Sound Blaster Audigy

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gold

Sound Blaster Audigy is a sound card series from Creative Technology. It is a PCI add-on board for PCs.

The Sound Blaster Audigy featured the Audigy processor (EMU10K2), an improved version of the EMU10K1 processor that shipped with the Sound Blaster Live!.

First Generation

The Audigy could process up to 4 EAX environments simultaneously with its on-chip DSP and native EAX 3.0 ADVANCED HD support, and supported from stereo up to 5.1-channel output. The audio processor could mix up to 64 DirectSound3D sound channels in hardware, up from Live!'s 32 channels.

The Audigy was advertised as a 24-bit sound card. However with some controversy, the Audigy's audio transport (DMA engine) was fixed to 16-bit sample precision at 48 kHz (like Live!), and all audio had to be resampled to 48 kHz in order to be rendered through its DSP, or recorded from its DSP. As a result, the card did not support playback of individual audio streams at 24-bit / 96 kHz precision through its 24-bit / 96 kHz DACs, a fact that was not immediately obvious to those examining the spec sheets.

Creative later gave customers in the US who purchased an Audigy card 35% off a Creative product up to a maximum of $65 in a class-action settlement.

Despite being a high end card, the passthrough of Dolby Digital and DTS streams to the SPDIF digital out has issues that Creative does not appear to want to address since the product has reached its End of Life.

First generation break out box

Some versions of Audigy also featured an external break out box with connectors for SPDIF, MIDI, SB1394, analog and optical signals. The significance of the break out box was that it was the first physical sign that the "home studio" was for the first time becoming a mainstream market.

Note that Audigy card supports the professional ASIO 1 driver interface natively, making it possible to obtain low latencies from Virtual Studio Technology (VST) instruments.

Sound Blaster Audigy ES

This variant uses the full EMU10K2 chip and is, as a result, quite similar in feature set. It is only missing its FireWire port.[1]

Sound Blaster Audigy SE & Audigy Value

The Audigy SE and Audigy Value are stripped down versions of the Audigy, with software-based EAX 3.0 (upgraded to software-based EAX 4.0 with a driver update), no advanced resolution DVD-Audio Playback, and no Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital EX 6.1 playback. It lacks the EMU10k1/10k2 processor, instead using a CA-0106 Family chip. As opposed to the rest of the Audigy series, the SE is a low-profile PCI card.

Sound Blaster Audigy LS

Similar to the Audigy SE in that it supports neither hardware acceleration nor FireWire. [2]

Second Generation

The Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (September 2002) featured an updated EMU10K2 processor, sometimes referred to as EMU10K2.5, and had an audio transport (DMA engine) that could support playback at 24-bit precision up to 192 kHz (2-channel only. 6.1 limited to 96 kHz) and recording at 24-bit precision up to 96 kHz, thereby overcoming the single biggest criticism of its predecessor. However, the DSP again was limited to 16-bit at 48 kHz, so all DSP effects had to be disabled to prevent harmful resampling. Audio using 96 kHz or 192 kHz was decoded directly by a section of the card known as "p16v." For DSP effects the lower half (48 kHz) of the stream was sent to the DSP and mixed with the rest of the signal.

The Audigy 2 supported up to 6.1 speakers and had improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) over the Audigy (106 vs. 100 decibels (A)). Audio output was supplied by the AC97 codec on the front outputs and I²S on the rear. It also featured built-in Dolby Digital 5.1 EX (which is technically 7.1) decoding for improved DVD play-back. A IEEE-1394 (FireWire) connector was present in all modifications except Value.

Audigy 2's 3D audio capabilities received a boost when compared to its predecessors. Creative created the EAX 4.0 ADVANCED HD standard to coincide with Audigy 2's release. The chip again can process up to 64 DirectSound3D audio channels in hardware. It also has native support for the free and open source OpenAL audio API.

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

The Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (SB0350) improved upon the Audigy 2 by having a slightly improved signal-to-noise ratio (108 vs. 106 dB) and added built-in DTS-ES (Extended Surround) for improved DVD playback. The AC97 codec was removed from the ZS series entirely, using I²S on all outputs. The Audigy 2 ZS supports up to 7.1 speakers (although the 4.1 speaker configuration was still in reality only 4.0; a dedicated low-frequency-effects channel output was only available with 5.1 and higher, requiring the presence of a center speaker).

