SoundStorm is dead and is never coming back **Updated 3/3**

[Darien]

1) To a typical gamer SoundStorm is better than a Creative solution because audio quality doesn't matter so much and SoundStorm is WAY cheaper

Typical, like the masses who play the sims and very little else, don't care.

Typical, like those who play doom 3 and such, already have expensive video cards and upgrade their components regularly. Bitching about price seems odd for this group.



M-Audio makes good cards. Why not give 'em a shot?

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Darien

1) To a typical gamer SoundStorm is better than a Creative solution because audio quality doesn't matter so much and SoundStorm is WAY cheaper

Typical, like the masses who play the sims and very little else, don't care.

Typical, like those who play doom 3 and such, already have expensive video cards and upgrade their components regularly. Bitching about price seems odd for this group.



M-Audio makes good cards. Why not give 'em a shot?

LOL. I see what you mean. These same people that spend $400 on a graphics card won't spend even 1 quarter that on a good sound card 😉

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: Darien

1) To a typical gamer SoundStorm is better than a Creative solution because audio quality doesn't matter so much and SoundStorm is WAY cheaper

Typical, like the masses who play the sims and very little else, don't care.

Typical, like those who play doom 3 and such, already have expensive video cards and upgrade their components regularly. Bitching about price seems odd for this group.



M-Audio makes good cards. Why not give 'em a shot?

LOL. I see what you mean. These same people that spend $400 on a graphics card won't spend even 1 quarter that on a good sound card 😉

Because with soundstorm, we didnt have to, it was 1/16th the price of an already mediocre card.

I am squeezing out money for an upgrade, unlike many here, i work in a friggin Sams Club and live on my own. Soundstorm missing means instead of squeezing another $5 in there, i have to squeeze in another $100, or deal with piss poor C-media trash.

 

[ai42]

FYI...

Just take it for what it is so don't kill me.

I was at this last QuakeCon 2004 a couple months ago, anyway there was an Nvidia Engineer who was taking questions during the HardOCP Workshop. Anyway somebody asked about SoundStorm, he said it is certainly dead and there was no further development. However, he did emphasize that they stopped developing that due to lack of support. He said that if there hardware community were to demand the product they would certainly bring it back.

So what we start at letter/email writing campagin?

I personally agree with some of the statements that Nvidia should develop a PCI/PCIE Soundstorm.

FYI b/c I'm a nerd I just looked it up "BRINGBACKSOUNDSTORM.COM" is available for purchase!

 

[BD2003]

I personally could live without soundstorm, because aside from its CPU offloading and DD 5.1, the 3d sound it output wasnt too hot...

But at least they were some competition for creative. I'm still using my audigy 1, with hacked audigy 2 zs drivers, and aside from the DAC, its EXACTLY the same thing! Can you imagine what would happen if nvidia or ATI didnt put out a new card for over 4 years?

NVIDIA is missing the point. The people that want soundstorm because its the fastest part available, are the people that already know that the nforce boards are the best you could buy. Anyone that would opt for a VIA board probably wouldnt know soundstorm from their ass...but I suppose in the end, we would have all bought nforce 2s anyway.

 

[Darien]

M-Audio and Terratec provide enough competition to Creative, but it looks like no one wants to buy their products. the revolution uses the envy24 chip and produces a lot better sound than creative or nvidia. compared to the analog quality of soundstorm and creative's products, the revolution is by no means "mediocre"

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: Darien

1) To a typical gamer SoundStorm is better than a Creative solution because audio quality doesn't matter so much and SoundStorm is WAY cheaper

Typical, like the masses who play the sims and very little else, don't care.

Typical, like those who play doom 3 and such, already have expensive video cards and upgrade their components regularly. Bitching about price seems odd for this group.



M-Audio makes good cards. Why not give 'em a shot?

LOL. I see what you mean. These same people that spend $400 on a graphics card won't spend even 1 quarter that on a good sound card 😉

Because with soundstorm, we didnt have to, it was 1/16th the price of an already mediocre card.

I am squeezing out money for an upgrade, unlike many here, i work in a friggin Sams Club and live on my own. Soundstorm missing means instead of squeezing another $5 in there, i have to squeeze in another $100, or deal with piss poor C-media trash.

if you game: So do you squeeze $300+ for a new video card? I bet your cpu runs > 2GHz. And how 'bout ram? Probably a gigabyte from a pretty good manufacturer. so why bitch about sound? it wasn't until the nforce that a good onboard solution, albeit dacs, were made. i don't think most people expect motherboard manufactuers to include high quality sound with their boards. otherwise they wouldn't be using realPOS

 

[bluemax]

nForce2 was the ultimate budget system. With the purchase of the motherboard (and it didn't cost much more than any other board) you also got a free GF4MX-440 (which is halfway decent, especially for "free"!) and a good sound system without need for other cards. Installation was that much smoother and easier too.

Nope... nForce2 was awesome but it's downhill for nVidia...

ATI is coming out with some heavy-hitters now... I'll be watching them!

