why is it that creative can't implement its audio chips into motherboards? i know they used with like 5 years ago. why not a motherboard with integrated x-fi or something newer? it'd be nice if we can do that and also use our front panel headphone/mic jacks
Modelworks
Lifer
- Feb 22, 2007
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Developers are looking at software sound and all the flexibility it gives them.
The cpu is more than fast enough now to do the effects and they aren't limited to one sound library, like eax. All they need is a dac to ouput the sound and intel hd gives them a direct line to those dacs that nothing else can tie up.
I think I read the limit on Intel HD is 96 streams.
I can't think of any game that uses more than 96 sounds at once.
didn't really look into any Intel onboard sound chipsets, all i know is that mb vendors r still using realtek chipsets and no intel audio chipsets
Intel High Definition Audio, aka "Azalia" is the audio codec specification. Realtek and others make their chips based on that specification. Intel does not manufacture their own audio chips.
To disable speakers when headphones are plugged in, open Realtek HD Audio Manager, Speakers tab, click device advanced settings and select "mute the rear output device, when a front headphone plugged in". That's it. As for the static you're encountering, it isn't normal. I haven't heard any static at all even at high CPU loads.
The biggest advantage of the old Audigy 2 series over the current HD Audio chips is hardware acceleration of EAX, DirectSound3D and OpenAL. But if hardware acceleration in games is what is important, why would you still use Audigy 2 instead of getting cheap X-Fi Xtreme Audio for $50 if not less?
No way HD Audio chip can beat SB X-Fi , Auzentech X-Plosion, Razer Barracuda AC-1 or Asus Xonar. But has it caught up with almost 6 years old Audigy 2? Definitely yes.
To disable speakers when headphones are plugged in, open Realtek HD Audio Manager, Speakers tab, click device advanced settings and select "mute the rear output device, when a front headphone plugged in". That's it. As for the static you're encountering, it isn't normal. I haven't heard any static at all even at high CPU loads.
Please remember that Audigy 2 was originally released in September 2002. It is old. The Audigy 2 chip itself shouldn't cost more than maybe $5 at most now when mass produced.
The biggest advantage of the old Audigy 2 series over the current HD Audio chips is hardware acceleration of EAX, DirectSound3D and OpenAL. But if hardware acceleration in games is what is important, why would you still use Audigy 2 instead of getting cheap X-Fi Xtreme Audio for $50 if not less?
No way HD Audio chip can beat SB X-Fi , Auzentech X-Plosion, Razer Barracuda AC-1 or Asus Xonar. But has it caught up with almost 6 years old Audigy 2? Definitely yes.
Modelworks
Lifer
- Feb 22, 2007
- 16,240
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Intel HD is more than a specification.
The intel chipsets now have hardware designed to support sound.
The chips like the realtek ones no longer just attach themselves to the pci bus.
Inside the ich is a hardware controller that manages all data to the codec chips like the alc8XX series.
The only problem I see with intel HD is that its only available on motherboards with intel chipsets.
The intel chipsets now have hardware designed to support sound.
The chips like the realtek ones no longer just attach themselves to the pci bus.
Inside the ich is a hardware controller that manages all data to the codec chips like the alc8XX series.
The only problem I see with intel HD is that its only available on motherboards with intel chipsets.
in what? sound quality? nope i just did a comparison of both and can clearly hear a difference between the two in gaming. explosions are flat and muddy with the ALC889 chip. Onboard also gives my speakers lots of static at all sound levels.
speakers used for comparison: M-Audio LX4
postmortemIA
Diamond Member
- Jul 11, 2006
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codec is one thing, another thing is rest of electronics that transform that digital signal again to analog signal... that's the area where dedicated soundcard is gonna be better almost forever, because you are paying for that stuff on audio card; on-board manufacturers will get cheapest stuff that they can get hands on - they did with choosing Realtek in first place.
I am sorry you didn't have a good experience with onboard audio. However my own experience was different and I noticed my ALC889A produced better audio than my old Audigy 2ZS with same speakers. I don't really care about 3D audio effects in games so my choice which to use was clear.
Definitely true. However, I wonder how good quality Audigy 2 series components actually are by today's standards. And like I said earlier, newer audio cards are in totally different class from Audigy 2 and the latest onboard audios.
the difference that u hear will largely depend on the speakers u use to test them with, what are u using for onboard and with the audigy 2 zs?
