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Topic: Creative finally got it right? (Read 5856 times) previous topic - next topic
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Creative finally got it right?

Reply #1 –
Interesting,
I like this:

Quote
# Sample Rates: 44.1, 48, 96, 192kHz from internal crystal or externally supplied clock (no sample rate conversion)
# Bit Depth: 16 or 24 bits


Looks like Creative had to purchase E-MU Systems to get this right.  Tons of features on this unit.  Specs looks pretty good, although for personal use I would want a less expensive version without so much I/O (don't need phono input, etc.).  Maybe the E-MU 1212M is more my style: E-MU 1212M Soundcard  [List price $199]

Of course, this uses a PCI card just before the release of PCI-Express and Intel "High Definition Audio," so is it already a little dated?
Was that a 1 or a 0?

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #2 –
Quote
Of course, this uses a PCI card just before the release of PCI-Express and Intel "High Definition Audio," so is it already a little dated?

IIRC PCI-Express is supposed to be backward compatible with current PCI.  I have no idea what Intel's "High Definition Audio" is, but somehow I doubt it will have any huge affect on 16/44.1 sound, so I, for one, could care less.
gentoo ~amd64 + layman | ncmpcpp/mpd | wavpack + vorbis + lame

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #3 –
Quote
Interesting,
I like this:

Quote
# Sample Rates: 44.1, 48, 96, 192kHz from internal crystal or externally supplied clock (no sample rate conversion)
# Bit Depth: 16 or 24 bits


Looks like Creative had to purchase E-MU Systems to get this right.  Tons of features on this unit.  Specs looks pretty good, although for personal use I would want a less expensive version without so much I/O (don't need phono input, etc.).  Maybe the E-MU 1212M is more my style: E-MU 1212M Soundcard  [List price $199]

Of course, this uses a PCI card just before the release of PCI-Express and Intel "High Definition Audio," so is it already a little dated?

They have owned EMU-Labs since way before the first Live!.

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #4 –
Yes they use EMU chips for a long time now.
Dimitris

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #5 –
Quote
Yes they use EMU chips for a long time now.

Didn't the Live! cards use EMU chips?  I think we all know what amazing quality they had .

edit: clarification
gentoo ~amd64 + layman | ncmpcpp/mpd | wavpack + vorbis + lame

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #6 –
It's a nice offering, although it is way too messy... what public is it aimed at?

The 'professional musician' will certainly frown seeing things like a hardware RIAA phono amp, and will probably prefer Firewire as a separate solution on a dedicated card.

The 'hardware enthousiast' will have no use with ADAT and SMPTE-clock connections, other than brag about them...

Weird...


As to the quality of EMU DSPs: there wasn't anything wrong with the Live's DSP, iirc. It was just not aimed at reproduction of 44kHz source material, and the solution they used for that was too simple.

Also, some of us dared whisper that the Audigy2 wasn't such a bad product... I still think it's a good offering at the price. Creative got it more or less right back then.

This All-in-wonder type of card is perhaps nice because of the non-upsampled digital outs, but who wants to pay for all the other stuff? Even if it's good quality, 90% of the options is not being used...

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #7 –
Quote
IIRC PCI-Express is supposed to be backward compatible with current PCI.

You're thinking PCI-X, the server version of PCI. PCI-Express uses a completely different bus (serial instead of parallel).
I don't know whose idea it was to name the thing PCI-Express. It gets confused with PCI-X a lot.

Anyway, the card looks amazing. It really does look like they just stuck everything they possibly could onto it, but if you need all that I guess it's perfect.
($373? I think I'll just add it to the "after I win the lottery" list. )
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" - Vroomfondel, H2G2

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #8 –
Quote
Quote
IIRC PCI-Express is supposed to be backward compatible with current PCI.

You're thinking PCI-X, the server version of PCI. PCI-Express uses a completely different bus (serial instead of parallel).
I don't know whose idea it was to name the thing PCI-Express. It gets confused with PCI-X a lot.

Anyway, the card looks amazing. It really does look like they just stuck everything they possibly could onto it, but if you need all that I guess it's perfect.
($373? I think I'll just add it to the "after I win the lottery" list. )

From what I've heard, PCI-Express WILL be backwards compatible.
"You can fight without ever winning, but never win without a fight."  Neil Peart  'Resist'

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #9 –
Quote
From what I've heard, PCI-Express WILL be backwards compatible.

http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress/resources

Quote
The PCI Express architecture retains the PCI usage model and software interfaces for investment protection and smooth development migration.


That seems to indicate backward compatibility.

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #10 –
The software interface is the same, as well as a lot of the commands, but the slots themselves are utterly different. It's a lot like serial-ATA. The same information (for the most part) is bieng sent, but in a completely different manner.

Anandtech has a nice article about it, with pictures on page 8. The little tiny things are 1X slots, whereas the one that looks like a standard PCI connector is a 16X slot. They're positioned differently from the PCI slots, so you can't jam a PCI card into a PCI-express slot, and vice-versa. The 1X slots are (were? it's changed a lot) designed to fit entirely in front of standard PCI slots, so you can put either a PCI or PCI-express card in the same place, a lot like PCI and ISA.

(I just found a picture of a PCI-express card on bit-tech, along with a bunch of people getting confused over the name.)

Is this completely off-topic, or what?

-- edited out ambiguities
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" - Vroomfondel, H2G2

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #11 –
Quote
Didn't the Live! cards use EMU chips?


At least the module in ALSA for the Live! cards has EMU in it's name.

Quote
Module snd-emu10k1
  ------------------

    Module for EMU10K1/EMU10k2 based PCI soundcards.
  * Sound Blaster Live!
  * Sound Blaster PCI 512
  * Emu APS (partially supported)
  * Sound Blaster Audigy


Regards, David

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #12 –
PCI-express motherboards will NOT, as it stands so far, support AGP at all (Intel tried and gave up - too much of a performance hit. VIA's hybrid solution is having troubles as well).

legacy PCI slots WILL, however, be found on PCI-express boards in addition to their newer replacements, much as ISA slots were grandfathered for years. So I wouldn't worry about buying a new PCI card today (although I wouldn't buy an expensive AGP video card if you plan on upgrading your board anytime soon).

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #13 –
Quote
Quote
From what I've heard, PCI-Express WILL be backwards compatible.

http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress/resources

Quote
The PCI Express architecture retains the PCI usage model and software interfaces for investment protection and smooth development migration.


That seems to indicate backward compatibility.

Software compatability.  Its a completely different slot with completely different electrical specs.  Not to mention PCIE cards are a fraction of the size of PCI.
 

Creative finally got it right?

Reply #14 –
The card PCI is of no real consequence given that the PCI bus has plenty of bandwidth for it (especially with more system components moving off the PCI bus).