Bluegears b-Enspirer

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mahatm@

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Has anyone heard anything about the new audio card from Bluegears? It looks like it started being shipped on 9/01/06. Bluegears Web Page Link

So far I can't even find anything more than the product sheets.
 
This is pretty much just the HDA X-Plosion, which is nothing more than a fair card, but a good alternate to those who no longer wish to offer Creative Labs money.

I really love non-sensical market-speak. "b-Enspirer enables studio level audio performance." RightMark says otherwise, sirs.
 
like the auzentech cards on newegg. i ditched my XFi for the Auzentech. Dolby digital encoding.
 
phide said:
This is pretty much just the HDA X-Plosion, which is nothing more than a fair card, but a good alternate to those who no longer wish to offer Creative Labs money.

I really love non-sensical market-speak. "b-Enspirer enables studio level audio performance." RightMark says otherwise, sirs.
Click to expand...

It has the same chipset as the X-Meridian, and seems to have many of the same features as well. I don't think it's like the X-Plosion except that it shares a few features.
 
the X-plosion doesn't support 192Khz.

The X-purity is supposed to be the next card from Auzuntech which supports 192Khz and the 8788 chipset.

http://www.auzentech.com/press.html#press scroll down to near the bottom of the page.

I'd get the auzuntech card before the bluegears though. The one from Bluegears (if the card shown in their picture is in fact it) looks like a generic $20 card. At least Auzuntech puts some shit on their cards and you can upgrade them with better chips.
 
The price of b-Enspirer is very reasonable with 8788 chipset. See Zipzoomfly or FrozenCPU. There are several pictures and looks fine. I don't think Auzen will sell this at this price. I go ahead and buy one and get you my opinion later.
 
Is it just my imagination, or isn't the Bluegears card using a newer version of the c-media chip than Auzentech is currently shipping? The X-Mystique uses the 8768, and the b-Enspirer uses the 8788.

Yes, admittedly Auzentech makes overall nicer cards. Until they actually ship their announced X-Meridian card that uses the 8788 chipset, wouldn't it be advisable to go with the newer chipset if you were buying in the interim?
 
the mystique is an older card. I have one. Like it a lot too for HTPC use. The X-Plosion is their current newest card that supports the DD and DTS, and uses the 8770 chip.

I think I may see about getting an X-Meridian for the HTPC when it comes out as well.

vexeus - thanks for pointing that out. I figured they were either the same card and had a name change, or the same "core card" with different features.
 
I got b-Enspirer from ZZF. 109.99 for 8788 is amazingly low price in terms of the sound quality. I am using Dolby Headphone for counter strike, World of Warcraft and Oblivion. It is awesome.
 
I have one of these on order that should be rolling in here soon, so I guess I will be one of the beta testers that formulates an opinion on this. The feature set certainly looks nice on paper, lets see it the hardware (and drivers...shudder...) can pull it off. I sure hope it can. I don't do alot of gaming (only flight simulators) but do use the PC as a HTPC quite a bit. So perhaps this will be our answer to moving from onboard sound.
 
Having used the X-Plosion (gaming comp) and X-Mystique (HTPC) now for a while, i can say i don't really miss my Audigy2 Pro. If i was a mainly Headphone gamer, i'd probably have stuck with the Audigy2..

There are some criticisms though, which i assume will be the same in this card.

There is more software work done by the soundcard vs the creative cards, having a dual core has helped in this area (probably one of the few things that gaming + dual core can benefit from).

The fact that the line in/mic in aren't encoded to the DTS/DD stream.. I haven't tried it on my Xplosion but it is true on the mystique.. The line in/mic in analog inputs are only output to analog speakers..


The one thing i like about this card, which was nice about the Turtle Beach version was it has the SPDIF Input (although the turtle beach supposidly had sync issues), neither the Mystique or Xplosion comes with the digital in. There was a daughter card that was never sold in the US for this..

For anyone who gets this, i'd love to hear your review or feedback on it..
 
azuntech has a deal right now if you trade in your mystique or xplosion, you'll get $50 towards the x-meridian. So it comes to about $150 :(

I'd do it,...but I don't have another $150 to drop on a soundcard for the HTPC right now.


