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It may not be everyday that you think about buying a new sound card, but its well worth considering moving up the ladder into something that will likely astound you. If you currently don't have surround sound then you should certainly consider upgrading to a new sound card and speaker system. DVD's and games come to life and the expense of setting up a decent surround sound system on your computer is a lot cheaper than buying a home entertainment system for your home. The SoundBlaster Audigy 4 pro is the latest sound card from Creative Labs. The Audigy 4 can produce 7.1 channels of sound with analogue speakers and 5.1 channels with digital speakers. Coupled with an extensive breakout box for all manner or connectivity and a Creative software bundle you have a nice package to take your sound production to the next level. You may have seen this with graphics card recently but now the latest in sound cards the Audigy 4 pro requires its own power connector. The reason, well I assume its down to the sheer number of connectors and devices than be connected to the card and the breakout box. The card connects directly to the breakout box where most of the inputs and outputs are connected. The sound card itself only has a few connectors, the front, rear and sub speakers and 2 connectors that go to the external breakout box. The idea obviously is that the sound card can be left alone in the back of your machine with only the essentials plugged in. You then use the external box to connect all of your recording and playback gadgets you may have around the house :) The external breakout box is where once set up you will need to consider as your sound card. Everything but your speakers will plug into here, from your headphones and microphone to MIDI devices and external audio units. Here is a rundown of the connectors on the breakout box. On the Front of the box we have :-
On the back we have :-
As you can there is plenty to be getting on with there. You shouldn't be left short even is music is your life. That really has to sum the card up. Its a music lovers card. Its brilliant at producing the best quality sound available. Obviously you have to have high quality input as well or this is pointless. Gamers may get slightly less out of the Audigy 4 than than music enthusiasts. As a rule of thumb I suggest this is a great upgrade if you have anything less than an Audigy 2 ZS. Owners of the Audigy 2 ZS may well want to wait until the next upgrade is out as this for you will be an incremental upgrade and not a lot more. Audigy 4 Pro Processor Advanced hardware accelerated digital effects processing 32-bit digital processing, which maintains a theoretical 192 dB of dynamic range Patented 8-point interpolation that reduces distortion to inaudible levels 64-voice hardware wavetable synthesizer Professional quality digital
mixing and equalization Playback of 64 audio channels, each at an arbitrary sample rate 24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96 kHz sample rate 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96 kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192 kHz to stereo output 16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz. Supports Sony/Philips Digital Interface (SPDIF) format of up to 24-bit/96 kHz quality. Selectable sampling rate of 44.1, 48 or 96 kHz Low latency multitrack recording
with ASIO 2.0 support at 16-bit, 48 kHz and 24-bit, 96 kHz resolution.
Compliant with IEEE 1394a specification Supports data rates of 100, 200, and 400 Mbps Supports up to 63 FireWire (IEEE 1394) compatible devices in a daisy-chain configuration Supplies up to 3 Watts to
FireWire (IEEE 1394) compatible devices Line level out (Front / Side / Rear / Center / Subwoofer) Digital CD Audio in Aux Audio in AD_Link 1 and AD_Link 2 connectors to connect with external I/O hub. Power connector Headphone Out (1/4" Stereo Jack) Line In 1 (1/4" Stereo Jack , shared with Mic In with Gain Control) Line In 2 (1/4" Stereo Jack) Line In 3 (2x RCA Jack) Optical SPDIF In/Out Coaxial SPDIF In/Out Digital Out for 5.1 support (6-channel SPDIF Output to Creative digital speakers) 2x FireWire® (IEEE® 1394) ports MIDI In / Out Infra-red Receiver to communicate with Remote Control AD_Link 1 and AD_Link 2
connectors to connect with Audigy 4 Pro Windows® XP and 2K Sound Blaster MIDI and General MIDI Plug and Play Sound Blaster PCI EAX, EAX ADVANCED HD Microsoft® DirectSound® , DirectSound 3D & derivatives OpenAL™ PCI 2.3 compliant AC '97 Dolby Digital Dolby Digital EX DTS Digital Surround® DTS-ES Surround™ Meridian Lossless Packing ASIO 2.0 SoundFont 2.1 DVD-Audio Windows Media® Audio 9
A Dramatic Breakthrough in
Audio Quality for Playback, Games and Creation
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