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The **OFFICIAL** Auzentech X-Meridian Thread

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Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
Originally posted by: Accord99
Exactly what is it that I know nothing about?
Is it:
A) The Auzentech X-Meridian?
B) The Creative SB Audigy2 ZS?
C) The Creative SB X-Fi?
D) The fact that I have opened a can of whoop-ass on you, Pariah, and any other lying fanboy?
E) None of the above
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It would be:

F) The irony of your statement "I love the SB fanboys (employees?) that crash the X-Meridian thread. First, it's EAX 3+. Then it's analog SQ. Then digital SQ. Then connectivity. "Oh no, spanked again. Did we mention EAX?"

When the X-Fi does beat the X-Meridian in game audio thanks to EAX, has better analog SQ and ties it in digital SQ.
 
Not sure I follow you.

"The irony of your statement" - Not ironic, but factual. I bet Alanis Morissette sounds better than studio quality on your X-Fi.

"When the X-Fi does beat the X-Meridian in game audio" - So, this hasn't happened yet? What do you mean by "beat"?

"thanks to EAX" - ??? Both cards support EAX just fine.

"has better analog SQ" - That is a total falsehood

"and ties it in digital SQ." - Assuming you can connect the X-Fi.
 
Not even worth it Dangler, he seriously has no clue. Knowledge is wasted on such a person.
What are your impressions of the X-tesion board? are you considering buying one?
 
Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
Not sure I follow you.

"The irony of your statement" - Not ironic, but factual. I bet Alanis Morissette sounds better than studio quality on your X-Fi.

"When the X-Fi does beat the X-Meridian in game audio" - So, this hasn't happened yet? What do you mean by "beat"?

"thanks to EAX" - ??? Both cards support EAX just fine.
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Better support of more advanced audio effects/features, with hardware acceleration and also existing support of OpenAL.

"has better analog SQ" - That is a total falsehood
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The first review of the X-Meridian with RightMark measurements suggest they're very close in 16-bit and the X-Fi is ahead with 24-bit media.

"and ties it in digital SQ." - Assuming you can connect the X-Fi.
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It takes a $5-$10 1/8" mini-jack to RCA cable to connect the X-Fi's digital output to a digital coaxial input.

 
no, i don't have a use for the expansion, as the card has exactly what i want. i think a more useable, and more popular, product would be an expansion loaded with the digital hybrids. and i'm tired of arguing with random people on the internet.
 
A person who thinks rightmark measurements indicate the quality of sound is very new to this whole area. He has a long way to go yet. Your right it's a waste of energy. Can you explain what you mean by digital hybrids? connections?
 
Man more fighting on this thread lol

I went ahead and bought the X-FI Elite pro.

I figured if I didn't like it I can just take it back to Frys'. Well let me tell you this thing is nothing short of amazing! I can't believe what I've managed to squeeze out of my audio system. I was impressed with the regular X-FI but this X-FI blows that away even. So much more nautral sounding, faster, more powerful, and more defined and airy. Everything is just better. Top notch sound.

I would have loved to at least try the x-meridian but you know what not a single place in town carries Azurentech. So they are kind of screwed in that area if no one can even just walk into a store and pick one up. It is a bit saddening to basicly have no choices when walking into a store. Just a wall of one companies products.

And again I'm just using this for plain stereo. Going steight from the card using an 1/8" Adapter to RCA's. And streight into my amp (no preamp). I'm sure it would sound just as amazing going into more amps for multichannel.

It comes with a break out box that has optical and all that stuff if you need it. But I dont want the break out box or remote so I'm selling them with my old X-FI. So all in all this upgrade will probably only cost $150. That's just insane. I'd probably compare the sound to a few thousand dollars worth of seperates or really hi end CD player. Those professional DACs in this card really make a big difference over the other DACs in the regular X-FI.

Anyway I'll probably make my own thread. No point in talking about it here anymore. But Auzentech really needs to get these in retail store so people can at least compare with other cards and have options. I dont think for plain stereo it could be better sounding than my new X-FI elite pro I have now but it would have been nice to at least try it out and compare.
 
Those DAC's I think are the same one used in the X-Meridian. Gald you got some good sounds going. Well if your going stereo the X-fi is capable of 24/192Khz but that is ONLY in stereo mode. AFAIK. Never considered multichannel? I love 5.1 sound...
Enjoy your new X-fi.
 
Simple point to that review, The X-Meridian sound ALOT better than X-fi. Hey Dangler, check your PM's
Of course the Creative fan boys will disagree.
I am just waiting for the X-tesnsion board to come out. I want all the toys for the X-Meridian.
 
Originally posted by: IceT
I just ordered the Sondigo Inferno 7.1...and got rid of my X-Plosion. I hope the driver for the new card is better than the Auzentech driver (it caused some freezes in my system occassionally).

