Which cards have true 44.1k playback, as compared to the upsampling of Soundblaster cards to 48k? I am looking for a 24bit 96k (or higher) card that does direct playback of 44.1k and has true 24bit recording, and possibly with some hardware processing instead of the M-Audio Revolution's software processing. With the above features, am I going to have to get an Audigy 2, or are there other options? (argh, but the Audigy 2 upsamples the all the signals).

I did see a review in the New July issue of Maximum PC for the AudioTrak Prodigy 7.1. They say that it uses the same chip (Via Envy24HT) as the M-Audio, and of course still does software processing, but that it beats the Revolution badly in their gaming frame rate tests. It only loses to the Audigy 2 in Quake III Arena by 8.5% whereas the Revolution loses by 24%, and in other tests, it was neck and neck with the Audigy 2, while the M-Audio falls way behind. They attribute it to possibly driver issues, and say that the Sensaura 3d sound engine drivers in the AudioTrak are most recent as compared to the M-Audio. Overall, they still think the M-Audio sounds the best out of the three, but man, I don't want to take that big of a performance hit when I play games when the system I am building already will be using a budget graphics card. Are there any other options to consider?

Sound Blaster 16. (The ISA version, at least)

lol, I wonder if that's whats in my old 486DX2. I'm going to have to go check. You know, the weird thing I noticed the other day is that my 486 has some sort of breakout card on the back for audio that has stereo RCA plugs. It has some wierd interface to another card (or the mobo, I can't remember which)

I don't think you have many options available.

All SB series that have hardware processing for DirectSound3D streams or EAX are resampling cards (up to and including their flagship Audigy 2 Platinum eX). They also have additional clipping issues with the volume control that better cards do not have.

The only card that does not force you to do automatic sample rate conversion and still has rudimentary DirectSound3D stream acceleration in hardware is Terratec DMX 6fire, using the earlier version of the Via Envy24 chipset (up to 16 streams of accelerated DirectSound 3D and 32 DirectSound). It should perform a little faster in games than the later stripped down HT/PT versions which do not have any acceleration.

I tried the DMX 6fire and while very good for audio testing and music listening, I found it slightly lacking for games.

Hence, I settled for a good gaming card (Audigy 2) combined with a good pro card (RME Digi 96/8). This is not a cheap solution, but has so far offered me the best of both worlds (well, not the *very* best, but good enough).

regards,
Halcyon

I was thinking it would be like that. Well, I think I am going to put an OEM Audigy 2 in my system right now, and then purchase a higher end card later.

How does the IEEE-1394 port on the Audigy 2 compare to an on-motherboard IEEE-1394 port? I am wanting Firewire, but I can find a cheaper motherboard right now without it, so if I can stick with the Audigy's port, it would be most cost effective. Does using the Audigy's Firewire port have any effect on the performance of the soundcard?

Also, how does the Terratec compare to the M-Audio Revolution's sound quality?

the firewire works peachy for me. I see no technical reason why it would slow down audio - all PCI devices share the same bus regardless of whether they are on the same card or not.

Soundcards compare soundcard & prices here

I have heard reports that Apple iPods and the IEEE-1394 port on Audigy2 have issues. I haven't used the Firewire on my Audigy2 yet because I have no Firewire devices. Even when I do, there is firewire on my mobo anyway.

You might want to have a look at USB audio devices : link.

I have a Stereo-Link which supports up to 55kHz without resampling. However it does not record or do not go up to 96kHz. For such a high-end device you need to pay a lot more.

I have a firewire CD-RW drive connected to my Audigy 1 firewire port, so far so good, no problem on reading or writing.

Some users of Terratec dmx6fire have reported noise problems due to the analog breakout cable picking interference (Look at RMAA forums). However, I'm not sure if all models of this card have a breakout box.

I'd get a cheap Live card for games, and a Revolution for listening to music.

I just replaced my SB Live card with a Revolution, but I am thinking of doing exactly what you suggest KikeG. Is there a way to install the SB card and have it remain disabled until I need it for game support? I have found the Creative drivers to be extremely buggy and I'd like to avoid all the extra crapware if I can. Even the kx project drivers seem to have some stability problems for me. It would be great if I could just disable the SB card indefinitely.

Warlock,

I don't think it's possible to enalbe your Audigy on-the-fly without a reboot. You can of course mark it 'disabled' in the Device Manager after which it will be disabled (no drivers loaded, AFAIK) on the next boot. You can then re-enable + reboot to have the drivers load again. Not very practical, imho.

Let me add that I'm running only the Audigy 2 driver set (none of the background stuff, only drivers) without disabling my Audigy 2 in Device Manager. I have no problems with either of my card (A2 & DIGI 96/8) though (Asus nForce2 MB, on which the nForce audio is disabled). YMMV, of course.

regards,
Halcyon