Philips Seismic Edge Sound Card . . . . . . . . or if their Driver Support is "poor" - what's a good BUDGET alternative?

[apoppin]

I got one for $40 about 2 weeks ago to replace my failed SBlive! It seems to be fine for gaming and ok for mp3s.

However, I see very little in the way of Philips driver updates . . . and precious little discussion on the forums re: Philips sound.

Is it a "good" card? Any user experiences here?

(I am asking since I have a couple of weeks left to "evaluate" the card before either deciding to keep it or return it for something "better".)


EDIT: Oops, I did a "failed" search . . . there IS some info in the archives (but it's pretty old - what about them drivers?)
EDITED again: If Philip's Driver Support is "poor" - what's a good BUDGET alternative sound card?

 

[Sniper82]

$40 is high IMO. Take it back and buy a Santa Cruz or even a Acoustic Edge off the forums for the same price.

 

[Brian48]

The new Seismic Edge PSC705 is essentially the same card as the higher end Acoustic Edge, only minus all the I/O bells and whistles (same Thunderbird Avenger DSP). Most discussions regarding the AE can be applied to the Seismic Edge. True, Philips driver support (and support in general) of late has really been bad. I'm not sure whether or not they've completely dropped further driver development altogether like Voyetra has with their Santa Cruz.

Anyway, 3dsoundsurge.com has a really sound card forum dedicated to the Philips cards. You can generally find good user support there.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: ^Sniper^
$40 is high IMO.

Not for a 30-day "evaluation".



I am especially "concerned" about Philips' commitment to their soundcard line and their driver support.

From what I have read, the Philips cards are "nice" but use a lot of the CPU in gaming.

Anyway, 3dsoundsurge.com has a really sound card forum dedicated to the Philips cards. You can generally find good user support there.

Thanks, I will check it out.

I AM worried about their driver support . . . perhaps I will simply return the card . . .

 

[codehack2]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: ^Sniper^
$40 is high IMO.

Not for a 30-day "evaluation".



I am especially "concerned" about Philips' commitment to their soundcard line and their driver support.

From what I have read, the Philips cards are "nice" but use a lot of the CPU in gaming.

Anyway, 3dsoundsurge.com has a really sound card forum dedicated to the Philips cards. You can generally find good user support there.

Thanks, I will check it out.

I AM worried about their driver support . . . perhaps I will simply return the card . . .

Yep.. the future of this card is pretty uncertian... and philips has been pretty mum on the topic. I sold mine off and picked up a Hercules Fort. 7.1 and couldn't be happier.

CH2

 

[apoppin]

So what is the consensus of the forum on the best BUDGET sound card?

I know at least half will recomment the Audigy2 (and some just HATE Creative) . . .

Turtle Beach gets a nod but may have the same lack of driver support as Philips . . . (not that Creative has consistent "driver support")

Hercules support; value?

I only have the older Klipsch 4.1 ProMedias . . . so no 5.1 or above needed . . . Primarily for GAMING (and MP3s).

 

[kalster]

i bought the seismic edge for 25 shipped from ebay
its a good card but my only problem with it is absolutely no linux support (not even basic 2 speaker mode,i hope they come up with a linux driver soon)

 

[Bovinicus]

I have been very pleased with my Philips Acoustic Edge. It does a wonderful job at playing back music, and the positional audio works great on my 4.1 setup. It is true, the driver releases have been sparse, but I haven't had any problems either, so I can't complain.

 

[erikiksaz]

I like my Fortissimo 2. It has both digital in AND out. Should be able to buy it on ebay for well under 30.

 

[clicknext]

I'm lovin my Game Theater XP. Excellent card. For EAX gaming performance it's not as good as some others like Audigy.

 

[whitelight]

i have an acoustic edge and it simply rocks for mp3s because it transforms the stereo stream into 4.1 which i like. it is true they don't have many driver releases, but i think that's because their cards haven't been having problems. i'm running my AE on winxp and never had a problem with it.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Fortissimo 2.

I bought mine new for $35 Canadian. Which is a littke over $20 bucks American.

No driver problems whatsoever.

 

[Dug]

If there's no problems with the drivers, why update them?

I've got an acoustic edge in my other system and it runs great.

I've tried various sound cards and in all reality there's not that much difference.

 

[Actaeon]

I know you mentioned the TBSC and driver support, but I still suggest a TBSC, I have the card, and I love it, no problems with it at all. I picked one up for $42 used off the FS/T Forum.

I think you'll be pleased.

 

[apoppin]

Thank-you for your replies.

There is almost too much to consider . . . but as someone pointed out . . . soundcards sound pretty much the same . . . unless you have special needs.

I do like the Seismic edge for gaming . . . and even though the drivers are not updated often, I remember the SBlive went over 18 months without an update and I was "reasonably satisfied" with it and wouldn't (probably) have upgraded if it was still working ok . . .

. . . now I just gotta find a "hot deal" since 40 bucks is evidently too much . . . .

 

[holdencommodore]

The Philips cards are very good for multi-channel audio, but driver support is a concern. That's not saying that everyone will have problems, though. I love the Philips cards.

