3DsoundSurge Review: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy


	Mikael Hagén put Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy to the test

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Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy

Mikael Hagén - Last updated September 9, 2001

The Audigy cards:

All the cards in the Audigy line-up use the same base board which, as mentioned above, is powered by the Audigy chip. The base card is named Audigy Digital Entertainment (SRP $99) in ASIA, Audigy Player (SRP €129) in Europe and in US you will be able to choose between Audigy MP3+ and Audigy X-Gamer (both SRP $99). In addition to the base board you will, just like the last couple years with the Live, be able to buy a Platinum version (this time named Audigy Platinum in all regions) which offers a better software bundle and the Audigy Drive. This Audigy Drive is very similar to the Live!Drive IR. For those that are not familiar with the Live!Drive it’s a device placed in your 5 ¼ drive bay offering front panel access to line-in, SPDIF in/out, headphone output and a few more. The SRP will be $199/€249. Creative will also release an external version of the Audigy Drive which will be bundled with the Audigy Platinum eX for $249/€329. The software bundle will differ between the Audigy Platinum and Platinum eX.

When it comes to availability, the cards have already showed up in some stores in US and parts of ASIA, while Europe will have to wait until the end of September. Also worth noting the Platinum versions are still not available, at least in the US.

Connectivity:

The connections on the Audigy card are very similar to what you find on the Live 5.1 with the major additions being the SB1394 connection and the improved quality of each in/output (up to 24 bit / 96 kHz).

On the bracket

On the bracket of the Audigy card you will just like with the Live 5.1 find Line-in, Mic-in, front out, rear out and the shared Digital out/Center-subwoofer. What’s new is you will no longer find a MIDI/Gameport on the bracket. This had to go to make room for the SB1394 connection. If you still want to use the MIDI/Gameport you will be able to use the supplied midi/gameport bracket. As a side note it can be interesting to know Creative has gone back to using gold plated connections just like the original Live card instead of the PC99 specs requirements of color coded plastic ones.

The Digital out/Center-subwoofer can, just like the Live 5.1 card, be used for either digital output or when in analog mode as the center/subwoofer output. Switching between the two is done in the surround mixer or volume control. When in digital mode all the analog outputs will be muted except the headphone output on the Audigy drive. This is slightly different from the not 5.1 Live cards where only the front output is muted. The digital output can be used as S/PDIF output to send stereo, Dolby Prologic, Dolby Digital or DTS to an external receiver/decoder or it can be used to output 4 or 5.1 output digitally to a speaker that features Cambridge SoundWorks Digital DIN connection (e.g. Cambridge SoundWorks DTT2500, DTT3500, Inspire 5700 and some none Cambridge SoundWorks systems like Logitech’s Xtrusio DSR-100 or Polk Audio’s AMR-150). If you want to use it as standard S/PDIF output you need a mini-jack to RCA cable or adapter.

SB1394/FireWire

The SB1394 connection is compliant to the IEEE 1394a specification. You may also know the IEEE 1394 specification under the FireWire (Trademark by Apple) or iLink (Sony Trademark) names. The major buzz about the FireWire is the excellent bandwidth (supports data rates of up to 400 Mbps). In addition to the fantastic bandwidth another excellent feature is up to 63 IEEE 1394 devices can be connected in a daisy chain configuration and that it’s CPU independent making it likely we will see two MP3 players talking to each other for example.

Now the importance of the SB1394 is that the IEEE-1394 hasn’t been strict enough to avoid incompatibility issues. To improve the situation Creative has started the SB1394 Certification Program where they will test what other IEEE-1394 devices that will work fine with the SB1394. Since everyone expects Creative to ship millions of the Audigy cards they already have several companies (including Sony) interested in this new Certification Program. A complete list will be continuously updated on Creative Labs website. There will also be a logo other manufactures can use if they wish to clearly display prove they have been certified.

Creative is quite confident the SB1394 would be the standard in the PC space and that this would also be major boost for devices using the IEEE-1394 connection. Creative themselves intend to introduce it on all their future products where it makes sense (e.g. an upcoming Jukebox). Even if you don’t have any other IEEE-1394 device now you might still find it useful if you know someone else with an Audigy card nearby since you can then use it for a low latency multi-player gaming. The Audigy card bundles the software required for network play using the SB1394 connection.

What may surprise you is that the Audigy SB1394 currently does NOT support audio input. Audio interfaces, which use the 1394 protocol for connection to the computer, are not currently supported in the Sound Blaster Audigy, although it is technically feasible. To be clear this is not referring to audio files sent as usual data (e.g. MP3 or MIDI) but more like an alternative to S/PDIF as I understand it.

Back to the introduction

Internal and Audigy Drive connectivity