Sound blaster Z vs normal XFI Titanium which one is better ?

Discussion in 'Soundcards, Speakers HiFI & File formats' started by playst, Jan 2, 2013.

  1. Anarion

    Anarion Ancient Guru

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    Majority of those games don't benefit from hardware audio acceleration at all because they use software audio.
     
  2. GenClaymore

    GenClaymore Ancient Guru

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    Mass effect as well as Borderlands series you have to change the audio device from Xaudio to Al.Audio for OpenAL, Wheres Doom3,UT3,U2 and Quake 4 has a in game option for openal. Also Both UT3 and U2 games your might wanna change the voices from 32 to 128, as is on 32 by default. But yea I wouldn't bother testing for hardware acceleration performance, there's no point unless you have a very old Single core or first gen dual core.
     
  3. Anarion

    Anarion Ancient Guru

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    ME2 and ME3 use Wwise so OpenAL hardware acceleration is no go, ME1 used OpenAL and you have to be sure that you have correct DeviceName under [ISACTAudio.ISACTAudioDevice]. Crysis games are all software too. Don't know about Lost Planet 2 but those NFS games probably are Xaudio.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2013
  4. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    I need you guys to help me out here. For games that support OpenAL, how to run them on OpenAL.
     

  5. Anarion

    Anarion Ancient Guru

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    Mirror's Edge and/or UT3 are probably the easiest to test. You can check teh device name with ALCapsViewer32. http://connect.creativelabs.com/openal/Downloads/ALCapsViewer.zip

    [​IMG]
    In my case the device name is Sennheiser HD 595 (Sound Blaster Z), when I had Forte in my machine it was Auzen X-Fi Audio [0001].

    I did a test in Mirror's Edge between software and hardware mode with Forte and there was no difference at all.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2013
  6. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    Thanks. I know there is no difference, but I'm gonna test and show numbers anyways.

    It will be the most pointless bunch of benchmarks in history, but oh well.
     
  7. ROBSCIX

    ROBSCIX Ancient Guru

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    Hardware audio acceleration applies to ANY audio task. SRC, EQ...etc. Even if a game doesn't use the hardware directly, certain aspects of the output can still be accelerated. That being said, I wouldn't buy a card based on HW acceleration these days, it is more about sound quality and feature set.
     
  8. dsbig

    dsbig Ancient Guru

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    why do people keep saying that the hd model cant do 5.1

    even the website says it..

    but I have no problem doing it. using media classic playing a movie encoded in 5.1 and the card switched my receiver to 5.1 on optical without using the dolby digital switch in cards settings.


    and HW acceleration like rob said isnt important anymore. cpu these days can handle it no problem.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2013
  9. ROBSCIX

    ROBSCIX Ancient Guru

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    It says it becuase it is true and it is not...the HD cannot provide 5.1 through analog output. ONLY on digital so generally people are concerned with analog features for a soundcard as digital features really waste a great deal of what people payed for.
     
  10. dsbig

    dsbig Ancient Guru

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    anyway I just decided to switch back over to my titanium.


    I bought a slightly used reciever with analog multichannel input and will be recieving later in the week.:banana:

    my 7 year old receiver has been acting up. fan going bad. sound not coming out all the speakers when turning on. doesnt have enough connections. have to switch cabls for optical as the reciever only had one.
     

  11. ati666

    ati666 Guest

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    @yasamoka

    did u get the results?
     
  12. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    There's a very high chance the Sound Blaster Z will be arriving tomorrow, so I will test tomorrow hopefully.
     
  13. ati666

    ati666 Guest

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    did u receive the Z series yet?
     
  14. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    Yup, can only test on i7 930, i5 2500, and i7 3770K. Might get hold of a Core 2 Duo system soon, too.
     
  15. ati666

    ati666 Guest

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    cool
     

  16. ati666

    ati666 Guest

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    dude ,its been over a week..... any thing yet?
     
  17. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    Not yet, I got a life. Uni started again too.
     
  18. ati666

    ati666 Guest

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    how can u have university during a time like this...summer vacation
     
  19. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    I have a 6 week summer semester.

    Don't call us; we'll call you. :)
     
  20. Radical_53

    Radical_53 Ancient Guru

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    Any, more or less, recent games you'd say have "very" accurate positional audio? Maybe even one that has a very nicely done headphone mode.
    I should receive my Z series card tomorrow so I'll try to get as much of a comparison as I can get.
    I'm still satisfied with the sound quality of my THD so positional audio, and maybe soundstage, would be the only "issues" I'd like to see fixed.
     

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