Creative steps it up a notch and gets it right

[Gordon Moore]

Finally ASIO support:

http://www.soundblaster.com/products...4pro/specs.asp

review here:

http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/reviews/Audigy4Pro/audigy4pro.html

Uses the same chips as the Lynx2 :E (solid :T)

The damn resample to 48k is still there :M but with ASIO support you can work around :roll:
(the thing is that at the price they're charging for this monster I think it can be done cleanly for cheaper...comes with a little more headache though. This is the out of the box solution.

Audigy 4 Pro Processor
# Advanced hardware accelerated digital effects processing
# 32-bit digital processing, which maintains a theoretical 192 dB of dynamic range
# Patented 8-point interpolation that reduces distortion to inaudible levels
# 64-voice hardware wavetable synthesizer
# Professional quality digital mixing and equalization


High Definition Audio Quality for Playback and Recording
# Playback of 64 audio channels, each at an arbitrary sample rate
# 24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96 kHz sample rate
# 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96 kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output
# 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192 kHz to stereo output
# 16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz.
# Supports Sony/Philips Digital Interface (SPDIF) format of up to 24-bit/96 kHz quality. Selectable sampling rate of 44.1, 48 or 96 kHz
# Low latency multitrack recording with ASIO 2.0 support at 16-bit, 48 kHz and 24-bit, 96 kHz resolution.


*(Latency performance may vary based on system configuration)

FireWire® (IEEE® 1394) Connectivity
# Compliant with IEEE 1394a specification
# Supports data rates of 100, 200, and 400 Mbps
# Supports up to 63 FireWire (IEEE 1394) compatible devices in a daisy-chain configuration
# Supplies up to 3 Watts to FireWire (IEEE 1394) compatible devices


Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro On-Board Connectors
# Line level out (Front / Side / Rear / Center / Subwoofer)
# Digital CD Audio in
# Aux Audio in
# AD_Link 1 and AD_Link 2 connectors to connect with external I/O hub.
# Power connector


Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro External I/O Hub Front / Rear Panel Connectors
# Headphone Out (1/4" Stereo Jack)
# Line In 1 (1/4" Stereo Jack , shared with Mic In with Gain Control)
# Line In 2 (1/4" Stereo Jack)
# Line In 3 (2x RCA Jack)
# Optical SPDIF In/Out
# Coaxial SPDIF In/Out
# Digital Out for 5.1 support (6-channel SPDIF Output to Creative digital speakers)
# 2x FireWire® (IEEE® 1394) ports
# MIDI In / Out
# Infra-red Receiver to communicate with Remote Control
# AD_Link 1 and AD_Link 2 connectors to connect with Audigy 4 Pro


Audio Performance:

Signal-to-Noise Ratio (AES17, A-Weighted)

Output Voltage @ 2Vrms
Stereo Output 113dB
Front and Rear Channels 113dB
Center, Subwoofer and Side Channels 113dB

Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (AES17) = 0.003% (2V Rated Output) Frequency Response +/-3dB: 10Hz to 46kHz

Works with the Following Standards:
# Windows® XP and 2K
# Sound Blaster MIDI and General MIDI
# Plug and Play
# Sound Blaster PCI
# EAX, EAX ADVANCED HD
# Microsoft® DirectSound® , DirectSound 3D & derivatives
# OpenAL™
# PCI 2.3 compliant
# AC '97
# Dolby Digital
# Dolby Digital EX
# DTS Digital Surround®
# DTS-ES Surround™
# Meridian Lossless Packing
# ASIO 2.0
# SoundFont 2.1
# DVD-Audio
# Windows Media® Audio 9

[Chris D]

Cool... I saw that they had come out with the Audigy 2 ZS with higher capabilities. I've been interested in the notebook solution, but I can't figure out what kind of jacks the thing actually has. It looks like there's a center port of some kind where a dongle might plug in--perhaps a 5.1 analog output dongle?

What happened to the Audigy 3? Skip it and go right to 4?

[Gordon Moore]

What happened to the Audigy 3? Skip it and go right to 4?