 

[Megatomic]

We complain now because we DID have really nice onboard sound with SS for years now. We've grown accustomed to not having to shell out for a standalone sound card. Now it's an added expense and not one that we want to pick up. We've never had onboard RAM or CPU nor have we have an onboard GPU that was the equal of SS in quality, so it's a bit unfair to ask why we don't mind buying high end RAM, CPU and GPU IMHO.

 

[TomKazansky]

nf4 is one step less good now without ss2...SLI made it crazy, SS2 will push it even futher away from the new ATi chipsets

nvidia should start making pci soundcards based on their soundstorm tech....lolz

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
We complain now because we DID have really nice onboard sound with SS for years now.

If you didn't use analog out. I'm sure most did.

We've grown accustomed to not having to shell out for a standalone sound card. Now it's an added expense and not one that we want to pick up.

Motherboards have had onboard sound for years. People bought sound blasters years ago even though many motherboards had integrated sound.

We've never had onboard RAM or CPU nor have we have an onboard GPU that was the equal of SS in quality, so it's a bit unfair to ask why we don't mind buying high end RAM, CPU and GPU IMHO.

Unfair? gamers CAN buy cheaper components. No need to fork over $500 for a video card, or $300 for a cpu. Do you *need* a gig of ram? all games can run with 512. it's perfectly acceptable to make a price comparison. Besides, we're talking about a sound card -- one of the last things ever upgraded in a system.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Darien

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Unfair? gamers CAN buy cheaper components. No need to fork over $500 for a video card, or $300 for a cpu. Do you *need* a gig of ram? all games can run with 512. it's perfectly acceptable to make a price comparison. Besides, we're talking about a sound card -- one of the last things ever upgraded in a system.

With Soundstorm, we only need to upgrade the "Sound card" when we change motherboards.

The minimal cost of Soundstorm was already incorparated in our overall budget when we chose a motherboard.

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: Elcs

Originally posted by: Darien

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Unfair? gamers CAN buy cheaper components. No need to fork over $500 for a video card, or $300 for a cpu. Do you *need* a gig of ram? all games can run with 512. it's perfectly acceptable to make a price comparison. Besides, we're talking about a sound card -- one of the last things ever upgraded in a system.

With Soundstorm, we only need to upgrade the "Sound card" when we change motherboards.

The minimal cost of Soundstorm was already incorparated in our overall budget when we chose a motherboard.

Soundstorm hasn't really changed since it was introduced ~3 years ago. You're not exactly "upgrading" if you go nforce to nforce2 WRT sound.

Spending < 90 for an m-audio revolution over 3 years isn't much.

And regarding budget, it normally just means going down 1 notch for a component (eg: video card) FOR ONE TIME for investing in a sound card. Video cards will get upgraded eventually; not a big loss. Sound cards are rarely upgraded.



The only people I expect to be struck by the end of soundstorm are those guys using digital/optical. And that's a *really* minor community.

 

[Acanthus]

What is wrong with you people, honestly, really, think about what im about to say.

$5 for soundstorm was worth it, EVEN IF WE USED THE CRAPPY ANALOG. Its better than C-media trash, it had a good codec chip paired with a nice feature set, great drivers, and GOOD SOUND QUALITY for cheap.

If they started making motherboards with an integrated gig of PC3200 in dual channel built right on the mobo, then took it away because "there wasnt any demand" (and dont forget to make this the most widely accepted platform in its class). Would you all say "OMG PC4500 is so much better anyway just pay the $550".

They gave us good integrated sound, cheap, and now its gone, and we are pissed. How complex is it?

 

[BenSkywalker]

if you game: So do you squeeze $300+ for a new video card? I bet your cpu runs > 2GHz. And how 'bout ram? Probably a gigabyte from a pretty good manufacturer. so why bitch about sound?

We don't pay $300 for four year old video cards, we don't spend a few hundred on four year old processors and we don't pay the prices for RAM that were around back in 2K but CreativeLabs wants us to pay the same price now for a slightly better version of what is, by PC standards, antiquated technology.

IF CL was innovating, refining and improving as much as the other major components we spend money for are, we wouldn't be b!tching about losing the $5 option that was better then CL's $100 card in several aspects. BTW- I'm currently running an Audigy2 ZS and was looking forward greatly to a SS2 add in sound board(I'm willing to spend the money if there is some sort of progress made).

 

[Mem]

Soundstorm hasn't really changed since it was introduced ~3 years ago. You're not exactly "upgrading" if you go nforce to nforce2 WRT sound.

Spending < 90 for an m-audio revolution over 3 years isn't much.

I think you guys are missing the point,SoundStorm is/was a nice onboard sound solution with very low CPU usage,I think on my next motherboard I`ll make sure it has decent onboard sound.

I like having my PCI slots free/empty for my nice looking window,I don`t want to use my Audigy sound card or buy a new PCI sound card,it`s not just about money,I never spend more then £200 on a video card and have never spent more then £70 on a soundcard over the years.

I can afford to buy a top of the range soundcard and video card but IMHO they are a waste of money for my needs and are only bragging rights,point being all motherboards now come with onboard sound(onboard sound is improving) and when I buy my next motherboard I want to use the features on that board that I paid for like onboard sound.


