Re: SBLive 5.1 PCI or P5WD2 builtin Realtek ALC882D High Definition Audio 8-channel CODEC

In article <4337f166$0$6771$afc38c87@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "John"
<knight_js.nospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> >
> > Doing an A/B comparison with the two solutions, is the only
> > way to quantify the differences between them. Some Asus
> > motherboards have terrible analog designs - like analog signal
> > wires running in parallel with Ethernet signal wires. No matter
> > how expensive an AC-97/Azalia chip is used, it cannot fix a
> > bad design.
> >
> > Paul
>
> Thanks for the replies and the info. I'll have to test them. I don't
> really trust my own ability to draw any meaningful conclusions
> though.

Try some high dynamic range classical music - a selection with
silent passages in it. Move the mouse around in the quiet passages
and see if you can hear mouse noise.

Some chips are ruined by the lousy DSP special effects, where
even when the control panel is set to "disabled", to turn them
off, they are still there. I had that problem with an AD1985
and SoundMax.

If you need a very basic audio waveform tool, try this one:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows

What I tried, is using two programs (because I couldn't get
Audacity to record and playback at the same time). One program
was set to play test output, while the other was set up to
record. I connected output to input with a short 1/8" stereo
cable. What I discovered is, if I sent a pulse waveform on the
AD1985 output, two pulses would come back, one at t = 0 sec
and a much smaller one at t = 30mS. That means some driver
writer decided I needed "concert hall reverberation", so I
would feel I was "in a cave". Too much reverb makes music
sound "muddy". I should be able to drive a signal through
the sound chip, without the driver adding its share of
"garbage". If the driver offers a multiband equalizer,
that is not a bad thing, if you are correcting for coloration
in the room. If the equalizer is set to 0dB on all sliders,
there should be no effect at all on the output.

I'm no expert at this stuff, and I still don't know how to
draw waveforms in Audacity that are bandwidth limited. Using
sine waves (tones) to test, doesn't tell you too much,
except if maybe you are looking for harmonic distortion.

Given all of that, a classical music test should tell you
most of what you need to know. You can also try recording
from a microphone, as some users report that gives them an
instant reason to switch to a PCI audio card.

If you are playing CDs, the best way to do that, is use
DAE, where data is shipped digitally over the IDE cable.
The four wire CD analog cable that comes with a lot of
CD drives, works like an antenna and that can introduce
noise. Digital audio extraction (DAE) is a much better
option.

Paul
.

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