Creative Sound Blaster Z Series

Discussion in 'Soundcards, Speakers HiFI & File formats' started by IanM, Aug 15, 2012.

  1. -Tj-

    -Tj- Ancient Guru

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    Agree for playback it should be good, but I kinda doubt for something like Steinberg Cubase or Propellerheads Reason or Abeldon, etc.

    I tried ASIO4ALL once in Reason and it failed badly compared to HW ASIO. :)
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2012
  2. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    ASIO4ALL did under 5ms with an E8400, your CPU might just do it.
     
  3. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    They're THX TruStudio cards....good luck with Dolby support. The Recon3D cards don't support Dolby, so I wouldn't expect these to either as they'll use the same (or very similar) THX TruStudio Pro software as the Recon3D cards.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2012
  4. -Tj-

    -Tj- Ancient Guru

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    You're missing the point, HW is still HW. And speaking of ASIO4AL, I had some sound distortion (crackle, pops, robotic sounds), idk it was probably program compatibility issue,.. lol I removed that turd and stayed at HW ASIO2.0 ever since :D


    Anyway, yes i know these mainstream cards aren't really meant for ultra professional audio production, but still it can be handy :)
     

  5. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    Most likey not, The Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3 non Slims with the RCA out's and the Deluxe with the 5.1 RCA out did Full blu ray audio thru analog as long you used Total Media Theater/TMT5. Tho your gonna have to find one off ebay.

    Unless you meant HDMI and not thru analog.
     
  6. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    If they support PAP (Protected Audio Path) then they will be able to play high bitrate audio on Blu Ray.
    No PAP = no support.

    Although there is a way round it :)
     
  7. Anarion

    Anarion Ancient Guru

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    Well, for starters I can play music while gaming and still hear other sound if needed. It also seems more stable since wasapi have caused some really weird issues and I had to reinstall drivers. I have cubase and it is the best output to use in that case.
     
  8. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    In which case you are still using a mixer, not clean audio throughput.

    Wasapi is part of Windows 7, if its unstable, its worth reporting.
     
  9. gamerk2

    gamerk2 Ancient Guru

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    On paper, the Z might displace the DX as the sub $100 card of choice. We'll see what the full spec sheet says.
     
  10. gamerk2

    gamerk2 Ancient Guru

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    [​IMG]
     

  11. Anarion

    Anarion Ancient Guru

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    No, it bypasses the Windows mixer completely. It's pretty damn easy to test. I disable Widnows' audio service and sound keeps playing. Windows volume panel doesn't recognize any sound when using ASIO out either. Real ASIO implementation is not comparable to ASIO4ALL at all really which is kernel streaming ASIO wrapper.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2012
  12. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    If 2 audio signals are being mixed together, then you ARE using a mixer.
     
  13. Anarion

    Anarion Ancient Guru

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    The point is that it bypasses Windows mixer, result is much better when playing two sources. Also ASIO out seems to be priority one when doing bit-matched playback.
     
  14. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    Thats not the point I am making.
    If any mixer is used, the signal isnt straight through.

    Unless your audio app has exclusive access to the sound hardware, there will be some mixing.
     
  15. Anarion

    Anarion Ancient Guru

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    ASIO driver has direct access to X-Fi but it doesn't block Windows from playing sound either. Sure, some kind of mixing has to happen when two sources play at the same time. WASAPI's biggest annoyance is that it blocks everything.
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2012

  16. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    You have it back to front.
    Wasapis biggest advantage is that it can block everything except what you are playing (exclusive mode).

    If you want your source to be played without interference, Wasapi (exclusive mode) is perfect.
    If you need to play 2 audio sources at the same time, you cant have pure audio from a single source so theres no point in doing a quality comparison with exclusive mode.
     
  17. Anarion

    Anarion Ancient Guru

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    Huoh... I know that and it wasn't the point.
     
  18. Meocene

    Meocene Master Guru

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    what i'd like to know about wasapi is whether or not allows a sound cards drivers to directly access the audio buffer...

    that's all i wanna know.
     
  19. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    It appears to have the feature
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd371455(v=vs.85).aspx

     
  20. ROBSCIX

    ROBSCIX Ancient Guru

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    That is, well standard for todays cards.

    The 120 dB rating is a specification, so in the real world you may hit about 116-117dB. Newer entry level cards should start hitting those marks for the next couple of crops.

    Nice to see they put some good DAC on thos SoundCard chips. Not sure where they get their marketing guys but they need new ones.
     

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