Fordele ved brug af Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi lydkort og hovedtelefoner
af Webmaster Sunday den 13 July 2008 kl. 21:38 [ Andet ] I denne oversigtsartikel ser vi nærmere på, hvorfor er "Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi" (EAX 5.0) lydkort er særligt interessante ved brug af hovedtelefoner.
Billede af Sound Blaster X-Fi fra Creative Labs, som muliggør surround-effekter i almindelige hovetelefoner
Flere af vore læsere har måske ærgret sig over, at f.eks. særligt dyre surround-sound hovedtelefoner ikke har virket i diverse 3D-spil, fordi eksisterende lydkort (udover primært nForce2 Soundstorm og enkelte løsninger fra C-Media) ikke er istand til at enkode Dolby Digital i real-time. Se i øvrigt også denne artikel samt tilhørende kommentarer:
Imidlertid ser det ud til, at Creative Labs har lagt hovedet godt og grundigt i blød - for hvorledes kan man sikre, at ens kunder får lige så god lyd i deres surround hovedtelefoner, som understøttelse af real-time enkodning af "Dolby Digital"-standarden vil medføre, uden at begrænsninger via båndbredde på PCI-bussen og dyre afgifter til Dolby Laboratorierne bliver et problem? Den kreative løsning (som vel understøtter, at Creative Labs netop er kreative, red.) ser ud til at være, selv at udvikle en processor, der kan enkode surround sound fra 3D-spil lige så godt eller bedre ifht. "Dolby Digital"-standarden. Og netop dette ser ud til at være tilfældet - her fra Creative Labs:
"X-Fi CMSS-3D delivers an amazingly realistic surround sound experience with headphones. Know exactly where your enemies are whether you're using headphones or speakers. You won't believe how good X-Fi CMSS-3D positional gaming audio is; in fact, it's so good you'll forget you're wearing headphones!"
Kilde: http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=14066
Og:
"You'll know exactly where your enemies are even if you are wearing headphones and it's so advanced you'll even forget you're wearing them! - Nothing can prepare you for how good this sounds! With multi-channel speakers (5.1, 6.1 or 7.1) it can use virtual positions to place sounds anywhere around you for the most detailed and believable 3D audio you've ever heard!"
Kilde: http://www.soundblaster.com/products/x-fi/technology/gamers/
Gamespot var også meget imponerede over surround-oplevelsen i høretelefoner:
"The real-time audio expansion and virtualization effects allow the X-Fi chip to simulate a surround-sound environment and place audio in the correct virtual speakers to give the listener extremely accurate sound locations. The X-Fi chip was able to process audio files to make us perceive sound coming from several different locations even though we only had a pair of stereo speakers for the entire demonstration. In one "helicopter" demo, we dragged an imaginary helicopter around our head, and we could hear the helicopter taking off, landing, and circulating around our heads with all of the sounds accurately positioned behind, in front of, to the left of, to the right of, and even above or below our position. Creative does warn that the expansion and virtualization features won't work as well with earbud type headphones since the X-Fi's sound output needs to bounce off the entire ear to simulate the sound locations. We were really amazed by the sound we heard coming from a pair of basic stereo headphones"
Kilde: http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-17602-1999-x-x-x
Også Toms Hardware har givet X-Fi en fremragende vurdering - især ved brug af hovedtelefoner:
"If your speakers are good, the sound will be noticeably better, but it won't blow you off your stool. On the other hand, if you use headphones, the difference is like night and day. In fact, you may even want to consider always using headphones from now on. The sensation of immersion in the game is even better than with a well-placed 5.1 speaker kit. You get the benefit of the immersive qualities of headphones, without losing the notion of spatiality you get with speakers. Until optimized games become available, this is the real advantage of X-Fi as far as gaming is concerned."
Kilde: http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20050818/index.html
Anandtech var dog knap så imponeret:
"Even with all the advanced algorithms for downmixing 5.1 sound to a spacialized headphone mix, audio played with CMSS-3D sounded rather muddied to this listener. Despite the addition of simulated environmental reflections, frontal sounds felt as if they were located near the sides of my head above my ears. Every listener is different, so your mileage may vary. Under games, CMSS-3D seemed to be more distracting than useful. It can be interesting for a change of pace, or to add a disturbing quality to games that makes you want to squint in anticipation of firing a weapon. Some people may like it, but we prefer gaming (and all other listening) without CMSS-3D enabled. Headphone listening on the X-Fi is excellent if only because of the high quality components used in its implementation. In our opinion, the sound quality enhancements that Creative promises headphone listeners through X-Fi are a hit or miss at best."
Kilde: http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2518
Dog kan kvaliteten af de høretelefoner, som en anmelder anvender, have stor indflydelse på oplevede surround-effekter.
Eksisterende "Dolby Headphones" består generelt af to elementer, nemlig en dekoderstation og selve hovedtelefonerne. Med X-Fi er dekoderstationens primære opgave med at danne surround-lyd blevet fjernet, idet den centrale processor på X-Fi-lydkortene selv producerer surround-signalet. Derfor skal X-Fi med sådanne dekoderstationer blot sættes til videregive alm. stereo. Til trådløse high-end hovedtelefoner er dekoderstationen fortsat nødvendig for at levere infrarødt signal til hovedtelefonerne, men de dyre surroundproducerende chips inde i selve dekoderstationen er blevet overflødige - men kan naturligvis stadig komme i brug i forbindelse med "Dolby Digital"-signal fra f.eks. DVD-afspillere mm.
For at få optimal lyd i (trådløse) hovedtelefoner er valg af gode membraner fortsat af omfattende betydning. Så selv om dekoderstationens rolle nu er af mindre betydning, kan vi fortsat anbefale af købe særligt gode modeller, der bl.a. fremgår af denne artikel:
Ydelsesmæssigt ankommer X-Fi i to varianter, nemlig med eller uden 64MB X-RAM. PC Games Hardware 10/05 målte, at disse 64MB ram gav op til 6% bedre ydelse end uden (testet med højeste lydkvalitet i BattleField 2, der netop kræver tilstedeværelsen af et X-Fi lydkort), men desværre kunne Tech Report ikke verificere disse resultater, og Tech Report konkluderede efter en omfattende undersøgelse af X-RAM:
"We've been impressed with Creative's X-Fi audio processor since its launch, but X-RAM doesn't live up to the hype. Only Battlefield 2 and Quake 4 even support X-RAM, and neither's use of the X-Fi Fatal1ty's 64MB of onboard memory results in higher in-game frame rates or superior audio quality [...] despite Creative's claims that more X-RAM-aware titles are coming, we really have to wonder whether developers will be willing to dedicate significant resources to fully exploiting a feature that's only available on high-end sound cards that cost upwards of $250."
Kilde: http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q1/xfi-fatal1ty/index.x?pg=1
Om X-RAM giver fordele nu og i kommende spil kan således diskuteres, men entusiaster, der ikke ønsker at løbe nogen risiko, sover formodentlig bedst om natten med X-RAM på lydkortet. Problemet er blot, at X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS og Elite Pro varianterne (der er eneste X-Fi lydkort med 64MB X-RAM) er 2 til 3 gange dyrere end X-Fi Xtreme Music (standardmodellen). Men en mindre ydelsesreduktion kan måske også være acceptabel, såfremt der er mange penge at spare. Mere info om X-RAM kan findes her:
HardwareTidende er en omfattende guide til optimal afvikling af computerspil på PC. Dette kræver viden om hardware såsom grafikkort, cpu'er, ram og meget mere. Du kan læse mere om konceptet bag HardwareTidende her:
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