You audio enthusiasts, look here... Audigy 4???

Thaddy said:
Can anyone guess who is about to get a warning for thread crapping, name calling, and posting off topic replies?
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nope, who'd you needlessly report? :D

I'm hoping for good things, and a price drop. I could use a better sound card than I have... but I'll probably get one of the cards more suited for the "audio enthusiast" than what creative offers.
 
For the first time I'm actually not excited about this Creative sound card release, even though I hate the company so damn much. It's specs are not all the impressive, and hardly an upgrade from the "old" generation.

Just wait till I get my hands on a ripped version of their new software to use on my current ZS. Then we'll be rolling. ;)
 
Perhaps they are taking a cue from Winamp, skipping a couple model numbers they didn't like?
 
This looks like less of an upgrade from the ZS than the ZS was from the base A2. Go Creative, lemme know when you put DTS encoding and Aureal's tech on a card. I'll be keeping this ZS for a while, PCI slots aren't going out of style.
 
Agreed.
The only I can see is they improved the DAC and tweaked the software. :rolleyes:
The typical we have to get something new out for the Christmas rush thing if I ever seen it.
 
If it can do DVD-A, how does it read the DVD-A discs? Would you need a compatible dvd drive?
 
There's only one thing on the card that seems to be a real upgrade - it looks like the card will no longer resample everything to 16/48, which should kill half the anti-creative rants out there.

Evidence - the specifications page says all effects processing done at 32-bits, so I would guess it would actually upsample to 32 for processing, then downsample to 24 or 16 for playback/recording.
The specifications page also says it supports recording at a wide variety of sample rates, including 22.05, 44.1, and 96.

Since this product is aimed at musicians, this makes sense. It's an Audigy 2 ZS platinum pro that doesn't resample. Now, if they try and come out with their normal/platinum/pro groups again, I will start to wonder whether the version bump (Audigy 2 ZS to Audigy 4) is simply an attempt to emphasize that the card is different from its predecessors, which its specifications don't.
 
It's just like the comment "8-point interpolation that reduces distortion to inaudible levels" is.
They are just marketing plays on words.
Translation--->
Our audio processing unit processes audio data with an internal precision of 32 bits even though the AC97 interface on the card and effects engine still force resampling.
 
I wonder why Creative's engineers would then go to all the work of making the DSP work at 32 bits when before it ran only at 16/48, if it was only going to be downsampled anyway. We know from the EMU soundcards that the emu10kx processor is definitely able to do different sampling rates. I also an unable to find where it mentions that the card complies to the AC'97 specification. Anyway, this is all just theory - I haven't actually seen the card or read any reviews yet. Have you?

As for the 8-point interpolation, they've been advertising that since the Live. That it reduces distortion might be marketing, but I'd be highly surprised if their highly advertised feature didn't exist.
 
Still, with a list price north of $200, one has to wonder who should buy an Audigy 4. My Audigy 1 still kicks out the gaming audio perfectly well, and my Revo takes care of my music and occasional movie needs. If one is willing to do soundcard switching, I can't help but think of all the better uses that $200 could be put to in service of better sound. Heck, you can get a decent headphone rig for that price. On the other hand, I'm sure that the Creative marketing machine is brewing up a big steaming pile of horseshit to shovel around, and that enough people will be suckered into buying a new soundcard rather than putting the money towards a better speaker rig.

Sheesh.
 
dravalier said:
I wonder why Creative's engineers would then go to all the work of making the DSP work at 32 bits when before it ran only at 16/48, if it was only going to be downsampled anyway. We know from the EMU soundcards that the emu10kx processor is definitely able to do different sampling rates. I also an unable to find where it mentions that the card complies to the AC'97 specification. Anyway, this is all just theory - I haven't actually seen the card or read any reviews yet. Have you?
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Don't need to.... the AC97 codec is plainly visible in the Picts. ;)
And I think you missed the point of the 32bit thing.
Just because the internal registers operate at 32 bits does not mean it can process a 32 bit audio signal.
As far as the DSP's implementaion on the 1212M goes....
Ever notice how none of the effects work at anything higher then 48khz?
Wonder why that is? ;)

dravalier said:
As for the 8-point interpolation, they've been advertising that since the Live. That it reduces distortion might be marketing, but I'd be highly surprised if their highly advertised feature didn't exist.
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It's not that it doesn't exist... it is just that it is a "feature" implemented in just about every sound card on the market. ;)
 
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