The week in review: March 13-19

Last week's features at 3DsoundSurge

X-Gamer and FPS2000 Giveaway!!
Creative Labs is sponsoring a contest where (if you live in North America) you can win a Sound Blaster Live X-Gamer or a set of FPS2000 speakers depending on which banner you click on. Even if you already have another good sound card you might want to enter the Live contest as you can either run two sound card (e.g. Vortex 2 and Live) or take the excellent game bundle and give the card to a friend! Here's the direct link to the FPS2000 page and X-Gamer contest page respectively.

Last week's sound news

Drivers and bugs

• Montego II 2046 beta drivers
  Turtle Beach has released 2046 beta drivers for their 2-speaker Vortex 2 based Montego II. These drivers will not work with the Quadzilla, Plus or Home Studio boards and for some reason they say it will not work with the Dell Montego II. If I guess it would work just fine but for support reasons they want you to get the drivers from Dell. I can't begin to say how impressed I am with Turtle Beach to release 2046 drivers now, which don't support EAX, I3DL2 or A3DVerb. That they are a beta is of course very impressive as well. Now this isn't really important since the Montego II most likely works just fine with the 2048 reference drivers from Aureal except no support from Turtle Beach but it's not promising when it comes to upcoming Quadzilla/Plus/Home Studio drivers since it indicates they will be 2046 and not 2048 based. Not sure if we mentioned it but Turtle Beach customer support told Julian that they will release new drivers for the Quadzilla within 2 months that was about 2 weeks ago.

New games, demos, patches and bugs

• Gunship has gone gold
  Hasbro Interactive has confirmed that the helicopter simulation, Gunship, has just gone gold. On Aureal's list (A3D 1.X) called Gunship 3 but seems like Hasbro Interactive intends to stick with just Gunship. As you may know the original Gunship was released more than 10 years ago. You can find some more info and pre-order the game at Gamestop.
• Thief II has gone gold
  Avault reports that the A3D 1.X and DS3D with EAX supporting Thief 2 has gone gold will be in stores starting March 20. In case you don't know Thief was and still is considered to be one if not the best use of positional audio in a game so far. For a bit more on this you can check out Mark's review of the Thief demo.

  You can pre-order Thief 2 from Gamestop for $35 where you can also find more info about the game.

• Messiah Goes Gold
  AVault, following up on a report yesterday that the A3D 3.0 and DS3D with EAX supporting third-person action and adventure game Messiah was close to finished, has learned from publisher Interplay that the game has gone gold. According to the company’s public relations department, the target release date is late March, though that has not been finalized. You can get more information on the game and also preorder Messiah from Gamestop for $44.95 where you will also receive special bonus of a mini-strategy guide while supplies last!
• Tzar: Burden of the Crown Gone Gold
  Avault is reporting that the DS3D with EAX supporting Tzar: The Burden of the Crown, a fantasy-based real-time strategy game, is due in stores March 27th! You can preorder the Tzar from Gamestop for $39.99. You will also find expanded information about the game at Gamestop. For more information you can check out the review over at Eurogamer 
• Soldier of Fortune has gone gold
  Raven's Rick Johnson has updated his plan with the following interesting blurb:

  Unofficially, SoF has been baked to a light GOLD! We are code released! Masters have been sent off to duplication. Technically, the head of QA has to sign off on the paper work tomorrow to make it official, but we are done! All 5 versions (US Full Violence, US Low Violence, UK Full, French Full, and German Low) have made it through QA. At this time, we are not aware when it will hit the stores, other than it will be this month.

  Soldier of Fortune will support DS3D with EAX 2 (using Eagle btw) and A3D 3.0. This also means it's the first A3D 3.0 game to ship to retail, a bit short on Aureal's goal from Comdex when they according to Comdex reports said 12 A3D 3.0 games should be out by GDC.

  You can pre-order Soldier of Fortune from Gamestop for $42 where you can also find more info about the game.

• Deer Hunter 3 Gold is shipping
  Avault reports that Deer Hunter 3 Gold Edition is shipping. The non gold version is on Aureal's A3D list (A3D 1.X) so I guess this gold version still supports it. You can buy Deer Hunter 3 Gold edition for $18 from Gamestop.
• Test Drive Le Mans Demo
  Infogrames has just released a 55 MB huge demo of the upcoming racing game Test Drive Le Mans. You can grab it from 3dfiles where you will also find a short description of the game. The full game is expected to support A3D 2.0 but not sure about the demo.
• Evolva demo
  A demo of 3D accelerated tactical action game Evolva has been released. The full game will support DS3D with EAX and according PascaL from Ear on Games the demo supports at least DS3D. Here's what he had to say:

  Not sure about EAX, but I just tried the demo for Evolva and despite not saying anything in the configuration options about DS3D or EAX, I did notice sounds emenating only from my rear speakers.
  
  The game looks like the planet Xen from Half Life, but hella better and not boring like. It's a very "flowery" looking game, and looks to be a fantastic stretch of imagination.

  You can grab the 30 MB demo without the movie clips from 3dfiles or the 130 MB with movie clips from the official German site for Evolva