One question I can't seem to find the answer to is that do the mystique, xplosion, and meridian encode all input sources to DD or DTS and output over SPDIF or Analog? I ask b/c I've had some DVD's that (mainly the kids' stuff...so it doesn't really matter) still output in 2-channel and not DD (I have the mystique) over the SPDIF out. I haven't really tried the analog out yet.
 
i have an HDA 5.1 Mystic, but if ur playing any games, u have to get a creative X-FI just because of support (EAX)
 
EAX doesn't work half the time. why give creative money? dolby headphone ftw
 
mjz_5 said:
i have an HDA 5.1 Mystic, but if ur playing any games, u have to get a creative X-FI just because of support (EAX)
Click to expand...
Nonsense. EAX is not an API, and is not required for games.

nst6563 said:
One question I can't seem to find the answer to is that do the mystique, xplosion, and meridian encode all input sources to DD or DTS and output over SPDIF or Analog?
Click to expand...
The Mystique only encodes Dolby Digital, while the Xplosion and Meridian encode both DTS and Dolby Digital. All cards can decode DD and DTS, and only through the digital outputs.

To watch DVDs, you need to make sure you're using the DD/DTS mix, have your speakers correctly set up in the player and make sure that the Mystique is set to act as the decoder.
 
phide said:
The Mystique only encodes Dolby Digital, while the Xplosion and Meridian encode both DTS and Dolby Digital. All cards can decode DD and DTS, and only through the digital outputs.

To watch DVDs, you need to make sure you're using the DD/DTS mix, have your speakers correctly set up in the player and make sure that the Mystique is set to act as the decoder.
Click to expand...


I knew that...but as I posted in my original question, I still get sources in 2-channel mode even though the mystique is set to DD Live 5.1 over SPDIF. The movie previews on yahoo are in DD, however, some DVD's are still in 2-channel.
 
phide said:
Nonsense. EAX is not an API, and is not required for games.
Click to expand...

True, but OpenAL and DirectSound3D are API's and none of these cards support them in hardware (they don't support OpenAL at all, they have to use a DirecSound3D wrapper). Unless if you are not CPU limited in games (which is almost never these days), expect a performance hit (I know I did with the Mystique). Mjz_5 was correct in his assertion that these cards are not meant for gaming.
 
I don't care if there's a performance hit. Dolby headphone alone is sufficient when the rest of your audio system is high end.

FFS the game I play most BF2? I can't use EAX. Now this could be EA's fault too but creative should have better support for such a popular gaem. So yeah I'm using software sound atm.

Plus, it has an optical out which every PC soundcard should have built in the CARD not some front panel (ahem Creative) which I can plug my Klipsch Surround into. Screw EAX Dolby works for me.
 
spaceman said:
Dolby headphone alone is sufficient when the rest of your audio system is high end.
Click to expand...

And what's wrong with using Dolby Headphone on your receiver? I can just as easily use it too with my X-Fi.
 
no receiver is the problem lol. I have the Klipsch 5.1 with flyingsaucer controller. no headphone out there. wtf wouldn't Creative at least put a seperate headphone jack on all of their boards? and an optical out instead of wtf ever that dvi looking thing is.
 
Virtual-Hideout reviewed the Bluegears b-Enspirer. Not bad.

"If you are considering a new sound card solution and have the opportunity to sample this sound card, you won't be disappointed. The Enspirer could perhaps be the perfect 7.1 channel upgrade, especially if you want to save money."
 
Anybody have this yet? How is it?


Is it worth waiting for the Auzentech X-Meridian over this card?
 
I cannot venture a guess as to whether it is worth waiting for the Meridian, but I have the Enspirer and love the hell out of it. Very easy driver installation (are you listening Creative?), Fantastic sound, and lots of adjustment to the settings. I ma VERY glad I bought this card. I don't play games all that much, and am more of a flight simulator junky than anything else. Movies and music sound great. And I can forsee me using this card in machines I build for clients when Onboard is not an option.

Being able to up convert music to 5.1 from 2 channel is really a strong selling point of this card. It sounds very good playing through a set of Logitech Z680's.
 
sO how does this card compare to the extreme music? I'm not a "audiophile" but I want really good sound.
 
So far I am using b-Enspirer and no complaint about it. 117 dB and 24bit/192KHz working fine for my HTPC. The best thing is Dolby Headphone. This option enhances the sound quality a lot. I am very happy with this card.
 
