M-Audio has a new soundcard coming.

M-Audio Revolution Page
http://www.midiman.com/products/consumer/r...ution_page1.php

Discussion at 3DSS about M-Audio Revolution
http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/cgi-bin/wwwthr...b=5&o=14&fpart=

It will ship a software DVD-Audio player just like Creative's Audigy2 to play DVD-Audio and of course, it doesn't resample at all since the VIA/ICEnsemble Envy24HT sound DSP is not locked internally to 48kHz like the EMU10k2.

AS Posted by Cliff Watson at AVS Forum
AVS Special Member

Registered: Mar 1999
Location: Augusta, Ga. USA
Posts: 5416
I’ve been given permission to answer “some” questions concerning the REVO card.

1) The REVO and Sonica Theater cards will be announced on Nov. 17th at Comdex.

2) The MSRP for the REVO is $129 with an expected “street” price of under $100.

3) The REVO will ship with ASIO drivers.

4) The DVD-Audio player will not be ready until Jan. 2003. REVO cards that ship before the DVD-Audio player is ready will have an IOU redeemable from M Audio.

5) Actually REVO release date is pending the completion of several OEM contracts (My guess is in Dec. for the Xmas rush).

6) The “full” specifications for REVO will be released at Comdex.

7) The REVO card uses the Envy 24 HD chip and AKM Codex.

do you think upgrading a from a vortex2 based soundcard is worth it ?

If you're just interested in pure audio quality (24bit DACs) & you want DVD-Audio playback support and don't care too much about games, probably yes.

well according to the M-Audio site the card has everything i desire. let christmas come

Well, it still cannot take fullfill your sexual fantasies and make breakfast, so I think I'll pass out on this one...

This card definitely looks like a nice card. If it is under $100 I'm probably end up getting it. I replaced my Vortex 2 based card a while ago, it was nightmare trying to get it to work properly with Win2000. But it was a great card under Win98.

well i run win2k with a vortex2 card, no hassles

Is the chip the same as in the Terratec 24/96 ? and what does "IOU redeemable" mean ?

Envy24HT is a newer chip, it is also used in the newer Terratec Aureon Line of soundcards and supports 24bit, 192khz.

Envy24 is the older chip used in almost every 24bit 96khz soundcard such as the M-Audio Audiophile 2496, Terratec DMX 6fire.

the chip is newer and better ? would be great

Nice, did you have to do anything special to get it to work? I gave my mom the Vortex 2 card and it just won't work on her Win2000. It cuts out after about 10 seconds of audio playback and won't come back until a reboot. I tried whatever the work around on vortexofsound.com but it didn't work.

This M-audio card is really interesting since it can serve a dual role as a gaming card and decent recording (hopefully) card, I've only ever known M-Audio to make soundcards for recording use.

i only installed win2k, that's all. Previously i had a site where newer beta drivers were offered but i didn't install any of those!

IOU = "I owe you". guess it'll be a piece of paper saying that you're eligible for a free copy of this software.

"redeemable from M Audio" means that you will get the software if you send (or whatever) the IOU back to M Audio as soon as the software is ready.

is there a german department of m-audio ?

http://www.midiman.de/home.htm

I have to sigh a bit when reading all this stuff about surround sound. Except for movies (and maybe some games) I just don't see much applicability when it comes to music.

Maybe it could be used to create the illusion of a soundstage (with "echoes" behind you), but more likely it would be like sitting in the middle of an orchestra instead of having good seats, or being up on stage with the band! Who in their right mind would want to listen that way? The best sounding vinyl records use minimal mic'ing.

I don't get it... we have two ears, stereo has two channels. AFAIC (as music goes), that's an "end of story" fact. Earlier experiments (like Quadrophonic sound) failed miserably in the marketplace.

Maybe with movies and games, it's worth it (but again -- two ears, two channels?).

Anyway... if this card is as good as the Audiophile 24/96, it sounds worth the price anyway. Thank goodness there are companies other than Creative Labs producing sound cards. Maybe I'll finally be dumping my PCI128 by December or January (hopefully they won't neglect Win98SE and previous).

oh yes!!! this card is awsome! guess this is M-Audio's answer to the Audigy2

And I was gonna get the Audigy2. Mabey I'll get this instead.

hmmmm.... they concider this a consumer audio card? It is obviously on par or better then the audiophile line (i assume), so I guess they call it a consumer card cause of the gaming and dvd souround aspects now included, which are very much consumer related features.

ooooo... or mabey I'll get the Terratec Aureon Space 7.1 !!!!! so many choices!!!

2 ears , two channels ? well if you think the sounds outside come only from two directions it would be fine

surely you wont be forced to listen to simulated souround on normal two channel music will you?