• Rollcage Stage II Demo
  Rollcage Stage II is the sequel to Rollcage. As in the original you get cool, drive anywhere, flip over cars that race at extreme speeds. The unique driving experience offered by Rollcage is still retained and has been improved on. Like any sequel there is more of everything - more cars, more tracks and more game modes. But, it's not just a case of more is better, they have apparently listened to the critics of Rollcage and have gone to great lengths to make the game more fun, easy to pick up and more rewarding.   According to Creative's EAX list Rollcage Stage II just like the original Rollcage supports DS3D with EAX so should be some good stuff in this 40 MB demo which you can grab from 3Dfiles.
• X-Tension Rolling Demo Updated (English)
  X-tension is a new game based on the DS3D supporting X-Beyond the Frontier. It adds new features to the concept of X-Beyond the Frontier extending it further and giving you more freedom in a more immersive universe. A game to live in. It is still early in development but this just released updated rolling demo is now in English. Grab the 12.5 MB rolling demo from 3Dfiles.
• Quake III Arena 1.16n Patch
  This new 1.16n patch for Quake3 is no longer beta. Fixes/enhancements mentioned includes unlatched sv_pure, added designer models and fixed gamestate reload when running mods in pure mode. I just tried the patch and A3D still fails to work if you use a Vortex2, at least it doesn't work for me. I do get 3D positional audio using non A3D cards but some sound effects are lost just like it has been with previous patches. You can grab the patch from 3dfiles.
• Need For Speed: High Stakes 4.43 Patch
  This new patch for the DS3D with EAX supporting racing game features bug fixes to car restriction, improved AI and patching now works if you've got an HTTP proxy server. You can grab the patch from 3dfiles. If you haven't bought the game yet you can now pick it up for just $19 from Gamestop.
• Carnivores 2 patch
  The new v 2.0 patch for the A3D 2.0 and DS3D with EAX 2.0 supporting Carnivores 2 fixes sky problems on some 3D accelerators such as PowerVR, GeForce, Voodoo3, etc. You can grab the patch from 3dfiles.
• Heretic Fortress v4.5 Released
  A new version (4.5 -- also the last version) of The Heretic Fortress has been released. Here's a bit more on this mod for the A3D 2.0 with wavetracing supporting Heretic II, along with news that it's coming for Q3A:

  THF is a fantasy team fortress type mod for Heretic II that has been very popular in the Heretic II community. It supports 17 different player models, 9 completely different classes (warrior, archer, wizard, rogue, enchanter, cleric, pyromage, blacksmith and the mighty King Arthur), over 30 spells and abilities, an experience/level system where you gain levels and get new powers as you gain experience (RPG like), 3 different types of missions (hold the fortress, capture the light and Protect King Arthur), voice messages, customs sounds, a new hud interface, over 16 high quality maps, and the list goes on and on...

  The project which has taken a year to complete is now final with this version. The THF team is now working hard on porting/adapting its THF modification to the Quake 3 engine. An early beta for the Quake 3 engine is expected to be released very soon. Even if there are many Team Fortress mods already in the works for the quake 3 engine, this one will be very different because of its role-playing feel and it is unique team oriented gameplay.

  Keep your fingers crossed that the next patch fixes A3D in Q3A and that comes out soon.

• JHexen v0.99.2
  A new version of the DS3D with EAX and A3D 3.0 supporting JHexen (OpenGL version of Hexen) has been released. Here's the sound related news

  sounds can be resampled to 22 or 44 kHz and/or 16 bits using the Sound menu (the original sounds are 8 bit/11 kHz, so don't expect any miracles)
  sound volume in 2D mode fixed
  demos work correctly with 3D sounds

  You can download it from the JHexen site where you can also find more details about this OpenGL port of Hexen.

• DirectMusic Producer patch
  Microsoft has released a new patch for DirectX 7.0a DirectMusic Producer. Here's a bit on what this patch fixes:

  This DirectX 7.0a update to DirectMusic Producer is in response to a bug in DLS Designer that could disable playback of DLS content on a DLS-2 synth (playback on DLS-1 synths is not affected). It was discovered that the velocity range of DLS regions is being incorrectly written as 0-0 (rather than 0-127). Because of the seriousness of this bug, it is important to update all DLS collections created in previous versions of Producer (by opening and saving in Producer) to avoid this problem in the future.

• WhackANote plugin
  WildTangent has released a new audio player (WinAmp, Sonique, Ultra Player) plugin. Its called WhackANote (seriously). Here's the description:

  WildTangent turns your favorite audio player into a gaming platform with this simple game. The audio stream drives the game, so no version of the game will be the same from song to song. The object of the game is to click on the musical note as it appears then watch the note drop or explode and your points add up. Different notes have different values, whole notes - 1pt, 32nd notes - 5pts. If you want to customize your game, check out the parameter tags in the vis.html file found in the WhackANote directory. The parameter tags are documented so you can customize your game. If you want to try building your own visualizer games, check out the WildTangent Audio Driver SDK.

  You can download the plugin from 3Dfiles.

• WinAmp A3D 3.0 plugin
  The new 1.11 version of a cool A3D plugin is now out. This plugin allows WinAmp to play audio with Aureal's A3D 2.0 or 3.0 sound engine. Each audio channel is played by a separate sound source which is placed in 3D space around the listener. The user can control the position of each sound source. Under A3D 3.0 the plugin can also add a reverb effect to the audio data. Here's what was added in the latest version:

  • A3D 3.0 reverb support.
  • All settings are now saved for future use.
  • Channel position presets.
  • The new interface - a general plugin window instead of the configuration dialog.
  • Equalization control for each channel.
  • Fixed a problem with muting audio when WinAmp loses focus - this became possible with A3D 3.0.
  • Fixed a problem where after being unpaused the song starts playing not exactly from the same position

  So what are you waiting for? Head over to the official site and download the plugin!.

• RioPort Launches Beta Version of Next Generation Audio Manager
  RioPort last Monday announced the beta launch of its next generation Audio Manager software, offering a score of innovations that make enjoying digital audio content both easier and more compelling than ever before. For more details and links to where you can grab it check out the press release.
• RealNetworks Ships RealPlayer Updates for Windows, Macintosh and Unix
  RealNetworks last Monday announced the availability of RealPlayer® 7 Update 1 for Windows, the gold release of RealPlayer 7 for Macintosh, and the beta release of RealPlayer 7 for Unix. You can find more details about the new release and download links in the press release.

Reviews of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.

• SQ2500
  If you just can't get enough opinions on if the SQ2500 is the right choice or not The Tech Zone has just slapped up another short review for you. Here's a snip:

  The really cool thing about the SQ2500 is that the new drivers has support for EAX as well as A3D. This means you don't need a Sound Blaster card to hear the 3D sound effects of EAX games. Aureal sound cards will do both A3D and EAX games but Sound Blaster will only do EAX for now. Kinda makes the decision a little easier doesn't it?

