Auzentech Prelude Discussion Thread

davaid

Well after a very long waiting the Auzen X-Fi Prelude card is out from Auzentech which is centered around the X-Fi audio processing chipset from Creative..

So many people predicted that this card will be better than the X-FI from Creative as it combines both the best of the gaming world and the best of music world (inherited from the X-Meridian).

I have created this thread so we can discuss issues and testing of the card and how does it compare with the X-Fi's from Creative and other sound cards....etc.

So please post your testing results so you can help others make a wise upgrade decision (like myself).

Cheers.

damien666 · 08-28-2007, 08:07 | posts: 9,169 | Location: nottingham, uk | User is Offline

well im waiting for mine but overclockers wont have it till friday now

MEGA PISSED

Lone_Bullet.be · 08-28-2007, 09:45 | posts: 29 | Location: Ghent, Belgium | User is Offline

hopefully mine will be here by tomorrow

DoctorO · *Last edited by DoctorO; 08-28-2007 at 14:39. Reason: typo*

they appeared at the german distributor today. took me one hour to order one because i couldnt checkout with only one item (shop was stuck at the choose payment site). added one dumb cable for whatever and it worked then, hope it will be here by thursday.

X3d4 · 08-28-2007, 12:33 | posts: 14 | User is Offline

no THX
no THX console
and no replacement for this.

to remind http://www.soundblaster.com/resource...id=53875&cat=4

Satan · 08-28-2007, 13:04 | posts: 6,599 | Location: Towson, MD, USA | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by X3d4

no THX
no THX console
and no replacement for this.

to remind http://www.soundblaster.com/resource...id=53875&cat=4

Err they have a similar thing >.>

davaid · 08-28-2007, 13:13 | posts: 672 | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by X3d4

no THX
no THX console
and no replacement for this.

to remind http://www.soundblaster.com/resource...id=53875&cat=4

Do you mean that the prelude doesn't have THX certification (doesn't support the technology); but it should since the X-Fi chip supports that.

ROBSCIX · 08-28-2007, 13:17 | posts: 10,558 | Location: Guru3D Audio Lab | User is Offline

Just mean they didn't bother sending it to Lucas arts for THX certification. Doesn't mean anything more then that. THX is not a technology....it is a set of guidlines and standard a card must meet to be considered THX certified. Don't put too much stock in THX certification. The X-Meridian wasn;t THX certified either and it chews alot of other card that are THX certified.

BTW, My Audigy 2 Value didn't come with a THX panel either. I do have a THX panel for the card now though

vf · *Last edited by vf; 08-28-2007 at 15:31.*

Aww I'm so going to miss the THX control panel from the Audigy2 ZS. I love the chrome text. :sarcasm:

I could never see what all the fuss was about THX apart from the lovely chrome text when certain DVD's start. Plus I've only ever opened that once after a fresh OS install to set the D I/O and front channel position below the monitor. Apart from that nothing else was touched. Or I never saw improvements that I needed.

ROBSCIX · 08-28-2007, 16:06 | posts: 10,558 | Location: Guru3D Audio Lab | User is Offline

I am sure the improved sound quality will more then make up for it

NvidiaFreak · 08-28-2007, 17:06 | posts: 4,754 | Location: 〓ω〓 | User is Offline

THX Sound you need THX speakers with DD 5.1 to get them. so if you dont have THX speakers and DD when seeing HD DVD or Blue Ray or DVD you wont get THX.

GenClaymore · 08-28-2007, 17:58 | posts: 2,800 | Location: Michigan,usa | User is Offline

THX isnt any thing special its just 3 letters and it just marketing.

Mad Cow · 08-28-2007, 19:42 | posts: 1,093 | Location: Canada | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by GenClaymore

THX isnt any thing special its just 3 letters and it just marketing.

Yep, although it usually is a sign of quality.

NvidiaFreak · 08-28-2007, 20:45 | posts: 4,754 | Location: 〓ω〓 | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Cow

Yep, although it usually is a sign of quality.

that part is true, THX speakers do sound better then the other ones with out the THX logo.

THX means your speakers support THX BASS but again, to have true THX Sound, you must have a sound card or amp that does DD 5.1 or DTS 5.1 and great speakers to get that THX BASS sound.

Mad Cow · 08-28-2007, 22:05 | posts: 1,093 | Location: Canada | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by NvidiaFreak

that part is true, THX speakers do sound better then the other ones with out the THX logo.

THX means your speakers support THX BASS but again, to have true THX Sound, you must have a sound card or amp that does DD 5.1 or DTS 5.1 and great speakers to get that THX BASS sound.

