Auzentech X-Plosion Real-time DTS & DDL encoding soundcard $99.99 AR ($30 rebate)

[sumrtym]

Zipzoomfly has this card with a $30 mail-in-rebate through the 28t ($99.99 AR, free shipping)

Link to X-Plosion

This card does hardware ASSISTED encoding of audio to either DTS or Dolby Digital in real-time. Be aware that testing shows a 5-6% CPU hit when encoding to DTS. Outputs are standard coax S/PDIF or optical (includes optical cord). There are no front connection headers on the card. Opamps are UPGRADABLE (socketed) but only impact ANALOG outputs if you choose to use analog.

Works to get surround sound in games for those without analog connections on rear speakers, or want to run only one cable. Also, does a nice job on encoding music 2.1 to surround.

Best price I've seen on this card on the web.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: sumrtym
Zipzoomfly has this card with a $30 mail-in-rebate through the 28t ($99.99 AR, free shipping)

Link to X-Plosion

This card does hardware ASSISTED encoding of audio to either DTS or Dolby Digital in real-time. Be aware that testing shows a 5-6% CPU hit when encoding to DTS. Outputs are standard coax S/PDIF or optical (includes optical cord). There are no front connection headers on the card. Opamps are UPGRADABLE (socketed) but only impact ANALOG outputs if you choose to use analog.

Works to get surround sound in games for those without analog connections on rear speakers, or want to run only one cable. Also, does a nice job on encoding music 2.1 to surround.

Best price I've seen on this card on the web.

My Turtle Beach Montego does DD. Nice playing CS with surround sound. Cost me 30 after rebate at frys.

 

[sumrtym]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
[My Turtle Beach Montego does DD. Nice playing CS with surround sound. Cost me 30 after rebate at frys.

However, this is only card currently that does DTS, not just Dolby Digital.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: sumrtym

Originally posted by: Kelvrick
[My Turtle Beach Montego does DD. Nice playing CS with surround sound. Cost me 30 after rebate at frys.

However, this is only card currently that does DTS, not just Dolby Digital.

Yea, thats true. Just giving another alternative. I think regular price is like 70 on the montego. Oh well, dunno why I chimed in, but I gave you a bump! 😀

 

[mikeford]

AVSforum had some threads on these, as I remember there are still driver issues with some games.

When are some other DTS encoding cards coming out?

DD is 2.1? or 5.1? DTS is 7.1?

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: mikeford
AVSforum had some threads on these, as I remember there are still driver issues with some games.

When are some other DTS encoding cards coming out?

DD is 2.1? or 5.1? DTS is 7.1?

DDL encodes to 5.1DD I believe. The DTS uses the Neo:6 matrices, so it would depend on how many speakers its being told to plan for (so if you only have a 5.1 speaker setup its going to do those instead of figuring for the extra 2).

Man if Creative would just put one of these chips on their cards we'd be set (well not really). Too bad that'll probably never happen.

 

[tayhimself]

DTS has higher bitrates than DD so the encoding should sound clearer esp for music.

 

[sumrtym]

Originally posted by: mikeford
AVSforum had some threads on these, as I remember there are still driver issues with some games.

When are some other DTS encoding cards coming out?

DD is 2.1? or 5.1? DTS is 7.1?

1. New drivers due this month.

2. Auzentech to release an Oxygen card based on the newer 8788 C-media chip. This one is aimed at higher end, and will cost more. It has a higher bit output than this chip even (current card is a special 8780 developed just for Auzentech and this card). There is also a lower end card due out from Auzentech soon.

3. DD is 5.1, DTS is 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 selectable. DTS has higher bandwidth, thus less compression thus less distortion.

An important thing to note is that this card keeps things entirely digital. The upgradable opamps on the card are only used for ANALOG outputs. Thus, all the conversion to a DTS / DDL stream is done entirely digitally, thus less distortion / loss from encoding. This is also why there is not a perceptible lag in encoding unlike the Creative 610 DDL encoder. There's goes through an analog to digital conversion first and can have as much as 20 ms lag....which doesn't SOUND like much, but is enough for synch problems.

