Auzentech XMeridian is finally out!

[alg7_munif]

The X-Meridian is discontinued:

As of June 2007, this soundcard is no longer in production due to limited chipset availability. Some retailers may have inventory on hand for a limited time.

Auzentech will continue to provide driver updates, technical support, and add-on boards for owners of the X-Meridian.

 

[PGHammer]

Oh I love it!



Both XBox and XBox 360 feature native OpenAL LOL!
http://openal.com/platforms.html

I also think they haven't heard of Alchemy either.

OpenAL is not new (or even news). OpenAL has been supported by Creative back to the original Sound Blaster Audigy (and as you just pointed out, by Microsoft back to the original XBOX). So you don't need even an X-Fi to support OpenAL.

OpenAL and Vista: OpenAL is *not* affected by Microsoft's removal of hardware audio-acceleration support from the Vista audio stack, as OpenAL doesn't use it (instead, OpenAL-compliant hardware gets the calls directly, with no interpolation by DirectSound necessary). Therefore, OpenAL-compliant audio hardware functions the same in Vista as it does in Windows XP as far as OpenAL is concerned. This is true of the X-Fi line, the Audigy 4 line, the Audigy 2 line (including ZS) and even the original Audigy.

The Raison d'Etre for ALchemy: ALchemy was created to map the EAX calls in games (in particular, Windows XP games running on Windows Vista) to OpenAL calls. ALchemy is currently a free download specifically intended for use with the X-Fi line of sound cards (however, a patched older version does indeed work with the Audigy series of sound cards as well) under Windows Vista.

EAX vs. OpenAL with ALchemy: I'm not a *heavy* gamer in Windows Vista; however, I do actually play games in the OS (Vista Ultimate, to be precise). I currently have an Audigy 2 ZS; however, I have one game that I play reasonably regularly that supports EAX (not OpenAL): Command and Conquer: Generals (with the Zero Hour expansion). (I have C&C3: Tiberium Wars- Kane Edition installed as well; however, unlike Zero Hour, Kane Edition supports OpenAL natively.) I had installed both games (and Supreme Commander as well), and installed the patched-for-Audigy version of ALchemy last. ALchemy (correctly) picked up the EAX-only Zero Hour, and applied the EAX-to-OpenAL mapping; however, it also (correctly) detected that my other games (Kane Edition and SupCom) supported OpenAL directly.

Impact on performance (ALchemy vs. non-ALchemy) Because ALchemy functions like a TSR, there is a small amount of *overhead* (however, the amount is less than typical IM software, such as Yahoo Messenger); however, there is a definitely *decreased* drag on game performance thanks to actually having working audio acceleration again.

If you take your favorite games from XP to Vista, and find you miss EAX (or even audio acceleration), ALchemy shoulld be a welcome pill for your gaming-audio ills.

 

[magnetik]

so is it time to close this thread?

 

[spaceman]

the card seems to have reached it's end of life yes?