NO! THX is just a certification. A company sends a sample to LuasArts, if they thing it's good enough the give it THX certification, nothing more. THX bass sounds like a marketing scheme. Speakers can't "support" something, all they do is vibrate. And THX speakers don't always sound better than non-THX speakers. Take the Logitech Z-5500, they're THX certified but sound like crap next to professional quality speakers that aren't.

ROBSCIX · 08-29-2007, 05:46 | posts: 10,558 | Location: Guru3D Audio Lab | User is Offline

The Audigy 2 ZS or "classic" X-fi are THX certified and the don't hold a candle to the X-Meridian for pure sound quality not to mention the Prelude. Just because it has THX cert's doesn't mean much. Some see it as a selling point some do not. I go for sound quality myself not how many stickers are on the box

X3d4 · *Last edited by X3d4; 08-29-2007 at 12:33.*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Cow

NO! THX is just a certification.

Nope.

THX is a certification.
But the hardware/software must contain certain functions.

e.g. a speaker calibration.

They is now way for speaker calibration on the prelude momentarily.

independently of the THX, also the following X-Fi functions momentarily are missing.

Dolby Digital and DD EX decoder
DTS and DTS ES decoder
Dolby Pro Logic decoder
DTS NEO:6 decoder
and
DVD Audio MLP decoder

In addition the Prelude the following functions seem to be missing.

one mixer channel less
Automatic headphone recognition.
and the bass subwoofer level

alg7_munif · 08-29-2007, 23:48 | posts: 655 | User is Offline

THX console on my X-Fi didn't help much either, the distance and angle selection are limited and I can't calibrate the speaker placement according to my speaker setup which is based on the guideline from Dolby. I can't change my speaker placement to follow Creative's guideline since I hook up everything to my receiver. My PS3, DVD player, sat receiver and etc use Dolby content so I would get the best sound experience based on Dolby placement.

davaid · 08-30-2007, 00:32 | posts: 672 | User is Offline

Oh my god AlChemy of Creative doesn't work on the Prelude....

So no EAX in Vista!!!

mrlips · 08-30-2007, 04:00 | posts: 21 | Location: Maryland | User is Offline

I finally got mine the other day, Im not sure what I was expecting but it sounds terrible to me. Im not any kind of audiophile but going from a Razer Barrucuda to this is terrible. The Razer sounded so much better than this. Also about Alchemy I read that a older version would work on this card but I havent tried it yet. Another thing I have the logitech Z-5500 speakers and I thought optical would work with this card but I can only get 2.1 with this does anyone know why?

vf · 08-30-2007, 05:16 | posts: 1,354 | Location: Drury Lane | User is Offline

Perhaps the drivers are quite poor currently... who knows. I wont know this until I get mine. Which I have no idea when that'll be.

Hilbert Hagedoorn · 08-30-2007, 06:06 | posts: 11,705 | Location: Guru3D Trenches | User is Offline

We have the card inbound for a review.

Some stuff on the drivers,

THX - it seems there are a number of bugs including THX. However I just read a driver bug report, those that are missing the THX TAB Auzentech assumes that a past X-Fi driver installation is influencing this issue.

The previous or past driver need to be removed completely.

Alchemy - Creative ALchemy driver has a mechanism that will check the hardware ssid to determine if he can download for free. Creative will add the support for Prelude 7.1 ssid into their next web release and Auzentech will provide a link on their website to connect to the Auzentech download URL. Auzentech will add this software and make it part of the full driver refresh together with other open issues that require fixes/customization.

Temperary solve: version 1.3.0.0' installs on X-Fi Prelude. However, the Alchemy 'version 1.00.07'(Aug, 07) does not find it.

Generic stuff - Dolby Digital Live for Vista and XP scheduled for Q4 of 2007, DTS® Interactive for Vista and XP, scheduled for Q1 of 2008 and DTS NEO PC for for Vista and XP scheduled for Q1 of 2008.

vf · 08-30-2007, 06:15 | posts: 1,354 | Location: Drury Lane | User is Offline

That was decent enough from Creative to allow Alchemy to work on the Prelude come the next release.

Looking forward to the review!

nutyo

mrlips comments don't sound too encouraging. Hopefully once we have a couple of fully functioning cards things will pick up. I really hope the Prelude is the best of both worlds and not the worst of both worlds.

mrlips · 08-31-2007, 02:30 | posts: 21 | Location: Maryland | User is Offline

After some more testing and moving some settings around I have it sounding much better, but still not as goos as the Razer. One problem I have always had with creative cards was voice in game. I have been playing Bioshock lately btw (awesome game) but the audion logs are so quiet you have to turn on subtitles just to be able to understand what they are saying maybe someone knows why this is? But overall Im still not impressed.