1.Its got Hardware Accelerated DSPs for EAX, etc something which the Live! lacks and thus it can give upto 10-20% boost in games(as also revealed in the review below) over onboard audio..
2. It can be made to run Audigy4 Software(which has notably better interface, AC3 Decoder and also enhances sound quality) using modified drivers(youp-pax)....
3.It also has Firewire Port
The Card is exactly same as the pic shown and here is the review for the same:
Techware Labs - Reviews - Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer
Tech Specs:
Code:
32-bit Professional Quality Effects Engine
Creative''s Audigyâ„¢ patented effects processor
Support for real-time digital effects like reverb, chorus, normalizer, pitch shifter, or distortion across any audio source
Capable of processing, mixing, and positioning audio streams using up to 131 available hardware channels
Full 32-bit digital mixer maintains all sound mixing in the digital domain, eliminating noise from the signal
Customizable Plug-In Effects Architecture allows new audio effects to be downloaded from the Web via CreativeWare
High-Definition Audio Quality
Playback of 64 audio channels, each with its own independent sample rate
24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 48kHz sample rate
24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 48kHz to analog 5.1 speaker output
16-bit recording with sampling rates of 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, and 48kHz
Supports Sony® / Philips® Digital Interface (SPDIF) format input signal of up to 24-bit/96kHz quality
SPDIF output up to 24-bit resolution at selectable sampling rate of 44.1, 48, or 96kHz
Low latency multi-track recording with ASIOâ„¢ support
EAX®, ADVANCED HD™, Advanced Audio and 3D Audio Technology
Hardware acceleration of EAX ADVANCED HD for games
User-selectable EAX ADVANCED HD music presets, pre-configurable DSP modes simulating various acoustic environments
Advanced time-scaling
Audio Cleanup
Upgradeable 3D audio architecture for future improvements
Dolby® Digital audio decoding to 5.1 speaker channels in both analog and digital modes
Optimized, user-selectable settings for two, four, or six speakers, headphones, and external A/V amplifiers
Creative Multi Speaker Surround™ (CMSS) technology places any monaural or stereo source in a 360° audio space
SB1394/FireWire® Connectivity
High speed connection to IEEE® 1394 enabled devices with up to 400Mbps transfer rate
Hot-plug support for ease of connecting or disconnecting external devices
Interconnection of up to 63 devices for peer-to-peer communication
Realistic Wave-Table Synthesis
Creative''s Audigy music synthesis engine
64-voice hardware polyphony with E-mu® Systems, Inc.''s patented 8-point interpolation technology that reduces distortion to inaudible levels
Uses SoundFont® technology for user-definable wave-table sample sets
Unlimited sample size can be loaded into host memory for professional music reproduction (limited to available system memory size)
Scalable PCI wave-table synthesis architecture with multi-timbre capability
48 MIDI channels with 128 GM & GS compatible instruments and 10 drum kits
MIDI Interface / Joystick Port
Support for analog and digital or DirectInputâ„¢ game devices
Support for two simultaneous MIDI devices with Sound Blaster Audigy drive (upgrade option)
Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer On-Board Connectors
Analog / Digital Out (Analog Center & Subwoofer / 6-channel SPDIF Output)
Line in
Microphone in
Line level out (Front) / Headphone out
Line level out (Rear)
SB1394/FireWire port
Telephone Answering Device in
Analog CD Audio in
Digital CD Audio in
Expansion header to an external 15-pin MIDI / Joystick port
Internal SB1394/FireWire header to Sound Blaster Audigy drive (upgrade option)
Expansion header to the Sound Blaster Audigy drive (upgrade option)
Works with the Following Standards
PCI 2.1 compliant
AC ''97 compliant
Dolby® Digital
ASIOâ„¢
Sound Blaster Audigy Audio Performance
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted) = 100 dB
Crosstalk (Left/Right and vice versa) = -100 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (A-Weighted) = 0.004 %
Frequency Response at -3 dBr = <10 Hz to 22 kHzThe Card is about year old, thus no warranty but I'll give 3 days of testing warranty.It comes with Driver CD.I'll also bundle youp-pax software(for running Audigy4 software) along with it, if you want...
