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SoundBlaster Live Platinum and Cambridge Desktop Theatre 2500 Review
SoundBlaster Live Platinum and Cambridge Desktop Theatre 2500 Review - PCSTATS
Sound, sound, sound we all want good sound for our games, DVD's and windows chime! We take a look at 'high end' products, and tell you just how far they go!
Filed under: Audio / Sound Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Creative May 11 2000   B. Ly  
Home > Reviews > Audio / Sound > Creative

SoundBlaster Live Platinum and Cambridge Desktop Theatre 2500 Review

Let's pretend that you have $600 CDN ($403 USD) lying around and primed for a soundcard and speaker upgrade. While most of us consider $600 to be a lot of money to throw down for a soundcard and speaker upgrade, it is not really that bad. Speakers and soundcards are typically not upgraded too often. For the hardcore gamer / performance hungry types, expensive CPU's and video cards are swapped every 6 months (OR LESS like some psychos that I know) I have used these two products for at least 4 months now, and I feel no urge to upgrade them, but the same can't be said for my CPU or video card J .

Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live! Platinum Specifications

Live! Drive Front Panel Connectors

  • S/PDIF In (RCA/coaxial jack)
  • S/PDIF Out (RCA/coaxial jack)
  • Headphone Out (1/4" stereo jack with volume control)
  • Line In (1/4" stereo jack with shared Microphone In)
  • Microphone In (1/4" jack with gain control)
  • MIDI In (standard DIN)
  • MIDI Out (standard DIN)

Wave-Table Synthesis

E-mu Systemsr, Inc. EMU10K1"! music synthesis engine

64-voice hardware polyphony with E-mu's patented 8-point interpolation technology

Uses SoundFontr technology for user-definable wave-table sample sets; includes 2MB, 4MB, and 8MB sets

Load up to 32MB of samples into host memory for professional music reproduction

Scalable PCI wave-table synthesis architecture

Up 1024-voice polyphony with multi-timbre capability

48 MIDI channels with 128 GM & GS-compatible instruments and 10 drum kits

Effects Engine

E-mu Systems, Inc. EMU10K1 patented effects processor

Support for real-time digital effects like reverb, chorus, flanger, pitch shifter, or distortion across any audio source

Capable of processing, mixing and positioning audio streams using up to 131 available hardware channels

Full digital mixer maintains all sound mixing in the digital domain, eliminating noise from the signal

Full bass, treble and effects controls available for all audio sources

Environmental Audio"! & 3D Audio Technology

User-selectable settings are optimized for headphones and two or four speakers

Upgradeable 3D audio architecture allows for improvements over time

Accelerates Microsoftr DirectSoundr and DirectSound 3D

Accelerates Environmental Audio"! property set extensions

Creative Multi-Speaker Surround"! technology places any mono or stereo sound source in a 360° audio space

Creative Environments - user-selectable DSP modes that simulate acoustic environments like hall, theater, club, etc. on any sound source

Hollywood-Quality, 32-Bit Digital Audio Engine

Processes bit resolutions from 4-bit to 16-bit

Processes sample rates from 5kHz to 48kHz

All sound sources are handled with 32-bit precision for highest quality output

Analog and digital I/O modes supported

Hardware full-duplex support enables simultaneous record and playback at 8 standard sample rates

Utilizes AC 97 audio codec

MIDI Interface / Joystick Port

Supports Sound Blasterr MIDI and MPU-401 modes

IBMr compatible 15-pin joystick port with analog support

Support for digital and DirectInput"! game devices

On-Board Connectors

Digital Out (front & rear S/PDIF output)

Line in

Microphone in

Line level out (front) / Headphone out

Line level out (rear)

MIDI / Joystick port

Telephone Answering Device in

MPC-3 Analog CD Audio in

Digital CD Audio in

Expansion header for Optical Digital I/O card or Live!(tm) Drive (available separately)

Included Software

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Contents of Article: Creative
 Pg 1.  — SoundBlaster Live Platinum and Cambridge Desktop Theatre 2500 Review
 Pg 2.  Cambridge Desktop Theatre 2500 5.1
 Pg 3.  Cool stuff and more cool stuff
 Pg 4.  The Tests
 Pg 5.  DVD's and conclusions

 
Hardware Sections 


 
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