Hi guys, I'm considering replacing my soundblaster 5.1 live, with something more recent. I'm mostly concerned with audio playback for movies/songs, but I am an occasional gamer (not heavy) and even though natural choice for quality/game features will be creative, I don't need 5.1 or 7.1 surround (I have 2.1 klipsh speakers) so I'm looking at Audiophile 2496 as alternative.
My concern is that without those fancy Creative proprietary techs, fps will drop, like on AC97. In Tomb Raider: Legends for example I get upto 13fps drop between SB and AC97. As much as I value good quality, I can't compromise gaming completely.

Audiophile is cheaper than X-Fi, so if someone here has that card and can comment on game performance (a nice review somewhere on the web would be nice, I can't find any), I'd greatly appreciate it.

/EDIT: I just realised that Audiophile doesn't have linear out minijack, which is what Klipsh uses. Any recommendation aside from going Rev (in which case I'll just get X-Fi).

Thank you!

I can't comment on games as I do none but the difference in output jacks is a very minor thing. Adapters between 1/8 inch phone plugs (your current) and RCA (the Audiophile's output jacks) are very common. You just need a cable with the RCA plugs into the soundcards on one end and the 1/8 inch jack for your speaker input on the other.

I use my 2496 to play games. No problems. It is 2 channel though, not 5.1. A lot of developers are moving the audio processing back to the CPU anyway, so performance won't be much of an issue.

If you use the digital output and feed it into a AV receiver, then it can be 5.1. I know because I use it when I whatch movies.

Only the analogue stereo only.

Triza

OK so far the major drawback is lack of analog 5.1, right? as I said I own 2.1 klipsch speakers, so I don't care for 5.1 so much. The way it works now is that I set speakers to 2.1 in windows settings, the speakers connect to soundcard using 1 minijack, and the receiver (in one of the speakers) separates what goes to which speaker and what goes to subwoofer.

My last worry then is that I might loose subwoofer channel if I use RCA to Minijack Y splitter, as AndyH-ha suggested. I don't know how those things do thier magic.

Other than that I'm all set then.

The most common 'subwoofer" arraignment for computer speakers is crossover components, either active or passive, in the subwoofer module. This works exactly the same way as in a two or three way speaker system, except that all the speakers in this case are not in the same box: the different frequencies are directed amongst the different drivers by the crosswork network. Therefore nothing special or different happens until the signal is in the speaker boxes. The soundcard does not need to do anything in particular about the speakers.

I always thought the Audiophile 24/96 was geared towards hi-end and music production (MIDI controllers, sequencers, etc). I have a Revo 5.1 and I must say I have been impressed with it so far, again good hi-end stuff. It supports a lot of different features and M-Audio is starting to support the OpenAL libraries used in PC games now, as common place next to EAX. Their niche is focused on the Audiophile and Music Production market. There really is no need to have an APU. If you weigh in the cost benefit anaylsis it's not necessary in most circumstances, although it wasn't a bad idea to begin with.



I would say either Audiophile or the Revo. It depends on what you are going to be doing more of. If you watch a lot of DVD films and play video games, Revo is the way to go. It has a layout for 2.1 klipsche setup. It is worth mentioning. You might want to look into Audiotrak too.