 

[MIDIman]

A little confused how this differs from nvidia's Soundstorm? I suppose it was dolby digital only?

Even so, I can pop a DTS movie into my computer and via the spdif out -> in on my receiver it shows up as DTS.

 

[sumrtym]

Originally posted by: MIDIman
A little confused how this differs from nvidia's Soundstorm? I suppose it was dolby digital only?

Even so, I can pop a DTS movie into my computer and via the spdif out -> in on my receiver it shows up as DTS.

Nvidia' soundstorm (no longer being made) did DDL only.

And this takes ANY source and turns it into a DTS or DDL output. DVD movies are passed through untouched.

 

[$pade]

Will this card take any multi-channel source and convert it into DTS or DDL and preserve the number of channels? Say I play a game with 4 channels (2 front and 2 rear). and connect this card via digtial input to my receiver with a 5.1 speaker setup. If things are done correctly then the 2 original front channels will be played back by my 2 front and center channel and of course 2 original real channels wil be played back by my rear speaker. I assume that either the sound card or the receiver will be able to divert low frequency sounds to the subwoofer. If this is how it works then I just found the card I have been looking for.
I'm hoping it doesnt convert any multi-channel source into a 2 chanel DTS/DDL Signal and then just applies some surround sound processing to play back some background sound in the rear speakers.

 

[Odeen]

Originally posted by: $pade
Will this card take any multi-channel source and convert it into DTS or DDL and preserve the number of channels? Say I play a game with 4 channels (2 front and 2 rear). and connect this card via digtial input to my receiver with a 5.1 speaker setup. If things are done correctly then the 2 original front channels will be played back by my 2 front and center channel and of course 2 original real channels wil be played back by my rear speaker. I assume that either the sound card or the receiver will be able to divert low frequency sounds to the subwoofer. If this is how it works then I just found the card I have been looking for.
I'm hoping it doesnt convert any multi-channel source into a 2 chanel DTS/DDL Signal and then just applies some surround sound processing to play back some background sound in the rear speakers.

There's no such thing as a multi-channel source besides the multichannel out on a DVD player, or multichannel analog out on a regular sound card.

When there is multichannel interactive content (most typically created by a video game) the sound card can encode that multichannel content into a DD or DTS sound stream.

DTS has a higher raw bitrate (up to about 1400KBPS, same as uncompressed 16-bit stereo) while DD is only half that. However, DD has more advanced compression techiques defined, including encoding that depends on the ear's and the brain's perception of sound. These perceptual encoding techniqus are what DD is based on.

Technically, the best encoded DD may be superior to DTS, because it's a lot smarter abut using the more limited bandwidth. However, the best DD encoding probably can't be done in real-time, and requires multi-pass sound analysis. I doubt that any realtime DD or DTS encoder, especially a consumer level one, doesn't benefit from the added bandwidth that DTS provides.

Also, stereo sources, such as music, do not require this multichannel encoding. The full uncompressed stereo stream can be sent over the digital connection (whereas the bandwidth required for, essentially three or four of such streams exceeds SPDIF's specifications)

Lastly, the separation of the low end from the speakers into the subwoofer is a function of your receiver. It's called "bass management." If your satellites can't handle frequencies below 60hz and the woofers are less than 6.5" in diameter, your receiver should be set to "small speakers" mode, with the crossover around 80-100hz. For very small speakers, the crossover should be 120hz.

 

[sumrtym]

1. The equivalent analog outputs will be encoded to a digital stream that goes to the equivalent speakers. Thus, it isn't just a "simiulated" surround if your source wasn't simulated to begin with.

2. Arguing the "best encoded DD" may be superior to DTS is like saying the best encoded mp3 is superior to uncompressed audio because it has smarter use of bandwidth. DTS relies less on tricking the brain to hear full frequencies, and thus, by many, is discerned to be a "fuller, richer" sound. Others can't hear the difference.

