philips new card or santa cruz

[shawn_16]

upgrading from a live value
doesn't the santa cruz offer both eax and a3d?

 

[Hanpan]

Just got my santa cruz and even in win2k i have ahd very little problems. One thing is in win2k it doesn't support digital audio calbes from cd-rom but otherwise i have been quite impressed. NO irq problem that so many people have with the sb cards.

 

[shawn_16]

i'll be running win98 now (win2k hates my NIC or my cable modem) so win2k isn't an issue w/me
anybody tried both? if so, which one did you like better?

 

[Maverick]

I'm looking at doing a sound upgrade too and I was looking at both cards. I'm sold on the Phillips now because of the Qsound technology. Qsound takes a stereo sound source and maps it to either 4.1 or 5.1 surround sound. Granted, this can't be expected to be Dolby Digital quality surround sound, but it sounds much more sophisticated than EAX. But if you're an EAX or A3D fan, this card supports both of those formats. I've also heard (both from 3D Sound Surge and CNET Gamecenter that the Phillips card has unsurpassed sound quality as far as mainstream sound cards go. And right now you can get it for around $79 plus shipping on pricewatch.

 

[ricochet72]

I reviewed the Philips card last week and loved it. Though I've never personally used the new Santa Cruz, their MIDI has historically been alot better than most. Considering how poor the MIDI is on the Philips card that may end up being a factor for you.

At the bottom of my review, read the response from the guy with the Santa Cruz (Scipio), you may find the info useful.

http://www.midnightcafe.com/cafe/Forum6/HTML/000009.html

 

[Venomous]

One thing Turtle Beach is known for is their LACK of driver updates. After the Daytona PCI, i wont touch a Turtle Beach again. Ive got a Philips comming, ordered it last week.

 

[shawn_16]

i'll probably go for the philips card