The 3D sound surge forums do have good support (I'm a long time member there), but even Mark (in charge of 3DSS) is concerned about the lack of driver development. CPU usage for the ThunderBird Avenger DSP is around 3-4 % from my tests in Ziff Davis AudioWinBech 99, and in reality, the overhead will not be noticable with a modern system.

Philips are currently concentrating their efforts into their new budget range of cards, the Sonic Edge PSC605 and Dynamic Edge PSC604.


Probably the best "bang-for-buck" card at the moment is the Hercules Fortissimo II or Fortissimo III. Simply outstanding value for the price.


Cheers

 

[apoppin]

I "discovered" the 3DSoundSurge Forums today from an earlier post and recognized Holden there - very helpful posts . . . their forums are very nice for soundcard info and our AT GH is often recommended there.

I read several (well, most) of the threads on the Seismic Edge. The only thing I missed was a link to a Seismic Edge review (although I got the summary from the thread).

I had both the Seismic Edge working in Win2K and 98SE. I had a really weird problem develop with Win2K where Unreal II wouldn't initialize and since I hated its load times am back on 98SE at least till the game is finished . . . . but the sound card always worked with none of the problems described in the threads (even using WMF dist codecs for my ATI MMC and 98SE and Philips!!!).

So I guess I am having good luck with the card . . . but I'll look into the Herc Fort 2 or 3 . . . thanks, again.

 

[holdencommodore]

Yeah, I'm sure you'll find the 3DSS forums quite helpful for arriving at a choice

Just to note, as mentioned in Brian48's post, any Acoustic Edge reviews or forum discussions will also apply for the Seismic Edge - including 3DSS's in depth review here.


Cheers

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: holdencommodore
Yeah, I'm sure you'll find the 3DSS forums quite helpful for arriving at a choice

Just to note, as mentioned in Brian48's post, any Acoustic Edge reviews or forum discussions will also apply for the Seismic Edge - including 3DSS's in depth review here.


Cheers

Thank-you. I read that review. Its very thorough (although I am a little cross-eyed now and possibly confused. . .).

. . . Am I correct that the main differences between the top-of-the-line Acoustic and the (gamer's) Seismic Edge is digital SPDIF inputs and basically 5.1 vs. 4.1 setups (mines Klipsch v.200 PM, fine for a Seismic card)? The Seismic edge is supposed to excel in 3D positioning in games (although short of Creative's EAX).

How is the Fortissimo II or III better (and still really "budget")?

 

[holdencommodore]

The only difference between the Acoustic Edge and the Seismic Edge PSC705 is the lack of SPDIF Input, no Digital Input for CD-ROM drives, and the SPDIF output is combined into the Centre/LFE minijack, not a coax out like the Acoustic Edge. Both cards are 5.1 channel.

You may be able to find a PSC703 Rythmic Edge card around, this card has been discontinued (to make way for the budget PSC604 and 605). The PSC703 uses the same DSP as both the Acoustic Edge and Seismic Edge, except it's a 4.1 channel card (but has coax SPDIF out). It should be cheaper too. The Philips Edge cards are really good at multi-channel audio, due to QSounds QMSS, and converts sound source into multi-channels. This means that you can get 4.1 or 5.1 sound from any DS or DS3D game, any application (except DOS) and from a TV Tuner or radio connected to the card.

Unfortunalely, both QSound and Sensaura's implimentations of EAX don't quite have the same quality as Creatives, and they miss out on the EAX HD found on the Audigy cards.

The Fortissimo II or Fortissimo III use a Crystal DSP, which is of a similar family generation as the CS 4630 used in the Santa Cruz. Sound quality is very good, and better then the prices would suggest. The card produces a slightly warmer signal then the Santa Cruz, which some people prefer, others don't. Drivers are quite good, and are updated on a reasonable basis. It's also one of the few budget cards on the market with optical SPDIF. Quite a solid choice.


Cheers

 

[apoppin]

Thank-you all for your help.

 

[darkjester]

Is $40 for the PCS705 really high, even retail? I can't seem to find it for less than $50. Where did you find it for $40? More importantly, where can I find it for less?

Thanks!

 

[sak]

hey look into 3dsound.com and then click on drivers and there u should be able to find the latest driver for this card. although they have not come out with any upadtes in a long time. but i dont know why u complaining but my AE works great with the latest dirvers.. my only complain is their Linux support...which is NONE.

other than that its a great card

 

[holdencommodore]

hey look into 3dsound.com and then click on drivers and there u should be able to find the latest driver for this card. although they have not come out with any upadtes in a long time. but i dont know why u complaining but my AE works great with the latest dirvers.. my only complain is their Linux support...which is NONE.

The Support pages on 3D Sound Surge contain the 1.89 WDM drivers which are exactly the same as the drivers located on Philips PC Sound web site, www.pcsound.philips.com.

There are issues with the ThunderBird Avenger based cards, mainly in later games such as BF1942 etc.... with the WDM drivers, naturally, if you don't have games like that then there is little to worry about. For details on more issues experienced with the Philips Edge series, visit the 3DSS forums here.


Cheers

 

[m1ke101]

bought my acoustic edge a while ago for $20 to replace an audigy and I like it better than the audigy. Great card.