  I agree that it's easier to choose now but not because the Vortex2 is the clear choice but instead that with new A3D 2/3 games now supporting DS3D and EAX cards (not reflections but 3D sound and even reverb should work) and the Vortex 2 offering full support for EAX games (not EAX 2.0) you will in almost every game that supports EAX, DS3D and/or A3D get 3D sound and/or reverb that work well regardless if you choose the Vortex2, Live or any other EAX supporting card. There are exceptions where it doesn't work well or at all because of game or driver bugs but in most cases it will work fine. Could be worth noting that most EAX games already offered 3D sound for the Vortex2 since they used DS3D for that but there were a few cases where it failed, maybe driver bugs or that it didn't enable 3D sound on non EAX cards even if they supported DS3D.

  Back to the review as you may guess the review is very positive and has really nothing bad to say about the SQ2500. Could add that Aureal already made soundcards before the SQ2500 they just didn't sell it at retail, at least not officially.

  Gamestats also posted a review of the SQ2500 last week but this one reads more like an explanation of DS3D, A3D, EAX and 3D sound than much detail about the SQ2500 card.

  Overall pretty good but there are a couple errors and some points I disagree with. When it comes to the glossary at the end they missed that A3D 2.0 already included support for 3D sound on non A3D cards that supported DS3D. The Microsoft DS3D API supports hardware acceleration since DirectX 5.0 and it's unfortunately not supported in almost every Windows game. That's only true for DirectSound (stereo). In their Half-Life benchmark they mention the performance hit for the Live is similar which our tests shows isn't true. I have not updated these scores using the 2048 drivers but I tried it and there isn't much of a difference. Also worth mentioning that using EAX the Vortex2 card is almost as fast as the Live in Half-Life though. One other bit I disagree with is the following:

  First, no matter whether the game programmer provides support for A3D, EAX or DS3D sound, the Aureal Vortex 2 cards will give the gamer the best possible audio representation.

  Just supporting any API is no guarantee it offers the best possible audio representation. When it comes to the 2048 drivers, the EAX implementation doesn't work in all EAX games (e.g. Final Fantasy VIII and A vs P) and is rather poor in some (e.g. Thief). It's roughly on par (the reverb bit) with the Live in most of the EAX games I tried though. When it comes to the articles explanation of A3D 2.0 it's important to note that while wavetracing is more realistic than EAX, the implementation using the Vortex2 card isn't 100% accurate. The Vortex2 is simply not powerful enough to accomplish that, which of course is good for Aureal since they want you to upgrade that SQ2500 someday.

• Aureal SuperQuad (OEM)
  Hardwarezone has posted a review of Aureal’s OEM SuperQuad board. Their comparison to the Xitel Storm Platinum is a little odd as I have both cards right here in my hand as I type this and both are the identical revision C boards and both are green and I got both last year so not sure what’s up with the apparently much older black revision B Storm Platinum that they got their hands on. The review also appears to be written from a rather biased pro Live perspective which you will see if you check it out. On the topic of optical output and MiniDiscs, I can’t test now but I know that there was an option to set the output level of the optical output which you access from the Windows mixer - advanced options "other". Its also possible to apply the Vortex 2 EQ to the signal that will be sent to the MiniDisc Its also worth noting that while some MiniDisc players can do the downsampling from 48 kHz, all want it at 44.1 kHz which is an advantage the Vortex 2 can offer over the Live which is fixed at 48 kHz. However, if you are recording direct from CD to Optical output I really wonder how beneficial it really is given that the CD is connect to the Vortex 2 board via analog connections (i.e. the CD audio is going from Digital to Analog to Digital). Moving along, I don’t think the MIDI quality is terrible and I wonder what sound font they had loaded when they did the test with the Live (which you can download in the review). Having said that, I agree that MIDI quality is not as good as the Live, especially when going against the 8 MB sound font. Finally, I think its rather silly to review an OEM card and then complain about lack of bundled software…Overall they were impressed with the cards 3D abilities and its MiniDisc connectivity.
• Maxi Sound Fortissimo
  We have seen quite a few reviews of this card that with recent drivers moved from being a below average gaming card to an excellent one, especially if you consider the $50 price tag. This time it's Play Devil that has posted their impression of the Maxi Sound Fortissimo. They picked up their card in Belgium where it costs $93 the software bundle is different than the new US bundle that includes PowerDVD, quite possible that's included in Europe now as well but not sure. The review is overall positive and not bad but includes a few errors. In their history section I disagree that the Soundblaster ISA cards offered the best quality, the reason you bought them was that they had the best SoundBlaster compatibility (duh) not that they offered better sound quality than all other consumer cards. When it comes to the Live the comparable card (Live!Value) wasn't more expensive than the Vortex2 based MX300 and the Live included support for DS3D, EAX, Directsound and A3D 1.X (translating to DS3D) just like the Fortissimo. The Sensaura A3D 1.X support works for more A3D 1.X games than the Live but at moment I'm not aware of any that works with Sensaura and fails with the Live that doesn't support DS3D as well. When it comes to DirectMusic all cards work with DirectMusic and none support it in hardware without WDM drivers this includes the Fortissimo. Could also be worth noting that this review doesn't seem to have used the latest drivers since they don't mention EAX 2.0 and I3DL2 support which the 2013 drivers brought in addition to improving the reverb quality and increasing the 3D channels from 8 to 32. The last one may be why they found 4-speaker sound to be better on the Live than the Fortissimo since I think the Fortissimo is clearly better thanks to better 3D sound engine. The Live has clearly better reverb engine though. Finally I'm not sure the 3D Surround that you can apply to stereo games (that is stereo expansion) is from Sensaura. Not a feature other cards using Sensaura has implemented anyway. For more about my impression of the Fortissimo check out our review.
• MX400
  Gamers Depot sent us a note claiming to be the first online publication to bring you a hard-hitting review of the new Diamond Monster Sound MX400 they are certainly not the first review but perhaps the first hard hitting, too bad they didn't actually hit much though. The review has several significant errors, most importantly they don't seem to really get the difference between a 3D sound engine and a 3D API. Sensaura is the 3D sound and reverb engine the MX400 uses and unless there are any driver bugs it should work with all games using DS3D, EAX and according to Sensaura also all A3D 1.X games. The games shipping with this card have no special Sensaura support, they most likely use DS3D if they support 3D sound at all. I can say I've never seen Demolition Racer on any 3D sound supporting list but considering it bundled and assuming Diamond isn't completely clueless it probably supports DS3D. When it comes to EAX, I agree that cards using Sensaura doesn't sound as good as cards using the Live but the MX400 fully supports EAX 1.0 and 2.0 just like the Live. That is, the difference is the quality of the reverb engine. The list Sensaura has put up is limited to games they actually tried and it's quite clear that wasn't a very good idea considering how this review turned out. Could also be worth noting that what the review calls Sensaura MicroDrive 3d probably refers to MultiDrive, Sensaura's 4-speaker 3D sound engine. On the positive side, the review mentions that the 3D sound quality is one of the best they heard so far.

