Windows 7 - Audio Processing

[Biomorphic]

Okay, guys... So, I guess the debate ends here. Thank you for your support. 🙂

 

[Jabbernyx]

Just peeked at your box - why is that E6600 only at 3GHz?!?!

 

[sxr7171]

Originally posted by: Biomorphic
When you've been listening to your music, movies (with Dolby or DTS encoded soundtracks) and games via the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic audio card and Logitech Z-5500 Digital speakers for years you notice that when sound is processed through hardware it sounds much better than when processed through software.

I'm not talking about a big difference but sound lovers and audiophiles will surely notice it.

Also, you should bear in mind that when sound is processed through software it can affect your CPU performance between 5% - 20%.

Audiophiles don't listen to computer sound cards. Except maybe a professional quality externals (USB DAC).

 

[Biomorphic]

Originally posted by: MrChad
No "audiophile" would be using a Creative sound card and Logitech speakers anyway.

Originally posted by: sxr7171

Originally posted by: Biomorphic
When you've been listening to your music, movies (with Dolby or DTS encoded soundtracks) and games via the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic audio card and Logitech Z-5500 Digital speakers for years you notice that when sound is processed through hardware it sounds much better than when processed through software.

I'm not talking about a big difference but sound lovers and audiophiles will surely notice it.

Also, you should bear in mind that when sound is processed through software it can affect your CPU performance between 5% - 20%.

Audiophiles don't listen to computer sound cards. Except maybe a professional quality externals (USB DAC).

Who stated that audiophiles listen to music via Creative sound cards? I only said that audiophiles will surely notice the difference between hardware and software audio processing just like I do.

There are many articles written about this fact and one clear example is here and you can google for more.

Originally posted by: Jabbernyx
Just peeked at your box - why is that E6600 only at 3GHz?!?!

I don't think it would be relevant to discuss this here but very quickly, this is simply because my DDR2 UDIMMs don't go beyond 667 MHz. Also, I prefer to keep my CPU at 3 GHz as I don't have to bump any voltage and as a matter of fact, the CPU and other associated components run cool.

I once tried with some DDR2-800 UDIMMs and brought the CPU to 3.6 GHz. The temperature went up to 65 degrees Celsius under 100% load. I could have increased the speed of the CPU cooler to deal with it but I also like a near-silent atmosphere and at 3 GHz it remains under 55 degrees Celsius when fully loaded.

Anyway, if you want us to discuss further on this matter, why don't you join in here? 🙂

 

[omnimodis78]

Originally posted by: MrChad
No "audiophile" would be using a Creative sound card and Logitech speakers anyway.

No real "audiophile" would jump to such an innacurate conclusion... Unless you're a certified Tonmeister at Deutsche Grammophon, or the likes, then you're not a professional thus you have no credentials, experience or authority to disrespect anyone with such rude statements. There's nothing wrong with Creative, Logitech, or whatever anyone happens to own. If you set it up right, and it does the job for you, then enjoy it!

As far as a straight answer to this topic, it's pretty simple (excerpt from http://connect.creativelabs.com/alchemy/default.aspx ) : In Windows Vista( & Windows 7), Microsoft has decided to remove the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for DirectSound and DirectSound3D. The HAL is the software layer that in previous Windows operating systems enabled an audio accelerator such as the Sound Blaster X-Fi to provide DirectSound3D applications with hardware accelerated audio. This enabled soundcards to perform tasks such as sample-rate conversion, mixing, 3D spatialization using HRTFs, filtering, and effects processing. Without the HAL, DirectSound on Windows Vista will be rendered in software with no advanced functionality such as EAX.

The audio changes in Windows Vista do not affect OpenAL however. For audio cards that feature 'native' OpenAL support, such as the SB X-Fi series of cards, there is no need to worry! Games that enable support for OpenAL will continue to run just as they do on Windows XP - with hardware accelerated audio and effects.

 

[schneiderguy]

Use ASIO or WASAPI to get bit-perfect playback and there will be no difference between XP and Vista/W7 sound quality.

 

[coolVariable]

Google Core 2 Duo + pitch or whine and you will know why software based audio processing is bad.