Omega Claro Plus -vs- Auzentech Prelude 7.1

[hypeMarked]

Hi all, after going through many reviews for my new PC sound card, I can't choose between the Omega Claro Plus and the Auzentech Prelude 7.1. The new PC (Vista x64) will be mainly use for gaming/movie/music.

I'm currently leaning towards the Omega Claro Plus for its being well rounded in all categories. The only problem that it doesn't have support for the later EAX. The Prelude is great as well but doesn't score as high on the movie and music side but has support for newer version of EAX.

Is there any short comings if I decided to go with the Omega Claro Plus? I have given up on Creative after many years and I doubt that there will be any BETTER version of EAX in the future. Thanks for all your inputs.

 

[PurdueRy]

What speakers are you using?

 

[hypeMarked]

I'll be using my DIY speakers. These are suppose to sound very very good according to AVSForums, and other DIY speakers sites.

 

[chizow]

I'd go with the Auzentech Prelude since it gets the nod in gaming. This all depends on Auzen's driver support though, and admittedly I don't know how well it supports X-Fi features like EAX via ALchemy or OpenAL with DD Live in Vista. Most of the other specs are similar enough that there shouldn't be much of a difference. Best case you get EAX in games, worst case you get nearly identical PCM stereo sound.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: chizow
I'd go with the Auzentech Prelude since it gets the nod in gaming. This all depends on Auzen's driver support though, and admittedly I don't know how well it supports X-Fi features like EAX via ALchemy or OpenAL with DD Live in Vista. Most of the other specs are similar enough that there shouldn't be much of a difference. Best case you get EAX in games, worst case you get nearly identical PCM stereo sound.

EAX has nothing to do with surround sound formats

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: chizow
I'd go with the Auzentech Prelude since it gets the nod in gaming. This all depends on Auzen's driver support though, and admittedly I don't know how well it supports X-Fi features like EAX via ALchemy or OpenAL with DD Live in Vista. Most of the other specs are similar enough that there shouldn't be much of a difference. Best case you get EAX in games, worst case you get nearly identical PCM stereo sound.

EAX has nothing to do with surround sound formats

And where did I say it did? It certainly has an impact on what comes out of different surround sound formats though.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: chizow
I'd go with the Auzentech Prelude since it gets the nod in gaming. This all depends on Auzen's driver support though, and admittedly I don't know how well it supports X-Fi features like EAX via ALchemy or OpenAL with DD Live in Vista. Most of the other specs are similar enough that there shouldn't be much of a difference. Best case you get EAX in games, worst case you get nearly identical PCM stereo sound.

EAX has nothing to do with surround sound formats

And where did I say it did? It certainly has an impact on what comes out of different surround sound formats though.

Because you said that worst case you get identical PCM stereo sound. Just because EAX doesn't work does not mean that surround sound in games won't work.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: chizow
I'd go with the Auzentech Prelude since it gets the nod in gaming. This all depends on Auzen's driver support though, and admittedly I don't know how well it supports X-Fi features like EAX via ALchemy or OpenAL with DD Live in Vista. Most of the other specs are similar enough that there shouldn't be much of a difference. Best case you get EAX in games, worst case you get nearly identical PCM stereo sound.

EAX has nothing to do with surround sound formats

And where did I say it did? It certainly has an impact on what comes out of different surround sound formats though.

Because you said that worst case you get identical PCM stereo sound. Just because EAX doesn't work does not mean that surround sound in games won't work.

Uh, it does in Vista. Default audio stream is PCM stereo in Vista, just because its output to 5.1+ channels doesn't mean its not stereo. Unlike EAX, where the DSP creates discrete audio for each channel and outputs to analog.

 

[hypeMarked]

My worries about the Auzentech Prelude's driver. Sure everything works great when the drivers are happy with each other, but Auzentech's driver is based off of Creative. And Creative isn't known for their sound card driver. So now, we are back at the beginning and I am not leaning toward anything .

