acehole
02-27-2005, 09:04 PM
So... I've finally got fed up enough with my Audigy2 to replace it. Combined with having switched back from MAD to the default QCD MP3 decoder (is it really the XAudio decoder?), I feel like the 44.1=>48KHz resampling is making my ears bleed!
The Chaintech AV-710 looked like a nice cheap option (my speaker setup is only 2.1 so the lack of decent DACs on the surround connectors wouldn't be catastrophic), but I searched high and low for somewhere in the UK (/that would ship to the UK) that had them with no success.
I do do a fair amount of gaming, but I'm not worried about sound quality in games, only about framerates. As such one or two reviews of the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 showing horific CPU use with high numbers of voices in games made me take a step back from them. Have the drivers improved at all since then or is it a limitation of the card itself? The Revolution 5.1 is being marketed much more towards gamers so presumably that is improved, but have they made many changes from the 7.1 that affect music quality?
I'm not really looking to go beyond that price range (Rev 7.1 prices I mean) but would do so if it looks like it's worth it. Obviously if I can pay less then all the better. Could anybody give me some advice/answer my questions about the Rev 5.1/make other suggestions? How do the AudioTrak (or Philips) etc. cards sound?
Thanks in anticipation guys...
The Chaintech AV-710 looked like a nice cheap option (my speaker setup is only 2.1 so the lack of decent DACs on the surround connectors wouldn't be catastrophic), but I searched high and low for somewhere in the UK (/that would ship to the UK) that had them with no success.
I do do a fair amount of gaming, but I'm not worried about sound quality in games, only about framerates. As such one or two reviews of the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 showing horific CPU use with high numbers of voices in games made me take a step back from them. Have the drivers improved at all since then or is it a limitation of the card itself? The Revolution 5.1 is being marketed much more towards gamers so presumably that is improved, but have they made many changes from the 7.1 that affect music quality?
I'm not really looking to go beyond that price range (Rev 7.1 prices I mean) but would do so if it looks like it's worth it. Obviously if I can pay less then all the better. Could anybody give me some advice/answer my questions about the Rev 5.1/make other suggestions? How do the AudioTrak (or Philips) etc. cards sound?
Thanks in anticipation guys...