, exclusively by download at www.cakewalk.com. You can find more details in the press release.

Cirrus Logic to Speed Design of New Class of Audio Appliances - Mikael @ 03:25 EST

At the Consumer Electronics Show, Cirrus Logic and Interactive Objects announced an agreement which they say will provide the technical jumpstart manufacturers need for integrating Internet audio support into a wide range of consumer electronics products. Combining the flexibility of Cirrus Logic's Maverick(TM) Internet audio system-on-chips (SOCs) and advanced functionality of Interactive Objects' (Iobjects) Portable Stereo Reference Platform, the Bellevue-based software specialists unveiled a package of Internet Audio Design Services that could cut system design time by more than 50 percent. If you want to know more read the press release.

2 CDRW and one CD-ROM - Mikael @ 03:20 EST

First up 3DAlpha has posted a review of Nec's 40X SCSI CD-ROM drive and they were impressed with the DAE speed of this drive, even though it was less than 7X, I would say that's rather weak for a 40X SCSI drive. The Encore6X drive was clearly faster than that.

If you want a CDRW drive you could check out GameWire's review of Ricoh's $250 CDRW drive, RW7060A. It can write at 6X, rewrite at 4X and read at 24X. GameWire was very pleased with this drives software, performance and compatability. Not any benchmark in this review though.

For a little faster CDRW drive you could check out VE's review of Plextor's PlexWriter 8/4/32A, which as you may guess writes at 8X, rewrites at 4X and reads at 32X. According to the review you could find this one for less than $250 and they also say the drives performs according to the specs.

New UT patch - Mikael @ 02:35 EST

Epic has released the 405B patch for Unreal Tournament. Lots of fixes and new features. The audio related ones are:

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