  When it comes to other parts of the soundcard the review mentions the software DVD player supports Dolby Digital 4.1 and 5.1. What they actually mean is most likely AC-3 pass-thru and 4-speaker down-mixing. One interesting comment in this review that I haven't seen any other review bring up is the following

  In 4 speaker mode, the MX400 does something I've never seen any other sound card do, it drops out the Low Frequencies while playing from an audio source like CD-Audio and Wav. This is not only lame, but also seems to be rather contradictory in the sense that ESS really brags about how this card is designed for a 4 speaker setup, but then they kill the Low Frequencies for music playback, forcing you to switch back to two speaker mode while listening to your favorite audio source. We even gave a call into Diamond about this situation and they told us it is "perhaps because of a driver issue", however after further investigation we found that ESS even admits of this activity on their website."

  It's possible there is some driver bug that causes this (assuming their impressions are correct) but the bit on the ESS page that they reference is completely unrelated since it talks about the LFE channel for DVD movies. Could add that if you want a card using Sensaura, I have seen no indication the MX400 is any better than the cards using the YMF744 chips so I would suggest that unless you want the bundled MP3 stuff or the coaxial out you should instead buy Guillemot's Fortissimo (see review) which costs only $50 and has an optical output or Hoontech's Digital-XG that has both coaxial and optical in/out but lacks a bundled software DVD player (see review). If you want to read a better MX400 review you could do a search in news archive.

  One of these better reviews were posted on Dan's Data last week. It's a pretty nice review of Diamond/S3’s Monster Sound MX400. Just one comment - I don’t think its a given that Sensaura’s Virtual Ear technology will be offered to MX400 users at no cost. Given that Diamond/S3 does not return emails (how’s that for good customer service?) we can only say that the S3 site and MX400 PR do not mention the technology which you can read more about in this PR and from Sensaura’s website

• Planethardware’s High-End PC Speaker Shootout
  Planethardware has posted a comparison article that looks at the Altec Lansing ADA880R, the Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 Digital and Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400 speaker systems. When it comes to the ADA880Rs I don't think they are clear on the fact that you cannot use it as 4-speaker gaming system. I also find the subwoofer comment in the "cons" section of their review a little odd (complaint that it's too big). For more on these you can check out My early impressions of this system. Next up is the DTT2500. They got their system from hi-fi.com with a free DVD Player (special offer) which Hifi has offered for quite some time now when you buy a complete Dolby Surround system from them. I am not sure why they have problems with the subwoofer and center channel but its worth noting that its never a great idea to run the sub at full volume. For lots more detail on this system and our own impressions you can check out our DTT2500 review. Last up in their suite is the Klipsch ProMedia which they think are an excellent system. It's important to know that the THX certification is the new multimedia THX certification which requires significantly less when it comes to high quality components than the one that has been available for quite sometime now in the home theater market. For a second opinion you can read Mark's review of this system.

  In their conclusion I think they should more clearly point out that the ADA880R is a good system for the money when it comes to DVD movies but can't be used for 4-speaker gaming and lacks a center channel. If that's unimportant the system is clearly a better choice than the DTT2500 if you can find it for the same price since the sound quality is ahead of the DTT2500 and the system is clearly more powerful.

• MidiLand S4 4060
  Target PC has posted a review of MidiLand's $99 3-piece (4 if you include the control module) system S4 4060. A lot of technical details in this review where they measured the s/n ratio, cross over, frequency response, loudness and the power output. Not really sure why people bother to measure the power output, the only thing that's really interesting is how loud they are not how many watts they need to produce it.

  Anyway, they found the frequency response and sound quality to be excellent, in fact they say best in this price range. No idea what other systems they have heard but the specs they measured look quite good. Could be worth noting that s/n, frequency response and distortion doesn't tell the whole story about a speaker system so wouldn't put too much focus on these specs.

• Gallant Computer OdysseySound4
  3Dhardware has posted a review of the Gallant Computer OdysseySound4 Four Point Surround Combo. This is an entry level 4 pt system that does not include a subwoofer but does come with a ForteMedia FM801 based sound card (i.e. its not new technology as alluded to in the review). Look for lot more on FM801 based cards when we post our review of the Best Data Theatrix. Its worth noting that a system having four identical speakers is not any indication that the system is not intended for music. While this system is a bad example to use as is not really perfect for anything, home theatre systems often will be set up with low dispersion front speakers (for good imaging) and wide dispersion rear speakers (to emphasize the surround effect) where as systems tailored to 5.1 music should use low dispersion speakers in the front and rear for better overall music imagining. In fact some new systems designed with both DVD Movies and DVD Music in mind have the option to set up two different type of rear speakers! I am oversimplifying and digressing so back to the review. I think asking for a wireless remote on a low end system is rather unrealistic and while I have not hear the Gallant speakers, I know that the bass response cannot be good as the speakers are small and there is no subwoofer, so looking at this bundle as anything more than the bottom of entry level to four point sound, is rather unrealistic. Thankfully Gallant is apparently aware of that fact and has priced the entire package for only $79.99.
• Sirocco Crossfire
  Insane Games (name probably based on the layout :-) have posted a review of Sirocco Crossfire. They bitch a bit on complex install (took me less than 10 minutes) but found the speakers to be the ultimate PC speaker system. They do have one complaint about the quality and that is it plays the deep midrange through the subwoofer. I'm not sure exactly where they define the deep midrange to start but this system has rated cross over of 150 Hz so while that's higher than many home theater system I wouldn't call it midrange. Could also point out that VideoLogic doesn't claim they skipped the covers for design reason but instead for quality reasons. Doubt it makes a significant difference though.
• Multimedia Speaker Roundup
  Sound and Vision Magazine has posted a multimedia speaker roundup that includes the Klipsch ProMedia and Altec Lansing ADA885. Unlike the "Culture Clash" feature mentioned below, I don’t have that much to say other than if you have never seen reviews of some of these products before you would probably be completely confused after reading what they have to say. The reason is that two different people offer their thoughts in the article and they come to some very different conclusions! For more on what we think of some of these systems you can check out our review index to pick your product.