So has anyone tested this "Dolby Headphone" thing comparing it to X-fi CMSS? I currently have an x-fi platinum, but I'm looking for a card like this one that has slighty better musical/movie sound, and can encode dolby live. However, I do game quite a bit and cmss does help a lot. But I'm curious as to how much worse dolby headphone is compared to cmss in gaming. If it's hardly noticable, I'd get this card. There are plenty of technical mumbo jumbo comparing the 2 out there, but no real world experience.

Anyone?
 
kaluminati said:
So has anyone tested this "Dolby Headphone" thing comparing it to X-fi CMSS? I currently have an x-fi platinum, but I'm looking for a card like this one that has slighty better musical/movie sound, and can encode dolby live. However, I do game quite a bit and cmss does help a lot. But I'm curious as to how much worse dolby headphone is compared to cmss in gaming. If it's hardly noticable, I'd get this card. There are plenty of technical mumbo jumbo comparing the 2 out there, but no real world experience.

Anyone?
Click to expand...

Some of the people who know audio stuff pretty well over at Anandtech said that Creative's solution is actually the best for 3-dimensional audio by headphones. I can't remember the exact details, but if you're using headphones, especially for gaming, and already have an X-Fi there would be no reason to switch. If not, then personally I would look into one of these cards myself.

Are you outputting audio to a reciever or something from your X-Fi or are you using PC speakers?

If its just PC speakers then I would say the X-Fi is the better sound card for you. The main strenght of those other cards is that they can output DDL/DTS-Connect encoded audio to an external reciever, which typically have higher quality components than PC sound cards and also generally higher quality speakers.

Movies there should be little to no difference either way you do it, as with either card you should be just outputting the DD/DTS stream and not affecting it either way, and they should sound mostly equal if you have the card decoding it as well.

I don't think you're going to get much better music quality unless you output to an external DAC or something (in which case you should be able to do that with the X-Fi card you have now anyways). If you're using PC speakers, to be honest you're probably not going to notice much difference in music quality between an X-Fi and these cards (provided you're not into the whole upsampling thing which personally does not sound good to me).

If you're a big gamer then I would stick with the X-Fi.

While I'm not a fan of Creative, the X-Fi is far from a horrible sound card.
 
p3sty said:
sO how does this card compare to the extreme music? I'm not a "audiophile" but I want really good sound.
Click to expand...

Well depends on what you're using it for. If you're gaming and/or use PC speakers then I would go with the X-Fi. If you have a home theater system you'll be using, then I would go with these one of these cards.

As far as music and movies go they should be about a wash (assuming that with music you won't be playing around with upmixing and other software features that are really actually just distorting the sound).
 
hortus said:
I cannot venture a guess as to whether it is worth waiting for the Meridian, but I have the Enspirer and love the hell out of it. Very easy driver installation (are you listening Creative?), Fantastic sound, and lots of adjustment to the settings. I ma VERY glad I bought this card. I don't play games all that much, and am more of a flight simulator junky than anything else. Movies and music sound great. And I can forsee me using this card in machines I build for clients when Onboard is not an option.

Being able to up convert music to 5.1 from 2 channel is really a strong selling point of this card. It sounds very good playing through a set of Logitech Z680's.
Click to expand...

So are you just outputting to the 680s through optical? In all honesty, the analog output from an X-Fi or even these cards will likely be the better quality way to go. I doubt you'll really be able to tell much difference (partly because the speakers really wouldn't be able to bring out the difference), but it is worth noting. The convenience of one cable versus 3 or 4 might be worth it for you though, so thats also worth considering.

I'll save the comments about upmixing music, since you seem to like it (and it really is a subjective thing to be honest anyways).
 
Moofasa~ said:
And what's wrong with using Dolby Headphone on your receiver? I can just as easily use it too with my X-Fi.
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused. Are you saying that the X-Fi supports Dolby Headphone? It doesn't. It is true that you can tell these cards to apply the D-Headphone algorithm to the output stream and then just plug your headphones into the reciever and you should get the correct sound (so your reciever doesn't have to feature Dolby Headphone capability).
 
darkswordsman17 said:
I'm a little confused. Are you saying that the X-Fi supports Dolby Headphone? It doesn't. It is true that you can tell these cards to apply the D-Headphone algorithm to the output stream and then just plug your headphones into the reciever and you should get the correct sound (so your reciever doesn't have to feature Dolby Headphone capability).
Click to expand...

