 |
C-Media's Oxygen HD |
|---|
| Tue, January 15 2008 | 11:33AM | PermaLink |
Feedback? |
|
Despite its positional audio dominance, Creative has faced increased competition of late, largely from sound cards based on C-Media's Oxygen HD audio chip. Microsoft's decision to drop hardware acceleration for DirectSound 3D audio in Vista has also posed a challenge to the SoundBlaster monopoly by blunting some of EAX's appeal. All the while, motherboard makers have diligently worked to improve the quality of onboard audio solutions, creating a perfect storm that has spawned more PC audio choices than we've ever seen before.
Interestingly, two of the most recent additions to the sound card ecosystem use existing audio chips. Asus' new Xonar D2X, for example, is based on a tweaked version of C-Media's Oxygen HD. More interestingly, it comes with a PCI Express interface, finally providing fodder for the scores of empty PCIe x1 slots that dot the enthusiast landscape. On the other side of the fence we have Auzentech's X-Fi Prelude, which is the first third-party card to employ Creative's X-Fi silicon. The Prelude uses a custom board design and upgraded components in an attempt to wring better sound quality from the already impressive X-Fi audio chip.
|
|
FULL STORY @
Archived from TECHREPORT
http://techreport.com/articles.x/13874
CURRENT Audio / Sound News on PCSTATS
|
|
|
|
|
RSS Newsletter