  In a separate article, Sound and Vision Magazine has done a very positive review of the Monsoon MM-1000 flat panel speaker system. Here’s their summary:

  In sum, the Monsoon MM-1000 is a three-piece speaker system with excellent timbre, imaging, and dynamics that doesn't have to be tied to a computer. Since it has its own built-in power, all you have to do is add a CD player or other source and you've got a great little music system. The MM-1000's flat-panel technology and styling are just frosting on a terrific-sounding cake. It's flat all right - flat-out good.

• Culture Clash
  Sound and Vision Magazine has posted an article called ""Culture Clash" in which they put a high-end PC from Dell, including Altec Lansing’s Dolby Digital, THX Multimedia Speaker Certified ADA885, through the A/V wringer. Here is a piece from their intro

  Following up on our trip to THXland (see "Inside THX" in the February/March issue), we were offered the opportunity to more closely examine the latest THX-certified multichannel computer speaker system, Altec Lansing's ADA885. And Dell, which sells the speaker system as an exclusive accessory for $246 at its Web site, was kind enough to lend us its Dimension XPS T700r to help in our examination. Little did Dell suspect that we would run the whole system through our A/V gauntlet, employing most of the tests we normally apply to audio and video components.

  Its a very interesting article but maybe its just me, but I feel the writer suffers from a condescending attitude towards PC audio. In terms of the ADA885 they have very little in the way of technical test results. They do note that the Altec subwoofer reached unusually low for one with an 8-inch driver, with usable output down to around 30 Hz and conclude that they were satisfied with the performance of these speakers, especially considering their price.

  The sound card used in the system is the Sound Blaster Live Value and that’s where the article gets harsh. To say the least they were unimpressed with the quality of its digital output, in part because of the fixed 48 kHz rate of the 10K1 resulting in sample rate conversion from CD audio’s 44.1 kHz rate. This is not a new issue. However, if you are familiar with the tests done at PCAVTech, you will see that the Sound and Vision numbers appear to be worse than the PCAVTech numbers. We have not done these tests so I can only speculate that their results are worse because they did not use the CD-Digital connections. Now its possible that they had an OEM Live with no CD-Digital input and/or a CDRW and DVD drive with no CD-Digital output but either way they should not make all encompassing statements about the numbers being typical of many other PCs based on results using a configuration that is not typical of the setup that many of us have and use. I also find their subjective analysis of CD audio quality to be harsh. What they don’t say in that part of the analysis if they heard their audible quality issues on the ADA885 or when connecting the system to a $5,000 reference system. I certainly have no issues using it on quality multimedia systems like the Klipsch ProMedia and Sirocco Crossfire (but then I am not an audiophile ;) ). The article also has some errors when it comes to setting up the Live. For example, they claim they can only connect 1 CD drive at a time (where as in fact one can be connected via the CD-digital connection (if they did not have an OEM board), one via the analog CD connection and you can also use the AUX connection for a third or second as the case may be). They note that they need to enable the SPDIF out in the control panel to get audio output which is untrue for digital audio including CD-Digital but is true for analog sources including analog CD audio. They report that placing an audio CD into the DVD drive does play back PCM audio from the Live’s SPDIF out. Again, that's likely an issue with their configuration. They also note that because neither the DVD nor CD-RW drive will output digital audio from a CD, the signal is first converted to analog by the DVD drive and then redigitized by the sound card, an operation fraught with opportunities for sonic degradation.. Both my DVD and CD-RW drive will output digital audio from a CD via a CD-Digital output connected to the Live CD-Digital input. Again, this is further indication they tested an OEM board with no CD-Digital input and/or drive with no CD-Digital output. Don't get me wrong here as we all know that a PC sound system does not rival its more expensive component system siblings, but some of their audio comments with a grain of salt due to system configuration.

• S4 MidiLand 7100
  The TechZone has posted a review of the S4 MidiLand 7100 with the following interesting comment

  I don't know what MidiLand used to measure the frequency response of the 7100 but it sure can't be a true Real Time Analyzer (RTA). There is just no way the 6.5" sub can do 20Hz to 180Hz with a +3dB rating. The spec is an outright lie. We put our Audio Control RTA to it and it doesn't even register at 20Hz. A rating of 45Hz to 180Mhz would be more inline to the truth

  Now I have not heard the S4 7100 but it's quite clear MidiLand's frequency response rating of their various systems has nothing to do with reality. It's possible the rating is for the amplifier but not even sure that's the case. When it comes to sound quality the review is rather mixed finding the 7100 to be excellent for games and DVD movies while not that great for music with complaints about too warm bass, mid range being hollow and the highs not clear enough. There is no mention of systems they compare it to so hard to know how accurate comments like It's the closest thing you can get to a home theatre on your computer and With the system all setup I fired up a game of UT and let it rip. All I can say is WOW! The A3D sound of UT was taken to a level I've never heard before. They more seems to compare to 2-speaker systems than the true competition which includes the DTT2500, FPS2000, ACS56, BA4800, Crossfire and Promedia to name a few.