.Eric
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Ah, I hadn't heard of the Sondigo card before. Looks like is uses the same DACs and everything the X-Meridian does, but is cheaper. I poked around their support forums, looks like their driver support is pretty solid. Might be a good board to consider. Please follow up with your impressions of it
 
Most cards using the 8788 chipset are based on the C-Media 8788 reference board. They all look the same and all contain the same components. The X-Meridian is the first card CUSTOM designed to take full advantage of the 8788 Chipset. There are alot of major and some very subtle differences.
The X-Meridian is a TOP quality sound card. Your money, do what you will just make sure your making the right decision. Also just becasue two cards use simialr components does not mean they will sound even remotley the same. There is alot of factors that influence sound quality. Most reviewers of this card all agree on the same thing this card sounds better than than ANY soundcard they have heard previously.
 
in the guru3d review, he states a couple times he isn't 100% sure of what he's doing with the benchmarking. although the numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, i think the overall trend is pretty accurate. i raise an eyebrow at the chart showing 40% CPU usage, it just doesn't "feel" correct. playing FEAR with all settings maxxed out (FEAR max 96 voices), i doubt 30% of my CPU time is spent chewing audio code, even if it was a single core chip. according to his results, the x-meridian has far more cpu usage than even on-board sound. this sounds counter-intuitive to me, but may expose driver inefficiencies.

my opinion of the card is unchanged - it's great. no, i will not be performing an Anandtech-caliber review of this item, and neither is Guru3D.
 
No matter who does the review I guess you can't make everybody happy. I already own the card so reviews are read for something to read. People might like to think Creative cards are the only ones that sound good in games. C'mon think about it. If a card sounds good it's goona sound good no matter what your doing I play quite a few games with this sound card and it sounds amazing. Using this card for movies and music it sounds unreal. Simple we have a new champ. Why don't you do a review, so we can put the debate to rest and let the XM7.1 have it's crown?
 
Originally posted by: audioguy
No matter who does the review I guess you can't make everybody happy. I already own the card so reviews are read for something to read. People might like to think Creative cards are the only ones that sound good in games. C'mon think about it. If a card sounds good it's goona sound good no matter what your doing I play quite a few games with this sound card and it sounds amazing. Using this card for movies and music it sounds unreal. Simple we have a new champ. Why don't you do a review, so we can put the debate to rest and let the XM7.1 have it's crown?
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Think again. Like different GPU's can have equivalent IQ but only one is capable of rendering certain things (say, transparency AA or such). Clearly, that one is the winner. Since only Creative cards are capable of rendering EAX3+ then only they have that content. The distinction becomes even greater when other cards which fail to support OpenAL must fall back to a DirectSound3D wrapper.
 
I havent been big on sound cards for awhile, although I have read a lot of crappy reviews on the X-Fi, I think it is also a matter of opinion as well, but here is a problem that no one will be able to aviod vista will disable EAX, I have read a few other issues with vista and sound cards about how vista will not fully utilize them to their full potential. at least not now anyways
 
You need to keep researching, you don't have the whole picture. Vista is removing Directsound support. EAX are extensions of Directsound-more or less. Instead Vista is moving to OpenAL, so you will still have game effects through OpenAL. X-Meridian will be supporting OpenAL in Vista.
Arguing with Fanboys get's old as they can talk themselves into anything. They don't really care about sound quality. they care about a few frames extra in games...very sad indeed.
 
Originally posted by: audioguy
You need to keep researching, you don't have the whole picture. Vista is removing Directsound support. EAX are extensions of Directsound-more or less. Instead Vista is moving to OpenAL, so you will still have game effects through OpenAL. X-Meridian will be supporting OpenAL in Vista.
Arguing with Fanboys get's old as they can talk themselves into anything. They don't really care about sound quality. they care about a few frames extra in games...very sad indeed.
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Certainly frame rate is the least valid criteria to choose audio hardware because unless there are severe defects then the difference should be relatively insignificant compared to even minor changes in CPU or GPU frequencies. However, if one system relies upon host based processing by design or because it fails to accelerate a given API in hardware then the difference can be more significant, especially if the CPU is already taxed on a certain game.

Other issues concerning rendering content are the restrictions imposed by game developers themselves. For instance determining how many voices are allowed based upon the audio hardware detected (or lack thereof) regardless of whether the CPU may be capable of making up the difference. It was interesting that in the guru3d review the X-M was purportedly able to deliver 128 voices in BF albeit while suffering crackling and obviously only EAX2 and via the DirectSound3D wrapper.

It's a valid point that fanboys can talk themselves into anything, or allow themselves to be talked into anything such as believing that OpenAL support is forthcoming from a tiny inexperienced company like Auzentech (C-Media has stated they have no plans to do so). If you think Creative drivers are bad with decades of experience then don't hold your breath and certainly not for a quality release.

As for Vista, it's much ado aboot diddly until it is out of beta (ergo, SP1 at least, if not SP2). I suppose for gamers who have or are planning to jump on the bandwagon it would be a waste to spend $50 or more on hardware if it ends up functioning like a $10 part.
 
Whatever gets you through man. You shouldn't assume everybody is a gamer or even care in the slightest about gaming.
I care about how the card sounds and it sounds better than a X-fi. That is all I care about and yes I have heard both. The difference is NOT slight the X-Meridian sounds alot better. Hey enjoy your X-fi, not saying it's a bad card. There is more to a soundcard then how it sounds in a game. If you enjoy your card that's all that matters...I am gonna go and enjoy some music these Creative arguments get so boring....
 
EAX is great for games. DDL is great for games if you have a receiver.
Unfortunately they do not come together: it is either EAX or DDL.

So you have either EAX (i.e with X-Fi card) over analog connection or no EAX over digital connection (i.e with X-Meridian card). There is no card out there that can give both.









 
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