draggoon01
Senior member
Would it be better if msft closed directx extensions on ds3d like it is for video? Just for clarification, 3d sound is usually supported through api of ds3d. ds3d used to be closed, but msft opened for extensions in response to a3d from aureal (remember them? creative has just about catched up the aureal?s 4 year old technology...). creative made extension to ds3d called eax, which is what almost all games use nowadays. aureal is gone/bankrupt/bought by creative. Hardware makers are free to add eax 1 & 2 support as far as I know. eax advanced hd however is only supported by audigy cards. Eax 4 is out (cards, I don?t know if drivers supporting it have been released yet) and i dunno how third party support for that will work or ever happen.
To me the sound market is stagnant and moves ever so slowly. This is partly because sound isn?t as important to gamers, has somewhat saturated in terms of quality (like 2D graphics), and also in part due to creative?s control over eax. Creative releases new cards that have minimal improvements over previous year?s model at extremely high prices (should the improvement in sound cards justify the same price tag as new mid-level video cards?). To compel users to buy the new cards, they make eax advanced hd only support their hardware. And this blatant marketing practice by creative is clearly illustrated when people are able to hacked drivers to get nearly the same quality off of older soundcards.
Maybe if msft closed ds3d and instead incorporated features/proposals from hardware and software makers into their directx revisions, the market would be better for consumers.
To me the sound market is stagnant and moves ever so slowly. This is partly because sound isn?t as important to gamers, has somewhat saturated in terms of quality (like 2D graphics), and also in part due to creative?s control over eax. Creative releases new cards that have minimal improvements over previous year?s model at extremely high prices (should the improvement in sound cards justify the same price tag as new mid-level video cards?). To compel users to buy the new cards, they make eax advanced hd only support their hardware. And this blatant marketing practice by creative is clearly illustrated when people are able to hacked drivers to get nearly the same quality off of older soundcards.
Maybe if msft closed ds3d and instead incorporated features/proposals from hardware and software makers into their directx revisions, the market would be better for consumers.