One side has driver issue but more balanced (Auzentech), and the other has superb music/movie but not game but good driver support. Any other opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: chizow
I'd go with the Auzentech Prelude since it gets the nod in gaming. This all depends on Auzen's driver support though, and admittedly I don't know how well it supports X-Fi features like EAX via ALchemy or OpenAL with DD Live in Vista. Most of the other specs are similar enough that there shouldn't be much of a difference. Best case you get EAX in games, worst case you get nearly identical PCM stereo sound.

EAX has nothing to do with surround sound formats

And where did I say it did? It certainly has an impact on what comes out of different surround sound formats though.

Because you said that worst case you get identical PCM stereo sound. Just because EAX doesn't work does not mean that surround sound in games won't work.

Uh, it does in Vista. Default audio stream is PCM stereo in Vista, just because its output to 5.1+ channels doesn't mean its not stereo. Unlike EAX, where the DSP creates discrete audio for each channel and outputs to analog.

Vista breaks EAX and D3D which is why they have come out with Alchemy. It does not break surround sound. PCM is a digital format anyway BTW not analog...However, This is an issue with games using D3D and/or EAX due to a choice by microsoft. Vista is a mess with surround sound for games however.

Anyway, all I was trying to say was that EAX is a system which adds effects to surround sound. It is not in itself a surround sound format.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: chizow
I'd go with the Auzentech Prelude since it gets the nod in gaming. This all depends on Auzen's driver support though, and admittedly I don't know how well it supports X-Fi features like EAX via ALchemy or OpenAL with DD Live in Vista. Most of the other specs are similar enough that there shouldn't be much of a difference. Best case you get EAX in games, worst case you get nearly identical PCM stereo sound.

EAX has nothing to do with surround sound formats

And where did I say it did? It certainly has an impact on what comes out of different surround sound formats though.

Because you said that worst case you get identical PCM stereo sound. Just because EAX doesn't work does not mean that surround sound in games won't work.

Uh, it does in Vista. Default audio stream is PCM stereo in Vista, just because its output to 5.1+ channels doesn't mean its not stereo. Unlike EAX, where the DSP creates discrete audio for each channel and outputs to analog.

Vista breaks EAX and D3D which is why they have come out with Alchemy. It does not break surround sound. PCM is a digital format anyway BTW not analog...However, This is an issue with games using D3D and/or EAX due to a choice by microsoft. Vista is a mess with surround sound for games however.

Anyway, all I was trying to say was that EAX is a system which adds effects to surround sound. It is not in itself a surround sound format.

Uh ya, whatever. I never claimed any of that crap to begin with. Like I said, bottom-line with the Auzentech is that best case you get EAX in games, worst case you get the same PCM stereo as the Omega Clara Plus. It doesn't matter how you output it, the end result is very different. PCM stereo through 5.1+ is essentially Pro Logic, EAX is discrete positional sound through all 5.1+ channels. There is a difference.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: hypeMarked
My worries about the Auzentech Prelude's driver. Sure everything works great when the drivers are happy with each other, but Auzentech's driver is based off of Creative. And Creative isn't known for their sound card driver. So now, we are back at the beginning and I am not leaning toward anything .

One side has driver issue but more balanced (Auzentech), and the other has superb music/movie but not game but good driver support. Any other opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

That's certainly a valid concern, but Creative did fix their Vista 64 driver with 4GB+ in November and it looks like the latest Auzen drivers enabled DDLive. As for movies, you can simply use SPDIF passthrough to a DD/DTS receiver/speaker system and not lose anything. Music playback, like non-EAX/OpenAL games should be fine as well since its just basically Pro Logic "surround sound" with a stereo source output over multiple channels. I highly doubt the Omega supports even EAX in Vista unless they specifically have a program like ALchemy that subverts Vista's sound driver. It might still offer positional effects in OpenAL games though. So again, you basically lose nothing in music/movies but there's potentially a huge difference in games.

 

[hypeMarked]

Ah, you bought up a very valid point. I don't know why I completely forgot about it but I will have either the Onkyo 605 or the Yamaha v661 in my system soon, so movie and music is pretty much settled. Thanks, I've decided to get the Auzentech and cross my fingers to hope creative don't screw us over.