Well you can apply the Dolby Headphone algorithm in different ways. My receiver supports Dolby Headphone (that's what I was talking about in that post), so I can just hook my sound card up to my receiver and be done with it. Also several programs have Dolby Headphone support (like CyberLink DVD software and there is also a plug-in for Foobar2000). So having a sound card with "support" for Dolby Headphone is rather a small selling point.

However, I personally would not worry about it because CMSS-3D for headphones is basically equal to Dolby Headphone (and CMSS is a little bit better for games). You are not missing much (if anything).
 
darkswordsman17 said:
Some of the people who know audio stuff pretty well over at Anandtech said that Creative's solution is actually the best for 3-dimensional audio by headphones. I can't remember the exact details, but if you're using headphones, especially for gaming, and already have an X-Fi there would be no reason to switch. If not, then personally I would look into one of these cards myself.

Are you outputting audio to a reciever or something from your X-Fi or are you using PC speakers?

If its just PC speakers then I would say the X-Fi is the better sound card for you. The main strenght of those other cards is that they can output DDL/DTS-Connect encoded audio to an external reciever, which typically have higher quality components than PC sound cards and also generally higher quality speakers.

Movies there should be little to no difference either way you do it, as with either card you should be just outputting the DD/DTS stream and not affecting it either way, and they should sound mostly equal if you have the card decoding it as well.

I don't think you're going to get much better music quality unless you output to an external DAC or something (in which case you should be able to do that with the X-Fi card you have now anyways). If you're using PC speakers, to be honest you're probably not going to notice much difference in music quality between an X-Fi and these cards (provided you're not into the whole upsampling thing which personally does not sound good to me).

If you're a big gamer then I would stick with the X-Fi.

While I'm not a fan of Creative, the X-Fi is far from a horrible sound card.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.

I am using the logitech z5500s, no receiver. Digital out on my x-fi to an external Entech Number Cruncher DAC to Pimeta amp. Not going any further than this atm because my music collection is under 5% FLAC. DT770 PRO/80.

This is kind of what I was thinking. Just needed some extra confirmation, thanks.
 
Moofasa~ said:
Well you can apply the Dolby Headphone algorithm in different ways. My receiver supports Dolby Headphone (that's what I was talking about in that post), so I can just hook my sound card up to my receiver and be done with it. Also several programs have Dolby Headphone support (like CyberLink DVD software and there is also a plug-in for Foobar2000). So having a sound card with "support" for Dolby Headphone is rather a small selling point.

However, I personally would not worry about it because CMSS-3D for headphones is basically equal to Dolby Headphone (and CMSS is a little bit better for games). You are not missing much (if anything).
Click to expand...

Thats kinda what I thought you were saying, but wasn't for sure.
 
kaluminati said:
Thanks for the info.

I am using the logitech z5500s, no receiver. Digital out on my x-fi to an external Entech Number Cruncher DAC to Pimeta amp. Not going any further than this atm because my music collection is under 5% FLAC. DT770 PRO/80.

This is kind of what I was thinking. Just needed some extra confirmation, thanks.
Click to expand...

Not a bad setup at all, but yeah, no real reason to change from the X-Fi there other than wanting to not use Creative.
 
I don't know much about technical or engineering stuffs but I can just say that Dolby Headphone is a very good additional feature when my wife is sleeping. I am using only 40 bucks headphone but I can tell the difference.
 
p3sty said:
sO how does this card compare to the extreme music? I'm not a "audiophile" but I want really good sound.
Click to expand...

I just installed this card and took out the X-fi Extreme music and I have to say this card for me at least is much betterthan the X-fi, as I can use the optical digital out to my Logitech Z5500 speakers and customized the settings to get just the right sound output using DTS or Dolby Digital. I hated the fact that the X-fi never had a optical digital output and I could never really customize the output to my taste and randomly from time to time I would get this loud hiss noise while playing games and would have to reboot my system to get rid of the noise. So for me for the price this card kicks ass and is worth every penny.

:p :D :cool:
 
same here ditched the X-FI for the X-Mystique 7.1 i dont think any thing can compare to the quality of Dolby digital live encoding i really wasent expecting it to sound this good going from an X-FI
 
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