3. If you choose to use it, stereo music can be output in 5.1-7.1 surround via their algorithm. General consenses is the "theatre" setting sounds the best if you choose to use this feature. This feature can be turned off in the control panel.

 

[mikeford]

Do I have this right;

CD gives 44.1k 16bit stereo uncompressed via s/pdif, around 3 Mbs I think (each channel is 16 bits sound, but uses I think a padded 32 bits).

DDL is ? 4.1 and uses MP3 style compression (what bitrate? 700k?).

DTS is 5.1 -7.1 (stereo surround instead of mono, then adds 2 more side speakers), higher bit rate 1400KBps, but uses an older compression?

Hearing the difference is a can of worms, my only comment is that compression algorithms are still improving, so getting locked into anything can't be all good. Almost certainly new stuff is going to be showing up related to streaming media that leaves current stuff in the dust.

That said, most "music" is going to be passed through, the quality issues we are talking about are game sounds, beep beep etc.

 

[sumrtym]

Integrated S/PDIF input/output supports 44.1kHz/48kHz/96kHz sample rate and 16/24bits resolution .

DTS is 1536kbps as maximum bitrate, typical is 768kbps on DVD movies. . Dolby Digital is typically 384-448 kilobits per second (usually the lower number on DVD movies). Dolby Digital is more efficient in compression, but DTS benefits from added bandwidth. Test to see which you think is better.

Music is only passed through if you want it to be; otherwise, Neo😛C will upmix the 2 channel audio to 5.1-7.1 surround sound. Obviously, this is a SIMULATED surround.

Gaming benefits from true surround over one cable vs running multiple analog cables.

Obviously, you need a DTS / DDL decoder on your speaker set or connect it to a receiver that does this.

The Oxygen card based on the 8788 vs the 8770 used on this card supports up to 192k/24-bit output. This card is not yet available.

 

[Pocatello]

If they fix the drivers issues for this card, I would get one again, great for movies.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: MIDIman
A little confused how this differs from nvidia's Soundstorm? I suppose it was dolby digital only?

Even so, I can pop a DTS movie into my computer and via the spdif out -> in on my receiver it shows up as DTS.

Yes, you can pop a DTS movie and have it pass-thru to your reciever, but that will only work on your DTS movie. What this card does is give you a DTS stream from ANY audio that is output from the computer. This means the mp3 that you are playing, or the wmv file, or quicktime, or wma, or VIDEO GAME. Note how video game is in all caps, that is because the surround sound output from ANY video game can now be sent to your reciever as a surround sound DTS stream to your reciever. That sure as hell beats the stereo spdif connection that a Creative card will give you...

Oh, please note my sig as well, I own one of these. I have also owned the X-Mystique, which was a version that only supported DD Live encoding.

 

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: Fallen Kell

Originally posted by: MIDIman
A little confused how this differs from nvidia's Soundstorm? I suppose it was dolby digital only?

Even so, I can pop a DTS movie into my computer and via the spdif out -> in on my receiver it shows up as DTS.

Yes, you can pop a DTS movie and have it pass-thru to your reciever, but that will only work on your DTS movie. What this card does is give you a DTS stream from ANY audio that is output from the computer. This means the mp3 that you are playing, or the wmv file, or quicktime, or wma, or VIDEO GAME. Note how video game is in all caps, that is because the surround sound output from ANY video game can now be sent to your reciever as a surround sound DTS stream to your reciever. That sure as hell beats the stereo spdif connection that a Creative card will give you...

Oh, please note my sig as well, I own one of these. I have also owned the X-Mystique, which was a version that only supported DD Live encoding.

Ugh, how I hate hooking up the 5.1 analog signal from my creative card to my reciever, what a pain in the a$$... mono splitter and all... yuck. I am thinking of snapping this up in a bit when it seems that things have matured. Thanks, OP 🙂

Nat