I've done the same comparison, but with music. I compared using a pair of the excellent AudioVector Mi3 Signature ($4000 USD) and a NAD C370 integrated stereo amp. The comparison was made between the ALC889A on my Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H and an Audigy 4. The result? I could not really distinguish between the two. It is possible that I picked up a very slight difference, but it was impossible to say which sounded best. I called on my brother and let him listen to both without knowing which was which beforehand. Although he admitted that he wasn't sure he could hear a real difference, he actually ended up choosing the the ALC889A as the best sounding solution.
All-in-all, I'd consider the result a draw. Needless to say, the Audigy has been put in the closet. My main machine has Vista 64-bit installed and I'd rather not deal with Creative's shoddy 64-bit driver support.
I was wondering if i can use my yamaha receivers 7.1 multichannel inputs for hd audio(uncompressed,dolby truehd,dts hdma, etc) on my bluray player on my new alienware area 51 7500 computer. I know i need to use 4 mini jacks that have left and right to go out to my receivers 8 rca inputs.
Can someone tell me will this work. The optical i'm using now cannot do the hd audio on bd discs
Thanks a lot
Can someone tell me will this work. The optical i'm using now cannot do the hd audio on bd discs
Thanks a lot
That is correct. For you the only way to get the uncompressed HD digital audio out is to turn it into an analog signal and pass it out on the analog ports.
The Geforece 8200 and MCP7A motherboards that are about to come out can get the audio sent out on an HDMI cable as multichannel LPCM, but the computer will have to decode the the DTSMA and DDHD. The same thing happens in most BD players since only a few send Bitstream. There are also future soundcards in the pipe that have HDMI, I don't know if they will support Bitstream or not.
The Geforece 8200 and MCP7A motherboards that are about to come out can get the audio sent out on an HDMI cable as multichannel LPCM, but the computer will have to decode the the DTSMA and DDHD. The same thing happens in most BD players since only a few send Bitstream. There are also future soundcards in the pipe that have HDMI, I don't know if they will support Bitstream or not.
Thanks for the reply Mcnabney
I got it working now with a remote assisst from alienware .I can now get 7.1 uncompressed dolby truehd and dts hd(ma)
on my Yamaha receiver. This sony s 300 could never decode truehd and i would have been stuck using 5.1 ch inputs.
I got it working now with a remote assisst from alienware .I can now get 7.1 uncompressed dolby truehd and dts hd(ma)
on my Yamaha receiver. This sony s 300 could never decode truehd and i would have been stuck using 5.1 ch inputs.
for those interrested I have done some tests on my ALC888 regarding CPU usage here: http://manoa.flnet.org
in short I can summarize some things:
1. at a cpu clock frequency of 3880 mhz of my core 2 duo the cpu usage was <1% on all kinds of tests (including EAX)
2. the tests used a de-bloated driver version, one that only contained the .sys file and nothing else, and nothing but (no equaliser or any other crap was installed, modified .INF)
3. used driver version was 1.36, that's old by comparison to what is going on here, but what matter is that it is good enough, and no need for more bloat from new drivers
4. distinctions: only 32 hardware mixing buffers may limit gameplay sound quality
did not do any sound quality tests, need to reduce my SNR in the room from the noisy fans to get there, maybe then I will do some
in short I can summarize some things:
1. at a cpu clock frequency of 3880 mhz of my core 2 duo the cpu usage was <1% on all kinds of tests (including EAX)
2. the tests used a de-bloated driver version, one that only contained the .sys file and nothing else, and nothing but (no equaliser or any other crap was installed, modified .INF)
3. used driver version was 1.36, that's old by comparison to what is going on here, but what matter is that it is good enough, and no need for more bloat from new drivers
4. distinctions: only 32 hardware mixing buffers may limit gameplay sound quality
did not do any sound quality tests, need to reduce my SNR in the room from the noisy fans to get there, maybe then I will do some
you guys sure have different ears than mine.
My ears think X-Fi sounds at least 1.5x better than on-board AL audio.
Turn on Crystalizer and effects, and it gets even better - jazz music never this good.
Maybe AL is better at listening to 9inch nail and movies? I wouldn't know.
My ears think X-Fi sounds at least 1.5x better than on-board AL audio.
Turn on Crystalizer and effects, and it gets even better - jazz music never this good.
