| Product: |
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum eX |
| Date: |
10/01/02 (1543 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Best on the market (pric wise), VERY User friendly, Just lovely!
Disadvantages: Takes 2 PCI slots
From their humble beginnings as a 16-bit sound card, Sound
Blaster now gives you the Audigy Platinum eX.
(Yeah baby!)
The `Sound Blaster® Audigy Platinum eX` is sold as the
ultimate musician`s sound card and well it is!
Creative have designed it to set the new quality threshold for
listening and creating and again they`ve managed it.
Let me get the downside to this card out of the way first -
You need two PCI slots, £200 is a lot on sound, its got a daft
title of `Audigy`.
Thats the downsides done!
Here`s what Creative themselves say about the card!
Creative:
~~~~~
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum eX is the professional home
studio solution that opens up a whole New World of
unprecedented high-definition audio with the flexibility of an
external drive. You`ll experience incredible audio clarity. The
increased power of the Audigy chip enables EAX ADVANCED
HD to deliver a host of innovative high definition audio effects
with next-generation, interactive, 3D audio for gaming and
sophisticated effects for music. The external Audigy drive has
the most comprehensive connectors for analogue or digital
devices, including professional audio gear, home-stereo
receivers, Optical DACs, MIDI devices, and DV camcorders.
You`ll also have the advantage of high-capacity connectivity
to SB1394 qualified devices like DV camcorders, the future
SB1394 NOMAD Jukebox, external hard drives, and high-speed
CD-RWs.
Which is a nice summary of the card from Creative! On with
the review.
In the box you will get two cards to plug into your PC, so you
need 2 PCI slots. And an external drive, which connects, to
your computer via the cables they sent you! The external
drive is where everything is plugged into so there?s no
scrabbling round the back of your machine to find ports. Once
installed it will control all the sound your computer produces
and you can rig it up to your hifi and get some wicked game
playing done! But there?s more!
So here?s the features you pay for:
Features:
~~~~~
1. 24-bit digital/analogue conversion technology which
ensures ultra-quiet (100 dB SNR), hiss-free performance
during playback or recording.
2. The Audigy processor gives a new dimension of processing
power for audio manipulation. (its hard)
3. Driver design includes a high-end realisation of ASIO,
ensuring ultra-low latency recording (2ms) of multiple tracks.
(nice)
4. An external Audigy Drive and SB1394 connectivity give
exceptional flexibility in studio layout and minimise input
recording interference. (very handy)
6. Stunning 24-bit multi-channel performance and 100dB SNR
for high definition music creation and playback. (Good enough
for Top of The Pops!)
7. SoundFont technology for up to 4GB definable samples.
(cool!)
8. Fully integrated SB1394 allows PC networking* and transfer
of audio content to external devices at ultra-high speeds (up
to 400Mb/s). (for exporting)
9. Remote control!!! (fantastic)
Sounds hard doesn?t it! So now I?ve wetted your appetite
with that:
Now look at the specifications: (well the important ones!)
Specifications:
~~~~~~~~~
Form Factor: Plug-in card PCI
Max Sample Rate 48 KHz
Sound Output Mode 5.1 channel surround
Sound Synthesis Method E-mu Systems
Sound Synthesis Method Wavetable
Support / Type 1 year warranty
System Requirements
Min Operating System Microsoft Windows 98 or 2000 or
Millennium Edition or NT 4.0 or 98 Second Edition! (so not 95)
Audio Output 8 KHz - 48 KHz 32-Bit 5.1 channel surround
Compliant Standards Sound Blaster, AC `97, General MIDI,
Dolby Digital 5.1, A3D 1.0 Plug and Play
Max Speakers Qty 6
Memory / Flash Installed ( Max ) None
MIDI Channels Qty 48
Min / Max Sample Rate 8 KHz - 48 KHz
Response Bandwidth 10 - 22000 Hz
Voice Poliphony Qty 128
Sounds good huh? (If you don`t understand most of it don`t
worry! Basically you get two sound cards and an External
Drive. They can do pretty much anything you like to be
honest and the sound quality is second to none!)
Of course you?re going to have some software with your cards
and here they are:
Software included:
~~~~~~~~~~~
Audio HQ
Creative Recorder
Creative TaskBar
Creative Remote Center
Creative Surround Mixer
Creative MiniDisc Center
Creative PlayCenter 3
Creative WaveStudio
Creative Oozic Reactor
Creative Diagnostic
Creative Vienna SoundFont Studio
Steinberg?s Cubasis VST (for Creative), WaveLab Lite and
ReCycle Lite (Soundfont Edition)
Sonic Foundry`s Acid DJ
Image Line`s Fruity Loops - Creative Edition
Ulead VideoStudio 4.0 SE Basic
Arturia`s Storm - Platinum Editio
n
MixMeister Technology`s MixMeister 3.03
Unibrain S.A.`s FireNet 2.x
iM Networks Inc.`s iM Tuner (Internet radio)
Okay so that?s all the spec and stuff done, on to the review.
Basically this isn?t for everyone; you need to know a little
about computers and musical equipment to get the most out
of this card. But with the software and the detailed
instructions you can get by.
The sound that this card can record is amazing!
Basically if you have the money (and remember there is some
seriously cheaper sound cards out there) and you want to be
making your own sounds on your computer BUY THIS! There is
none finer!
It?s the dog? bits! There?s not much it won?t let you do!
Creative we love you!
Super Stardom here I come!
Summary:
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