• Nomad II
  T-Break has posted a review of Creative Labs' brand new Nomad II portable MP3 player and are very impressed. One of the key benefits they hilight in the review is the Nomad II’s ability to play more than just the MP3 format through a firmware update. The given example is Microsoft’s own WMA format which is according to the review is approximately 20% less in size than the MP3 when sampled at 128bit. I don’t think this is correct. From what I have read and my own testing the size should be basically the same at the same bit rate. Where WMA can save space is it supposed to give better quality at a lower bit rate than MP3 encoding. According to Microsoft, a new consumer study proves digital music in the Microsoft® Windows Media Format sounds more like CD-quality audio in half the size of MP3. ZD Labs conducted a study that compared Windows Media- and MP3-formatted content to original CD recordings. The study found that when compared to the CD-quality originals, nearly 90 percent of consumers tested preferred or could not tell the difference in quality between music in the Windows Media Format and songs in the MP3 format that were twice the size. In addition, this study revealed that consumers overwhelmingly chose the quality of Windows Media for live streaming of audio at 32k bps and at 64k bps over MP3. For more on that study you can check out the MS press release and for lots more on the Nomad II, check out the T-Break review.
• Samsung Yepp MP3 Player
  Digital Clips has listened to Samsung's inexpensive ($140) MP3 Player, Yepp. The player features 32 MB memory. a parallel port connection, support for Chinese displays, phone book and voice recording. They complain about the fact that you cannot copy from the MP3 player to the PC and that it doesn't support any other formats than MP3. When it comes to the copy function they mention you can copy analog so no point with the other copy protection but that has always been true with tapes. It's the perfect digital copy the music industry fears. I could also add that I disagree that you will be hard pressed to hear the difference between 64 and higher bit rates, maybe if you sit on the subway with the lousy in ear phones they ship with these units but any good quality headphones or speakers the difference should be significant.

Other sound news

• MX1: A cheap S/PDIF output for Diamond Monster MX300
  Cyrano's "no-nonsense homepage" has a do it your self project to get optical S/PDIF output from the Diamond Monster Sound MX300. If you want to give it a try or just see how its done, head on over and check it out.
• Interview with Aureal's Technology Consultant
  The Italian gaming site Nextgame.it has published an interview with Aureal's Technology Consultant, David Gasior. If Italian isn't your best language you can read the English version of the interview at Vortex of Sound. The interview is long and detailed talking about A3D 3.0, the SQ3500 Turbo, MP3, Midi and a few other topics related to sound and soundcards. Just one comment the interview says that Quake 3 supports A3D 3.0 which I don't think is correct, it supports A3D 2.0.
• GDC report @ Extreme Hardware
  Extreme Hardware has now posted their full GDC report including info about what Aureal, Creative, Sensaura, 3dfx, AMD, Razer and Nvidia had on display. The Creative bit is about Eagle which they found to be very impressive and they also mentioned that the Windows 2000 drivers will be released this or next week. That was last so should be this week then. The Aureal news includes info about A3D 3.0, SQ3500 (shipping April or May) and Aureal's upcoming speakers (delayed but price now $149 and $299 respectively). When it comes to the A3D 3.0 bit I wouldn't really compare Dolby Digital and 3D sound, it's very different use for the two where Dolby Digital will only be used for movie clips, sound tracks and maybe some ambient sound effects.

  When it comes to Sensaura they talk about the Virtual Ear and mentions every one that has a card using Sensaura will be able to buy this for $10-20. About the 50% I wonder if that's really something Sensaura told them it seems rather low.

• GDC audio news @ 3DAI
  3DAI has posted a bit on what they learnt at GDC from Aureal, ESS and Sensaura (nothing about Creative). Not much news but they confirm that the SQ3500 will be delayed until April and their speakers has been delayed until summer time, on a bit more positive side the more full featured Vortex2 drivers for Windows 2000 are just a couple weeks away (should now be one week). So anyone that thinks the speaker will be released before fall, the SQ3500 before May and the Windows 2000 drivers before April? :-)

  When it comes to Sensaura they had a bit about virtual Dolby Digital and Sensaura in software.

• Cambridge SoundWorks Launches New In-Wall Speaker Line
  Cambridge SoundWorks last Tuesday announced the launch of the Cambridge SoundWorks Ambiance® 52, 62, and 82 In-Wall speakers. The new Ambiance series offers consumers affordable, high quality sound that acoustically enhances any home without disrupting the decor. Prices range from $150 to $250 per pair. The new Ambiance models feature a 1-inch silk-dome tweeter, mounted in an ``eyeball'' mechanism, to help optimize stereo imaging and coverage. Each system also relies on a high quality, low-frequency driver (5-1/4-inch in the Ambiance 52; 6-1/2-inch and 8-inch in the Ambiance 62 and 82 respectively) that utilizes an environmentally stable, low-mass injection-molded cone and high-strength rubber surround within a mechanically stable, corrosion- resistant frame. You can find more details in the press release 
• Good Guys Introduces Parasound's Products
  Good Guys last Tuesday announced the addition of Parasound's audio and home theater product line to its extensive selection of mid to high-end audio components. The alliance will make Good Guys the largest retailer of Parasound products in the world and extend the availability of Parasound's state-of-the-art products to a broader customer base. All Parasound products will be available to Good Guys to allow for countless combinations of home theater set-ups for customers, with the stores displaying the most sought after models. You can find more details about this deal and Parasound products in the press release
• Boston Acoustics Launches Expanded Web Site
  Boston Acoustics last Tuesday unveiled a new corporate logo and expanded Web site to launch them into the new "Internet age". Boston Acoustics' Web site is easier to navigate and provides customers with a "System Builder" to aid in selecting the right consumer audio products for their home, car and multimedia environments. You can find more details about the new logo and the site in the press release
• Sony and Warner Home Video tries to increase DVD Sales in Europe
  Sony Europe and Warner Home Video are joining forces on a joint DVD-Video marketing campaign designed to drive both hardware and software sales in Europe. The campaign, which will run through the year 2000, has been specifically designed to generate greater consumer awareness and interest in the DVD format. It follows a breakthrough year in 1999 for DVD-Video in Europe, where player sales are exceeding 1 million units. Expectations are that DVD hardware sales will reach 4 million units and DVD software sales of at least 60 million units will be achieved in Europe this year. You can read the press release if you want to more details about this campaign
• DigiTheatre is now available in John Lewis stores
  VideoLogic Systems has announced that its award winning DigiTheatre Dolby Digital home cinema audio system is now available via the John Lewis chain of Department Stores in the UK. The John Lewis Partnership is Britain's leading department store group. You can check out the press release for more details about this deal or my review of the DigiTheatre for more details about the system.
• DVD to overtake VHS in 3 years
  An article I found on Yahoo.com mentions worldwide spending on DVDs will surpass that on videos by 2003 and there will be DVD players in 625 million homes by the end of the decade. There are a lot more details in the article if you are interested in predictions of the DVDs markets future.
• Nvidia will not provide the audio chips for X-Box
  Hardware Guru has posted an interview with Nvidia about their role in the X-Box and when it comes to the sound related part it includes the following info:

  HARDWAREGURU: Will that X-CHIP/MCP include the DVD-decoding capabilities as well ?
  Derek Perez/NVIDIA: These details have not been announced yet....