Maybe AL is better at listening to 9inch nail and movies? I wouldn't know.
Err wait you mean the sound on my new DS3L is actually better than my A2 ZS.
I automatically assumed it would be typical crap onboard sound and have been using the ZS.
what about hardware EAX? does noone think its even worth it anymore?
I took out my A2ZS a few weeks ago just out of curiosity and was blown away by how much better the 888 chip sounds. The drivers are much more Vista friendly as well. I ebayed the A2ZS and it sold for around $80 so I am one happy camper lol.
Sweet man.. until now I was using onboard as only my sound card for ventrillo.
guess Ill change vent to the ZS and move main sound to the DS3L and try it for myself.
guess Ill change vent to the ZS and move main sound to the DS3L and try it for myself.
yeah, i was originally going to get an audio card but i have the ga-p35-ds3l and was comparing the on-board audio to the audio cards and it seemed like the on-board was better. sooo...guess i don't have to waste money on an audio card.
I have a Gigabyte GA-EX38-DQ6 that has onboard Realtek ALC889A audio. My old computer had an Audigy 2. I'm running Vista 64-bit, and the ALC889A sounds good for listening to music. But the mixer is lacking an equalizer and treble/bass controls. So everything sounds muffled to me. The mixer only has stupid preset EQ's, and the Rock Preset sounds okay. But I would like a real 10-band EQ and treble/bass controls. Come on Realtek!
In games, the ALC889A sounds muddy and flat. There are no 3D positional effects. Tried playing Diablo 2, and Oblivion, and the sound is very lacking. In Oblivion it is hard to hear people, unless you stand right in front of them. The voices are too low at a distance. This is because of no 3D effects and occlusion. There is supposedly EAX 2.0, but I still can't enable the feature in Diablo or older games??? Where is EAX 2.0?
I don't want to buy Creative, since I had too much problem with my Audigy 2 in Vista. So it looks like my only choices are the Asus Xonar, HT Omega Claro(CMedia chip), or Auzentech X-fi. I really don't want to buy Auzentech X-Fi, since I would be indirectly supporting Creative.
Why can't Realtek support 3D positional effects and OpenAL?
In games, the ALC889A sounds muddy and flat. There are no 3D positional effects. Tried playing Diablo 2, and Oblivion, and the sound is very lacking. In Oblivion it is hard to hear people, unless you stand right in front of them. The voices are too low at a distance. This is because of no 3D effects and occlusion. There is supposedly EAX 2.0, but I still can't enable the feature in Diablo or older games??? Where is EAX 2.0?
I don't want to buy Creative, since I had too much problem with my Audigy 2 in Vista. So it looks like my only choices are the Asus Xonar, HT Omega Claro(CMedia chip), or Auzentech X-fi. I really don't want to buy Auzentech X-Fi, since I would be indirectly supporting Creative.
Why can't Realtek support 3D positional effects and OpenAL?
anyone using their onboard alc889 with the case front panel connection? does it detect when u connect headphones to the front of the case? does it also mute the speakers when u connect headphones to the front of your case?
Originally posted by: Jackyl
I have a Gigabyte GA-EX38-DQ6 that has onboard Realtek ALC889A audio. My old computer had an Audigy 2. I'm running Vista 64-bit, and the ALC889A sounds good for listening to music. But the mixer is lacking an equalizer and treble/bass controls. So everything sounds muffled to me. The mixer only has stupid preset EQ's, and the Rock Preset sounds okay. But I would like a real 10-band EQ and treble/bass controls. Come on Realtek!
In games, the ALC889A sounds muddy and flat. There are no 3D positional effects. Tried playing Diablo 2, and Oblivion, and the sound is very lacking. In Oblivion it is hard to hear people, unless you stand right in front of them. The voices are too low at a distance. This is because of no 3D effects and occlusion. There is supposedly EAX 2.0, but I still can't enable the feature in Diablo or older games??? Where is EAX 2.0?
I don't want to buy Creative, since I had too much problem with my Audigy 2 in Vista. So it looks like my only choices are the Asus Xonar, HT Omega Claro(CMedia chip), or Auzentech X-fi. I really don't want to buy Auzentech X-Fi, since I would be indirectly supporting Creative.
Why can't Realtek support 3D positional effects and OpenAL?
that's weird. OpenAL works fine on the 888 chip I have. In fact it makes quite a nice difference in games like UT3.
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