Two ears should be able to create directional cues from stereo sound (2 speakers) if mic'ing/mixing is done properly... but regardless, how many cues do ya need? The band is in front of you (the room itself should recreate the 'echoes' from behind, left, right, etc during playback).

It's fun to hear the surround in a movie theater, but I think I'd get bored with it fast when it comes to music. Again, what ever happened to "Quad-4" back in the vinyl days? I think it lasted maybe a couple years.

P.S. what ever happened to 3-D movies, too? I mean, what's with this flat screen nonsense, we're supposed to see in 3 dimensions .

Hi all,few days ago i purchased EGO-SYS Waveterminal 192X.This card based in ENVY 24HT chipset,and included DAC (AKM 4355)=24bit/192kHz in 6out channels ideal for 5.1 configuration+Highend 2ch.ADC (AKM 5394)=24bit/192kHz!!!!! I replaced my old M-Audio Delta Audiophile 24/96.For Czech Republic both cards = same price...

More info............http://www.esi-pro.com/

wow. i should probably walk the 100 meters (!) to the next seller and purchase one brb

Hmm.. I think it is about a Christmas time already and M-Audio Revolution is still "Coming soon"...
I wanted to get myself a Christmas present and now still deciding whether this card is good enough. I'm concerned since on www.ixbt.com/www.digit-life.com in multimedia forums the person who reviewed Audigy 2 recommeds it over "Audiotrak Prodigy192". That card uses the same VIA chip... and should probably be very similar to M-Audio Revolution and Terratec Aureon Space 7.1.

What bothers me is that neither M-Audio nor Terratec has official Linux drivers on their download pages. Is anyone here uses one of these cards on Linux? Where did you get your drivers and how do they sound if compared to official Windows WDM drivers? What about quality of those WDM drivers?

One of the stores here sells Revolution for 99$, but I'm not sure if this is final version since it is still "coming soon" on the official website. This price is very attractive over 130$ that I have to pay to get Audigy 2 in Toronto, Canada.

Any good links to some reviews or forums where people reviewed/discussed these cards are very welcome...

Terratec Aureon 7.1 Space
M-Audio Revolution
Audiotrak Prodigy192

Is that all that is available?
Are these based on VIA Envy24HT or VIA Envy24PT?

Is there a major difference between the Aureon Space 7.1 and Sky 5.1? Besides the obvious difference in channel numbers... (which can be utilized in WinXP only)

Is the chip of the space superior?

How many cues do you need to accurately localise a sound?

6

1. Interaural time delay
2. Interaural intensity (or level) difference
3. spectral cues (HRTFs)
4. spectral cues (high frequency attenuation with distance)
5. direct to reverberant ratio
6. absolute level

Plus the correct change of most of these as you move your head.

Not all are applicable in all situations.

Stereo gives all correct for exactly two locations (the locations of the left and right speakers). Between the speakers, we can create a good illusion using a compromised version of 1 and/or 2. We never get 3 (unless using transaural processing). We can get 4. We can get 5, and it helps the illusion of depth. We can get 6.

Going beyond stereo (and I'm thinking more speakers in front, as well as behind) you improve the accuracy and directionality of 5; this improves the sense of depth in front, as well as behind. You can approach wavefront reconstruction, which matches the correct 1 and 2 over a wider area. Plus you get a sense of the recording venue, rather than having all the acoustics either
a) folded down into the front 60 degrees, thus confusing the whole experiences, or
B) excluded from the recording.

I doubt your living room sounds anything like a concert hall, stadium etc, so expecting it to recreate this experience from just two sound sources is a bit optimistic!

The other problem, even if your listening room matches the recording room, is that, in the recording room, the performers are spaced around the font. The two speakers do not re-create all the sound waves that would have been present in the original space, so the efelcted sound waves (i.e. reverberation) will be very different from what you would have been present in the original location.


I'm not a fan of 5.1 for music. The centre channel may help some recordings (but we can do without it!) - more FRONT channels would be very beneficial.


I wouldn't but a surround sound system to listen to stereo music. But there are ways of recording music for surround sound reproduction that are very exciting and involving and do a much better job of re-creating the original event than stereo.

2nd order Ambisonics, anyone?

Cheers,
David.
P.S. this is what I've heard and loved:
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/manu...ture/chesky.htm

enjoythemusic.com registered www.hydrogenaudio.com a little while ago...

No - they have the same chip.
Not 100% sure.
Here is list of soundcards based on Envy24HT chip.
Here is list of soundcards based on Envy24 chip.
Hmmm...

My question is - do Aureon 5.1 Sky and Aureon 7.1 Space support ASIO and GSIF? (if not, maybe I will go for DMX 6fire 24/96 LT instead)