  HARDWAREGURU: Will NVIDIA provide more technology to the X-BOX like the Sound Hardware ?
  Derek Perez/NVIDIA: No

  The MPC chipsets stands for multimedia and communication chipset. I guess this means the X-Box will have a dedicated 3D audio chips. Considering they said 64 audio channels it's possible MS already decided what chip they will use but of course also possible it's just their minimum spec.

• Linux Console System
  Sort of doubt this system will ever ship but I could be wrong. Anyway the following bit from Gamefan could be interesting. They report that Indrema will introduce a Linux based console named Indrema L600E. Here's a bit from the feature list
  1. 600 MHz Processor
  2. 64 MB Fast Memory
  3. 2/8/30/50 GB Hard Drive Option
  4. Special "DV Linux" Distribution
  5. Massive 3D HW Acceleration (NV25 or better)
  6. MPEG2 Dual Stream HW Acceleration
  7. HDTV Output Supports 480p, 720p, 1080i
  8. 3D Audio Converts to Dolby Digital Out
  9. Integrated Mozilla Browser and E-mail
  10. Quake 3 Arena/Unreal Tournament

  I have no idea if they are just dreamers (indrema=dreamin') or not but it's of course possible to make a Linux based console but I think it's much more likely that it will be a set-top box. The important difference is that this most likely won't have a console model where companies actually develop games for it and pay a license fee but instead it will run any Linux game. This means it has no chance to compete with the X-Box or other consoles when it comes to price/performance and it will have no chance whatsoever IMO to form a threat to other game consoles. The bit about 3D Audio Converts to Dolby Digital Out is probably just a dream. I don't think there is any AC-3 encoders that don't require a license fee to Dolby and unless Dolby recently changed it, that is way too expensive for a consumer product.

• AOL's Nullsoft creates software for swapping MP3s
  News.com reports that Nullsoft is creating its own software for swapping MP3 files over the Internet. As you probably know Napster has already created a tool and network that allow this which has been banned by many Universities because it takes too much bandwidth and The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has also sued Napster accusing the software maker of "facilitating piracy". Nullsoft claims their software will require less bandwidth and since it will unlike Napster allow people to build their own networks to swap files it will be much more difficult for Universities to ban it other than on paper of course. I doubt the RIAA will be any more pleased with Nullsoft's software than the Napster one, which may turn interesting since AOL that owns Nullsoft also owns Warner Music. For more about Napster check out our previous coverage
• Windows Media Poised to Become Universal Format for Digital Audio
  That's what MS claimed last Tuesday when they announced that RealNetworks has licensed Microsoft® Windows Media(TM) Format audio technology. Microsoft also yesterday announced that Media Metrix Inc., the pioneer and leader in Internet and digital media measurement worldwide, reported in its latest SoftUsage Report that Windows Media Player was used more than any other multimedia player among U.S. households with PCs in December 1999. You can check out more details in the press release about this deal and the Windows Media Format. RealNetworks released their own press release where they announced that they are welcoming Microsoft's Windows Media Audio to its comprehensive list of supported audio formats. RealNetworks has previously announced support for eight different audio formats for playback in RealJukebox including MP3, RealAudio®, AT&T's a2b, IBM's EMMS, Liquid Audio, Mjuice, Sony Music's ATRAC3, and Universal Music Group/InterTrust. Of these formats, six are currently available in RealJukebox. For a less biased analysis of this deal you can check out Reuters, ZDNet's and CNet's article about the deal. 
• Diamond multimedia offers first looks at new Rio players
  Last Thursday Diamond Multimedia (part of S3) offered a sneak peek at the first of its third generation Riodigital audio players and announced support from major music labels. The new Rio players not only support SDMI, digital rights management from InterTrust Technologies and Microsoft's Windows Media, but also the MP3 and AAC audio codecs. In the press release you can find more details about the content support for the new Rio player, not much about the hardware though. For more about the hardware you can check out Cirrus Logic's press release where they announced that they that their Maverick(tm) system-on-chip (SOC) solution will be featured in the third generation of Rio(tm) digital audio players.

  In a separate press release Cirrus Logic announced two new Crystal® audio chips that they claim will extend the digital audio revolution to mainstream professional musical equipment. With the new Crystal reverb SOC, Cirrus Logic achieves another milestone in digital audio. Up until now, digital reverb solutions have largely been limited to more expensive, high-end instrument systems and amplifiers, and rarely used in the personal amplifier systems of mainstream performing musicians. According to Cirrus Logic this will of course change when they bring two new chips to market in Q3 this year.