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value

The Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value (SB0400) was a somewhat stripped down version of the Audigy 2 ZS, with an SNR of 106 dB, no IEEE-1394 FireWire connector, and no DTS-ES 6.1 playback. It is, however, fully hardware accelerated for DirectSound and EAX 4 and was sold as a cheaper companion for the more expensive ZS.

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 SE

This card is similar to the Audigy SE and Live! 24-bit edition in that it does not have a hardware DSP as part of the audio chip. As such, it puts far more load on the host system's CPU. The card is physically smaller than other Audigy 2 cards. It is designed as an entry-level budget sound card.

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 PCMCIA

A CardBus version of Audigy 2 ZS was also created in Fall 2004, for the notebook market. It had nearly all of the capabilities of the PCI edition, but in a far smaller form factor. Reductions in capability included somewhat limited MIDI capability (compared to the PCI version) and the loss of FireWire. It was the first gaming-oriented sound hardware add-on board for notebooks that offered full hardware acceleration of 3D audio along with high-fidelity audio output quality. The card struggled with compatibility due to quality issues with the CardBus host chipsets in many notebooks of the time, a problem also suffered with other companies products, such as Echo Digital Audio Corporation's Indigo product.

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX

The Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX was an external USB soundcard, supporting 24 bit playback, but with no DSP chip.

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor

The Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Video Editor was an external USB soundcard, which combined audio playback, accelerated video editing and a 4-port USB 2.0 hub in one solution. It featured accelerated video encoding with DoMiNoFX video processing technologies. The audio system provided THX certified sound and 24-bit EAX ADVANCED HD in 5.1 or 7.1 surround.

The video capture of the device is hardware-accelerated; encoding it in to a complex format in real-time rather than asking your CPU to do it. While this gives you excellent video results on even mediocre systems, the device cannot be used by software that uses the standard DirectShow or VfW interface. Because of this limitation, one is forced to use the supplied software to capture video, rather than using their own program. This also prevents someone from using this device in conjunction with a video camera as a webcam; standard webcam interfaces use DirectShow.

Creative has more recently made a free applet - VidCap - available on their website. This applet allows quick and easy capture and output to devices. Captured files can then be imported into your favorite video editor application or DVD authoring program.

Sound Blaster Audigy HD Software Edition

Also known as Sound Blaster Audigy ADVANCED MB, it is similar to Audigy 2 SE, but the software supports EAX 3.0, which supports 64-channel software wavetable with DirectSound acceleration, but without hardware accelerated wavetable synthesis. DAC is rated 95dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio.

It is available as an integrated option for Dell Inspiron, Studio and XPS notebooks.

Of note is that Creative hardware is not necessary for this device. It is entirely a software solution that is adaptable to various DACs.

Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit

The Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit (SB0410) lacked the EMU10k1/10k2 processor. It uses the CA-0106 Family chip like Audigy Value, with an SNR of 100 dB, software based EAX, no advanced resolution DVD-Audio Playback, and no Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital EX 6.1 playback. A proof of this is that on Linux operating systems, when using the ALSA sound system, the module that is used for the Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit is snd-ca0106, while the module that is used by the Sound Blaster Live! is snd-emu10k1.

Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro

Sound Blaster Audigy 4

The Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro improves on the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS by improving the SNR to 113 dB. It features much of the same core technology as the Audigy 2 ZS (it actually uses the same Audigy 2 chip), it however uses a new external I/O hub and has superior analog DACs offering higher audio digital-to-analog conversion quality. It also allows for simultaneous recording of up to six audio channels in 96 kHz/24-bit. It still supported a maximum of 7.1 channels up to 96 kHz/24bit, and stereo output at 192 kHz/24bit. [3]

Sound Blaster Audigy 4

The non-Pro version of Sound Blaster Audigy 4 (SB0610) uses CA-10300 DSP instead of CA-10200, and does not have external hub, FireWire port, gold connectors. The board layout is similar to the Audigy 2 Value. The SNR is rated 106dB.[4]

Sound Blaster Audigy 4 SE

Sound Blaster Audigy 4 SE is a Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro without the remote control. However, it uses the same audio DSP and is functionally as capable as the Audigy 2 and 4 series (other than Audigy 2 SE). It features full hardware acceleration of DirectSound and EAX.

See also

• Sound Blaster

External links

• Official website