Asus Xonar D2X / HDAV1.3 versus Auzentech Prelude / Forte? (Is EAX dying?)

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RamGuy

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Hi,

I've got a really hard time figuring which of these five audio cards solutions I should go for:

1: Auzentech Prelude
2: Auzentech Forte
3: Wait for the Auzentech Home Theater HD
4: Asus Xonar D2X
5: Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe


My Auzentech Prelude cards just got confirmed defective, so I can either receive another Prelude, a Forte or a Xonar D2X free of charge.. Or pay a slight fee for getting the more expensive Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe or wait for the Home Theater HD to release and arrive here in Norway.

For the last eight days I've borrowed a Xonar D2X from work to play around with, making me able to somewhat compare it's sound quality with the Prelude!

I'm running a 7.1 Creative GigaWorks S750 analogue only speaker set-up, and I have to admit when it comes to music and movies the over all audio quality of the Xonar D2X just feels better than the Prelude. It's easier to deal with, the sound feels richer and warmer compared to the somewhat flat and boring sound of the Prelude. I also found the Dolby Pro Logic IIx a really nice feature for a 7.1 speaker set-up, along with the Xonar drivers itself being small and easy to deal with compared with the massive Auzentech X-Fi package.

The downside with the Xonar D2X of course is the lack of native EAX5 support and no hardware EAX acceleration (as the Xonar D2X runs EAX through software and not hardware). I was hoping that the DS3D GX 2.5 feature would do the trick, but it's not really working as advertised, in both Battle for Middle Earth II and BFMEII: Rise of the Witch King I was unable to tick the "EAX" option at all, which makes it impossible for the Xonar D2X to emulate the EAX3 features as they aren't even activated in the game in the first place? I don't even know if the native EAX2.0 supports kicks in as I'm not able to tick the EAX option?


In all other aspects except for gaming I've found the Xonar D2X superior to the Prelude, and I think that's mostly because the Xonar D2X C-Media Oxygen HD audio processor suppress the Creative X-Fi audio processor on the Prelude, besides of native EAX5 the X-Fi doesn't really offer much over the Oxygen HD?


But then this question remains.. Is the native EAX really worth much these days?
Considering how few of the recent and upcoming games supporting EAX in the first place? Is there any at all? A few got OpenAL support, which makes the X-Fi cards take use of their hardware DSP which should gain some FPS while gaming, but as there is no EAX in those games it wouldn't really gain any advantages over the Xonar D2X when it comes to audio quality?

I'm running Windows Vista 64bit and Windows7 64bit, so has the lack of native HAL support since WinXP pretty much killed of the entire EAX thing? There are indeed some advantages with X-Fi cards over the Xonar cards when playing Battle for Middle Earth II and other EAX games where the DS3D GX part does not kick in, but in games where it do kick in the differences are minimal and now that there really isn't any newer games supporting EAX any more is there any point with EAX any more?


Which card would you recommend, another Prelude, Fort, Home Theater HD or the Asus Xonar D2X or Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe?
 
From what I've heard so far, I'd strike the Prelude off your list in favour of the Forte. The Forte is fresh and PCI-E and reportedly the successor to the Prelude. Beyond that, I'm still having the same debate of Auzen vs. Asus, since I do a mix of gaming and other uses, all analog output.

Thanks for writing your impressions of the D2X comparison in and out of games. I found it informative.
 
Honestly, I had a similiar doubt as you, just between the X-fi Forte and the Xonar D2X, I even posted a thread here but no one replied, so I ended choosing the X-fi Forte, I don't think I will be disappointed.

I know the Xonar is a great card and I was going to buy it, but I was a bit concerned about positional audio in games because I will use the Gigaworks S750 as well. Plus the Forte is a bit cheaper too, that helps since I don't live in the US and have to pay higher shipping fees.

I'd like to give you my impressions on the card, but I still have not received it and it will be a couple weeks before I can put my rig together.

Well, hope this helps. Either way, I think both cards will serve most users very well.
 
I thought I'd include some info I'm excited about with HDMI audio:

Signature game sounds received special consideration. “A lot of attention was placed on trying to replicate the power we experienced from the Abrams' [M1A1 tank] main canon,” explains Miller. “Each single shot is actually broken down into four separate components: The first two are the 3-D positional crack and boom of the initial part of the sound. The next part is the 3-D positional tail or decay. The fourth part is a stereo sweetener that envelops the player, playing out of both the front-left and -right speakers, but also the surround speakers.”
Mix magazine profiles the Infinity Ward videogame title Call of Duty 4, a first person shooter video game featured in Mix magazine February 2008

I first heard Audyssey demo'ed at the CEDIA convention last fall in Denver. Mike Thuresson, Audyssey Installer Program Manager, demo'ed a clip from the movie "Open Range". The demo was held in a tiny hotel room, maybe 18'X 20'. Mike played chapter 7 - a huge rainstorm with thunder. With Auyssey out, the front imaging was very good. I heard distinct sounds from the front left, center and front right speakers but very little from the surround channels. The thunder claps also sounded good from the sub. But when Mike switched Audyssey in (via the front panel bypass control), the audio suddenly surrounded me and I could hear distinct rain drops coming from all 5 speakers. The low frequency thunder claps shook me down to my feet. Mike referred to this as Audyssey creating an "Audio Bubble" around the listening area. What really amazed me was after I received and calibrated Audyssey in my home system, I tried the exact same movie clip and experienced the same "audio bubble" I heard during Mike's demo. The point is - this thing really works and works well!
"Official" Audyssey thread. - AVS Forum

Film composers, musicians, and audio engineers create the mixes of your favorite movies and music at reference levels much louder than typical home listening levels. At a lower playback volume, voices change, bass disappears, and the surround soundstage becomes less enveloping. Now, Dynamic EQ lets you enjoy the original rich sound at any volume.
Audyssey Welcomes You

1. Do game makers create the games audio at reference level?
2. Would you setup any bass management or speaker size in Windows, or let receiver/room correction handle it?
3. What about movies and the .1 (LFE) channel 10db quieter than the rest of the channels?
4. If you must set speaker mode in the game, and there are only 5.1 option, how would that work out on a 7.1 setup? Would windows extrapolate the extra channels or can the receiver do it?
5. Do game sound engines have access to the .lfe channel, or is it just used to route bass from speakers set to "small" in windows?
 
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