• LAVA.com and Moonshine Music Strike Unique Distribution Agreement
  LAVA.com and Moonshine Music, have signed an initiative that will forge a new standard in on-line entertainment. Through a strategic co-marketing agreement, Moonshine Music plans to bundle LAVA! Player technology and custom designed 3D music visuals on a new series of music CDs. In this first deal of its kind, LAVA! will enable Moonshine Music customers to experience high-resolution, full-screen interactive 3D music video entertainment when playing their Enhanced Music CD on a PC. LAVA.com and Moonshine Music will collaborate in the customization of the interactive 3D music visuals designed specifically to accompany select tracks from the forthcoming 'Mixed Live' CD series set to be released starting early this summer. 'Mixed Live' is Moonshine Music's new series of DJ-mixed compilation CDs featuring top DJs at premier clubs around the country, recorded live with no digital edits. For lots more details you can check out the full announcement.
• Toshiba's Mobile Digital Audio Player Integrates With Liquid Audio
  Toshiba Corporation and Liquid Audio, Inc. have announced that support for Liquid Audio's Internet music delivery system will be integrated into the mobile digital audio player that Toshiba launched yesterday in the Japanese market. This cooperation between the two companies will allow consumers using Toshiba's new player to download Liquid Music from the Internet for copyright-protected playback. Toshiba's new digital audio player, MEA110AS, is the world's first AAC- and MP3-compatible mobile audio player to feature an SD memory card slot. The SD memory card, a new breed of postage-stamp-sized, high-density flash memory card, supports Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM), an advanced copy protection technology.
  Liquid Audio's sophisticated electronic distribution and digital rights management system supports the digital delivery of music in all popular media formats, including MP3, AAC and others. Using Liquid(TM) Player software, consumers will be able to download music from 1,000 record labels and play it back on Toshiba portable products. For more details check out the press release
• DAB card MP3 OnAir: MP3 recordings in real-time
  TerraTec Electronic presented its own PC receiver card for digital radio with the melodious name of "MP3 OnAir". With this it is now possible to record digital songs as MP3 files from radio stations onto your PC in real-time. The combination of high-quality DAB receiver and 3D soundcard allows for optimal and easy processing of the received audio data. With MP3 OnAir different programs can be received simultaneously on one DAB channel. Even while recording, no data is lost. The digital technology allows you to, for example, record a live concert while channel-surfing at the same time. The received radio programs can not only be recorded in analog or digital - as in the past, MP3 OnAir makes it possible to capture them in real-time as an MP3 file onto your hard drive.

  In addition to the radio program, other information is transmitted in text and picture form. And more than just title and performer info is transmitted. You will also have tour dates, information on current CDs or station information at your fingertips. This program associated data (PAD) is evaluated and shown by MP3 OnAir. The information can be displayed in graphics, Dynamic Label (similar to the well-known RDS radio text) and additional multimedia data formats like HTML. The one bit I am unclear on is what 3d hardware is being used. Is it a Canyon3D or something else? We are checking with TerraTec and will post more as we get the info. For more details on the card check out the announcement.

• TI Introduces Filterless Class-D Audio Power Amplifier
  According to TI designers of audio systems for portable and desktop applications are now able to reduce size and cost by using the industry's first filterless Class-D audio power amplifier announced yesterday today by Texas Instruments. By eliminating the need for bulky LC output filters, TI's new audio power amplifier enables designers to reduce board space and lower overall system costs by 40 percent while still maintaining the high efficiency associated with Class-D amplifiers. Typical applications for this device include notebook PCs, personal digital assistants, portable DVD players, and USB multimedia speakers. You can find more details in the press release
• TI Acquires Leading Digital Amplifier Systems Design Company
  Texas Instruments announced last Thursday that it has acquired Toccata Technology ApS, a privately held company that is one of the leading developers of digital-audio amplifier technology and board solutions. This acquisition enables TI to achieve an all-digital audio solution. TI's digital-speaker technology will bring high-end audio system quality to all types of audio equipment, including personal computer speakers, A/V receivers, car stereos and home theater systems. For lots more details check out the full press release.
• How will Games Sound Different In The Future?
  That’s the title of Gamespot’s "Question of the Week" The article includes a poll with some rather limited options along with discussion by several of their editors. They also have a link to an older piece that takes a look at their picks for The Ten Best Game Soundtracks. In terms of their editors comments I get the impression that not all the contributing editors are on top of the progress that has already been made over the last couple of years but its still an interesting read.
• Bill Brown Interview
  Thanks to Old Skul to telling us that he has posted a new interview over at Fragmusic.com. This time the interview is with Bill Brown who brought us the music from Rainbow Six, Rogue Spear, Trespasser and many others. Here is a taste:

  Q: From your perspective, are their major differences between creating music for a movie and a video game?

  A: Creatively, I approach the two mediums with equal intensity and focus. Many problems that need solving in film are there waiting to be solved in games as well. Things are maturing where technical aspects of music for games (CD audio, mp3, .wav files, Direct Music, etc.) and film music are concerned. Although, for the most part, when I take a DVD out and put a game in, there is still quite a difference in overall quality - and that is something we are trying to change. With the recent announcement of Microsoft's X-Box and it's richer interactive tool-set, we are that much closer to being able to create an interactive environment with as much realism and creative intensity as we do in film. We have been mixing game soundtracks in 5.1 film formats all year and so, sonically, we are putting effort into creating Game Soundtracks here at Soundelux similar to our current film projects which include "Any Given Sunday", "Mission To Mars", and "Mission Impossible 2". I think gamers have a different set of rules than filmgoers do, but most gamers appreciate great films as well! So it's a natural mix

  For nine more questions head over to the interview.

• Force Commander: Behind the Music
  That's the title of an interview over at Daily Radar where they chat with Peter McConnell and Dave Levison of Lucas Arts. Peter McConnell is a composer and sound development supervisor and is one of the guys behind iMuse, LucasArts' Interactive Music and Sound Effects engine, and was also the lead music producer on Force Commander Dave Levison studied music composition at CalArts and is a drum 'n basshead by night and sound designer at LucasArts by day. When given the chance to rearrange John Williams' scores from the Star Wars movies, they didn't hesitate to jump at the chance. The interview is a very interesting read and they also have some links to some MP3s of the remixed music including a new "exclusive" to Daily Radar called Escape from Kalaan. You can find additional information on Force Commander at Gamestop where you can buy the game for $37.99. 

For more news from last week check out our news archive.

Upcoming features at 3DsoundSurge

• Best Data's Theatrix
• Sirocco Pro
• A review of PowerDVD 2.55 and WinDVD 2k
• ADA880
• Optical Digital in/out 2 card
• Sirocco Spirit

As always if you have any ideas for products we should review or features we should do, please let us know.

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