A completely rewritten 3D engine based on DirectX8
encompasses many visual effects such as volumetric Nebulae (gas clouds) that
have a real impact in the game (you can hide in them), many new engine, shield,
weapon and explosion effects. Objects cast real dynamic 3D shadows! Dynamic DP3
bump mapping allows a previously unseen level of detail.
We ran the benchmark in 800x600x16 with EAX
enabled.
On top of
being graphically demanding, the X2 demo also uses EAX sound, making it a good
platform to test the impact of the Entertainer's lack
of hardware 3D sound support.
Clearly
the lack of 3D hardware support costs the Entertainer a little bit in terms of
performance in this demo, though it's not a big enough amount for us to worry
much about. Of more concern, we noticed some glitches in the
sound presented by the Entertainer during the X2 demo, seemingly at the start of several
of the sound samples.
Fortunately, these
problems did not extend to the game itself. When we played X2 for real, the
sound quality was fine.
The Mad Dog Entertainer in use
Using the Rightmark 3D sound positioning test,
which allows you to manually or automatically move a sound loop around a finite
'area' as well as above or below the listener, we were impressed by the accuracy
of the effects. This test also supports EAX, allowing us to sample the
full range of Creative's environmental effects, which the Entertainer reproduced
just fine.
In objective use, the Entertainer performed
well. Tested with three DVD titles; The Crow [stereo only], Pirates of the
Caribbean and a Nine Inch Nails concert disk, the card produced immersive and
atmospheric results. Using headphones, the VIA driver's ability to down
mix 5.1 surround sound to two channels was slightly broader sounding than the
normal stereo mix, making this our preferred option for headphone use. This is
an excellent option for headphone users when viewing DVD titles that offer
surround sound only.
Though the option to enable 24-bit playback in
analog mode is really for music and not movies, we couldn't resist giving it a
try with the NIN concert DVD, and we were impressed with the sound quality even
though we were restricted to stereo mode.
Game sound was equally impressive. Note that
as mentioned above the 'Immerzio 3D gaming support' checkbox must be checked
before the card can emulate EAX or other specialized audio technologies.
This option is unchecked by default, which might confuse some users. This
also requires a system restart. We tested the card with Max Payne 2,
X2: the Threat, the Unreal Tournament 2004 demo and Baldur's gate 2 and we were
more than satisfied with the sound quality.
For music testing purposes, we took four different
songs, converted to .WAV files from their original CDs. Portishead's 'Sour
Times' for trip-hop style bass and vocals, Nine Inch Nails 'The Fragile' for
multiple layers of sound, Mia Sheard's 'The Tortoise and the Heiress' for
an acoustic ballad with a heavily orchestrated buildup at the end and The
Deftone's 'Battleaxe' for heavy distortion with clean vocals on top.
Compared to the Audigy at least, the Entertainer
sounded impressively clear and crisp, especially when the 24-bit bit mode was
enabled. This option really made individual sounds jump out a bit better
in the more complex parts of the four songs. A good example would be the
chorus of 'Battleaxe' where the vocals really stood out from the massively
distorted background. This is something that the Audigy card failed to
equal, though it often delivered heavier bass when using headphones.
Final Conclusions
We had a positive experience with the
Mad Dog Entertainer; DVD and game sound was good and it has a few
extra features which in our opinion make it an excellent bargain for headphone users as
well as 5.1 channel surround system owners. Its optical ports and specifications make it
a useful card for home audio recording as well as games, movies and
music.
Game performance is going to be slightly slower
than seen on cards which include hardware 3D audio implementations, but the
differences were fairly small in our tests. Not a deal-breaker by any
means.
The only troubling points were the trade-offs
involved in using the card to the best of its ability for both music/audio and
games. While we recognize that the reboot to enable the software 3D
support is probably necessary, it's still annoying, as is the fact that it
removes the best quality audio setting.
Otherwise,
as an alternative to Creative's omnipresent products, the Mad Dog Entertainer is
a great option. If you are still using your system's onboard audio, this would
be a good upgrade choice. VIA
has certainly made an impressive entry into the home desktop audio market with
their Envy products.
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