Gaming without EAX 5.0 support?

[asdftt123]

I'm trying to make a decision as to which soundcard I should purchase for a new system build, and I'm learning towards the HT Omega Claro Plus+ for its superior quality and clarity of music and video. I plan to do a fair share of gaming as well, and I know that this card does not support EAX 5.0 (only up to 2.0) thanks to licensing issues with Creative. I absolutely refused to step down to Creative's level as I'll be using Vista and I value customer support. Furthermore, I've also heard that music sometimes sounds over over-processed on their cards.

Anyways, without EAX 5.0 support for newer games, can I still expect about the same level of immersion and performance (frame rate dips are a big issue) while gaming? For me, music and video sound quality are FAR more important than sound quality in games, but is EAX important to have?

I've also read somewhere that AuzenTech is releasing their X-Fi Prelude for $199, which will support EAX 5.0. Does anyone know about the other features of this card and if it will run off of Creative's Vista drivers? Also, will it deliver excellent home theater preformance similar to the Claro?

Thanks in advance. =)

 

[0roo0roo]

doesn't dx10 break eax?
many games don't bother these days anyways

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
doesn't dx10 break eax?

It breaks older EAX games that depend on DirectSound (although EAX is still available for these titles using Creative Labs' Alchemy wrapper that translates DirectSound calls into OpenAL on the fly).

OpenAL EAX hardware acceleration works fine in Vista (used in a number of newer titles).

 

[Ghouler]

Originally posted by: asdftt123
Anyways, without EAX 5.0 support for newer games, can I still expect about the same level of immersion and performance (frame rate dips are a big issue) while gaming? For me, music and video sound quality are FAR more important than sound quality in games, but is EAX important to have?

I think you might be confused about EAX.
EAX 5 makes polyphony of 128 simultaneous voices, environmental occlusion and macro effects possible
EAX 4 - gives 64 voices
EAX 2 - 32 voices, basic reverbs

Anything ABOVE basic EAX 2.0 is called EAX HD and it is ESSENTIAL if you want to hear all the audio the way it was programmed. Take Bioshock - it supports EAX 4 or 5, not sure, but certainly it is EAX HD
- something you won't get with Omega card.

Originally posted by: asdftt123
Furthermore, I've also heard that music sometimes sounds over over-processed on their cards.

I have been using X-Fi card since 2005 and can tell you this can be true only if you want to make it sound like that - on purpose. You can control sound envelope whatever you like with Crystallizer, CMSS-3D etc. But if, by nature, you like to turn all knobs to maximum and still expect delicate sound then RTM (and NEVER attempt cooking)

I know - you did not use X-Fi but whoever told you that had no clue or was BSing on purpose.

On more thing: You should be really looking for full Open AL support.

 

[AllGamer]

This all sounds cool to me, i can't imagine playing any games without EAX, they will sound just plain and 2D

just make sure to have the latest drivers, and the Open AL support

all available to download for free from the creative drivers download page now.

 

[d3n]

Thanks for all the post on this. I just picked up a X-fi Gamer from ZipZoom on a deal. I did very little research but I have known that EAX was dying off and vista killed direct sound for the on board sound solution I had with the NF7-s
Thus the reason I jumped on the X-fi no questions asked.

The Open AL is Completely new to me. Its a shame that MS's only motivation to kill direct sound was to include DRM in vista. Its promising that openAL is at least... well, it sounds like its open.

 

[tjaisv]

Originally posted by: asdftt123
I'm trying to make a decision as to which soundcard I should purchase for a new system build, and I'm learning towards the HT Omega Claro Plus+ for its superior quality and clarity of music and video. I plan to do a fair share of gaming as well, and I know that this card does not support EAX 5.0 (only up to 2.0) thanks to licensing issues with Creative. I absolutely refused to step down to Creative's level as I'll be using Vista and I value customer support. Furthermore, I've also heard that music sometimes sounds over over-processed on their cards.

Anyways, without EAX 5.0 support for newer games, can I still expect about the same level of immersion and performance (frame rate dips are a big issue) while gaming? For me, music and video sound quality are FAR more important than sound quality in games, but is EAX important to have?

I've also read somewhere that AuzenTech is releasing their X-Fi Prelude for $199, which will support EAX 5.0. Does anyone know about the other features of this card and if it will run off of Creative's Vista drivers? Also, will it deliver excellent home theater preformance similar to the Claro?

Thanks in advance. =)

I'm on the fence too as to which card i should get. For me the priority is music and movie audio quality, gaming is secondary. So the logical choice here should be the HT Omega Claro Plus+, since it bests the X-Fi XtremeGamer cards in these regards. But now with the introduction of the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude i'm wondering if the performance gap here has been equalized so that one can now get the best of both worlds (ie gaming and music/dvd).

Also i'm concerned about the Creative drivers that the Auzentech uses, as we all know Creative is notorious for horrible driver support and buggy products. Hopefully Auzentech can quell those fears with this new Prelude, especially for those using Vista; Creative's X-Fi XtremeGamer has definitely garnered most of its negative user reviews from people using Vista.