Guess so :huh:

4 Pro is the final bridge before pci-e becomes mainstream it sounds llke. I don't think this is really a notebook solution as you are looking at the breakout box. The heart of the system is the pci card.

no dongles (I think)

Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro On-Board Connectors
# Line level out (Front / Side / Rear / Center / Subwoofer)
# Digital CD Audio in
# Aux Audio in
# AD_Link 1 and AD_Link 2 connectors to connect with external I/O hub.
# Power connector

Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro External I/O Hub Front / Rear Panel Connectors
# Headphone Out (1/4" Stereo Jack)
# Line In 1 (1/4" Stereo Jack , shared with Mic In with Gain Control)
# Line In 2 (1/4" Stereo Jack)
# Line In 3 (2x RCA Jack)
# Optical SPDIF In/Out
# Coaxial SPDIF In/Out
# Digital Out for 5.1 support (6-channel SPDIF Output to Creative digital speakers)
# 2x FireWire® (IEEE® 1394) ports
# MIDI In / Out
# Infra-red Receiver to communicate with Remote Control
# AD_Link 1 and AD_Link 2 connectors to connect with Audigy 4 Pro

[Gordon Moore]

This one is still the notebook version of the Audigy

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/extigy/

Or an alternative might be:

http://us.hercules.com/products/showpage.php?p=84&b=1&f=1

Or

http://us.hercules.com/products/showpage.php?p=91&b=1&show=2&f=1

Physical description

* Dimensions
o Rack alone: 340mm width x 44mm height x 172mm depth
o Rack with brackets: 482mm width (19”) x 44mm height x 172mm depth
* Rack weight: 1620 g (power adaptor weight not included)
* Material: metal casing with plastic front panel

Front panel overview

* Headphone jack ¼ gold plated stereo plug with volume button
* Input 11 Mic/Line XLR/Jack ¼ combo input with gain setting button, Hi-Z (instrument) switch
* +48V phantom power switch for Input 11 & 12
* Input 12: Mic/Line XLR/Jack ¼ combo input with gain setting button and Hi-Z (instrument) switch
* 32 indicator lights for inputs/outputs
o 12 analog inputs
o 4 digital inputs
o 2 MIDI inputs
o 8 analog outputs
o 4 digital outputs
o 2 MIDI outputs
* Power On/Off switch with Power On indicator light
* MIDI In 2 and MIDI Out 2 standard DIN plugs

Rear panel overview

* 15V 1A power plug for power adaptor (power adaptor included)
* FireWire plug
* MIDI In 1 and MIDI Out 1 standard DIN plugs
* Word Clock Input and Output BNC plugs
* 2 SPDIF input and output coaxial gold plated plugs
* 2 SPDIF input and output optical plugs
* 10 jack ¼ gold plated analog input plugs
* 8 jack ¼ gold plated analog output plugs

Drivers package MS-Windows® XP (SP1a) and MS-Windows® 2000 (SP4)

* Asio™ 2.0 (very short latency)
* WDM™ Audio (very short latency)
* GSIF™ (very short latency)
* MIDI UART
* DirectSound™
* DirectMusic™


Mac® OS X 10.3: Core Audio

Product Contents

* Hercules 16/12 FW audio rack
* Power adaptor
* 2 metal brackets to install the rack in a 1U, 19” standard unit
* 4.50 m FireWire cable
* Adapter to mini-FireWire port
* Installation manual
* Installation CD-ROM with
o Drivers
o Bundled software
o On-line manuals



SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
- PC

* Microsoft Windows® 2000 (SP4), XP (SP1a)
* Intel™ Pentium III / AMD™ Athlon 800MHz and higher or compatible
* 128MB RAM (256MB recommended)
* CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
* FireWire® port
* 10GB of hard disk space (Ultra-DMA)

- Macintosh

* Mac OS® X 10.3
* G4/1 GHz Power Mac® / PowerBook® or faster
* FireWire® port
* 256MB RAM (512 MB recommended)
* CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
* 10GB of hard disk space

[VikingP]

Hi,

There is also the Audigy 2 NX, that is an external sound card connected via USB, and it should be better then the extigy. It is also much smaller then the extigy, so it should fit well with a notebook.
The only thing I would have wished was for it to have Asio, and a firewire connections instead of USB.
Here is the link to it:
http://www.soundblaster.com/products/audigy2NX/

Paul

[Chris D]

Yeah, there's a newer Audigy 2 ZS notebook model now, but I can't figure out the connectors. Gord, I'll check out those links.

[Chris D]

Holy crap, I just looked at that 2nd hercules product you posted. Pretty amazing! Rack mount capable, too. That looks like it's really striving for computer-theater integration.

[Gordon Moore]

here's a review on the 16/12 FW

http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20050210/index.html