Bottom line is I only use the sound on my PC for gaming,if SoundStorm goes,I`ll just look at the alternatives for onboard solutions,I find onboard sound adequate for my needs.

It always amazes me when some members here tell us what hardware etc we should be buying,last time I checked I lived in a free country and like having more choices hardware wise and making my own decisions,I can get over the fact when the SoundStorm goes but it does mean one less choice for the buyer.

I must be old school where I make hardware and money balance when it comes to common sense and my needs.


🙂

 

[CKTurbo128]

I just only wish NVIDIA would release an add-in version of SoundStorm, to compete with Creative Labs Audigy series. Creative Labs has had a total dominant position over the audio market ever since Aureal fizzled out and was bought by Creative Labs. Since then, Creative Labs have been extremely lazy and really hasn't developed anything big and impressive; they still use the same basic sound card since Live! (modified Audigy 2 ZS drivers run well on Live! boards), but just adding extra features with each release.

If NVIDIA pushes it's effort into the audio market with SoundStorm like it does with the GPU and motherboard markets, we could see some much needed energizing into the audio market. 😉

This is a good article to read on the current state of the audio market if you haven't already: http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=565

 

[Darien]

$5 for soundstorm was worth it, EVEN IF WE USED THE CRAPPY ANALOG. Its better than C-media trash, it had a good codec chip paired with a nice feature set, great drivers, and GOOD SOUND QUALITY for cheap.

😕

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

if you game: So do you squeeze $300+ for a new video card? I bet your cpu runs > 2GHz. And how 'bout ram? Probably a gigabyte from a pretty good manufacturer. so why bitch about sound?

We don't pay $300 for four year old video cards, we don't spend a few hundred on four year old processors and we don't pay the prices for RAM that were around back in 2K but CreativeLabs wants us to pay the same price now for a slightly better version of what is, by PC standards, antiquated technology.

IF CL was innovating, refining and improving as much as the other major components we spend money for are, we wouldn't be b!tching about losing the $5 option that was better then CL's $100 card in several aspects. BTW- I'm currently running an Audigy2 ZS and was looking forward greatly to a SS2 add in sound board(I'm willing to spend the money if there is some sort of progress made).

Don't buy creative then.

M-Audio and Terratec make cards that sound much nicer.

 

[Darien]

I can afford to buy a top of the range soundcard and video card but IMHO they are a waste of money for my needs and are only bragging rights

Do you have really crappy speakers? Heck, mine aren't even all that nice and I could definately tell the difference between soundstorm analog and my current pci card. Bragging rights when it comes to listening to music or having good audio? Haven't really seen that around here before.

 

[Darien]

It always amazes me when some members here tell us what hardware etc we should be buying

]

In this case, NFS4 is just telling you all to stop whinning, and I'm saying you all dont' have much to whine about unless you used digital/optical out because the analog quality was poor and the cost of a soundcard is minor, so it isn't much to whine about. None of these statements look like we're dictating what you all should buy.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Darien

It always amazes me when some members here tell us what hardware etc we should be buying

]

In this case, NFS4 is just telling you all to stop whinning, and I'm saying you all dont' have much to whine about unless you used digital/optical out because the analog quality was poor and the cost of a soundcard is minor, so it isn't much to whine about. None of these statements look like we're dictating what you all should buy.

The analog quality was far superior to other integrated solutions.

 

[Darien]

I just only wish NVIDIA would release an add-in version of SoundStorm, to compete with Creative Labs Audigy series.

More competition is always good. And if NVidia puts in good DACs, then all the more better.



I did read once about integrating the sound card with the video card, and using the GPU to process sound. That'd be sweet. 😎

 

[Darien]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: Darien

It always amazes me when some members here tell us what hardware etc we should be buying

]

In this case, NFS4 is just telling you all to stop whinning, and I'm saying you all dont' have much to whine about unless you used digital/optical out because the analog quality was poor and the cost of a soundcard is minor, so it isn't much to whine about. None of these statements look like we're dictating what you all should buy.

The analog quality was far superior to other integrated solutions.

Not really.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Darien

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: Darien

It always amazes me when some members here tell us what hardware etc we should be buying

]

In this case, NFS4 is just telling you all to stop whinning, and I'm saying you all dont' have much to whine about unless you used digital/optical out because the analog quality was poor and the cost of a soundcard is minor, so it isn't much to whine about. None of these statements look like we're dictating what you all should buy.

The analog quality was far superior to other integrated solutions.

Not really.

So you are going to argue that even though i can tell the difference, night and day, between the soundstorm on my old mobo and C-media trash on my new one, that they are essentially the same. Even though my NVIDIA solution didnt have clicks and pops in MP3s, and didnt have 6-8% CPU usage (on a 3.46ghz P4 no less).

Are you also going to argue that C-media drivers are just as good, being larger than nvidias entire chipset package and having the aforementioned problems.

JUST BECAUSE ITS NOT AS GOOD AS AN A2ZX DOES NOT MEAN ITS NOT BETTER THAN THE TRASH THEY ARE GIVING US NOW.