Obviously, the most important aspect of any sound card is how it sounds, and this card certainly does not disappoint. The only problems I had were in the area of DVD playback, but more on this later.
Musical playback was quite impressive. Whether it be CD or MP3, this card breathed new life into the music. Couple this with the Klipsch Pro Media\’s I was using, and you start hauling out old CD\’s just to see what it sounds like! This was surprising to me. Most sound cards just spit CD audio out to the speakers, and the degree of sound quality is mostly dependent on the speakers. But, the Acoustic Edge, using the QMSS algorithm on the Thunderbird audio processor, actually splits the CD output into different channels to a degree not normal. See, most CD players simply pump sound at the left or right channels however it is recorded on the CD itself. If you have a 4-speaker setup, usually your front and rear speakers are doing the exact same thing. The Acoustic Edge actually divides the sound up, giving the music a much higher 3D effect. It actually makes use of your rear speakers. Since this takes place on the processor itself, it will take effect regardless of what application you are using to play your music.
The sound effects (i.e. reverb) work well. The reverb is quite obvious and makes all the difference. I did notice that some of the environmental effects were not as strong as those on the SB Live! I also have.
QMSS stands for QSound Multiple Speaker System and, as stated, is designed to map 2-channel stereo to multiple channels. To some, it could come across as sounding a bit weird. To me, it sounds great. QMSS actually seems to focus on the high tones. Coupling it with the treble control in the control panel, the highs really seem to stand out and are obviously split up for multiple channels. The rear speakers seem to be more mid-range, and they sometimes seem as if they have a slight echo. It doesn\’t exactly sound just like a 6-channel system, but it sounds pretty darn good. To me, it was the most obvious in pop songs where this is a wide range of highs and deep bass. Classical music doesn\’t seem to have quite the same obvious effect. In fact, with classical tunes, I felt the compulsion to crank the volume because it seemed as if the QMSS was hampering the sound a bit. Obviously, all this is subject to the \”ear\” of the beholder. QMSS is designed to step in in situations where no 3D sound API is in use. For games that use DirectSound or EAX, QMSS is not used.
DVD playback was a bit of a problem for me. I don\’t want to jump down Philips\’s throat here, because I do not yet know the source of the problem. Under Windows 2000, any DVD I tried to play had crackling sound. You could hear the sound fine, but it was not clear. Depending on the output type chosen, it would sound better or worse, but I could not get rid of it. To the detriment of Philips, I must say the SB Live! I had in this same system before this review did not produce this static. To the benefit of Philips, I can report that an installation under Windows 98 on the SAME system did NOT produce any static.
UPDATE: I found the source of the static problem and can\’t believe it slipped by me. Apparently, I had DMA mode disabled for my DVD drive. After enabling, the sound playback for DVD was awesome. By putting PowerDVD into 4-speaker mode (which is what I\’m using), you really get a full, surround sound experience. I sat down and watched one of every techie\’s top movies: The Matrix. Its all for the sake of work, you know. Killer sound. Truly killer sound. what else can be said?
Gaming was great with the Acoustic Edge. I\’m not an avid gamer like some other reviewers, but I could still tell that the QSound enhancements kicked in and aided in the production of 3D quality sound. I did some playing of Giants as well as some other games lying around on my system. When something happens behind you, it sounds as if it happens behind you. You can do a fun little test by going into some room in a game where there is a lot of noise and just start spinning. As your character turns round and round, you can hear the sound sources rotate all around the room – true positional audio. The Acoustic Edge has good support of DirectSound, DirectSound3D and EAX. There is no support for A3D 2/3, but since Aureal is gone now, this shouldn\’t be a major issue. EAX support is quite good, but it doesn\’t pack the same reverb punch as the SB Live!. With some cursory benchmarks, I also noticed that CPU usage seemed a bit higher than normal using this card. On most games, its not a big deal and barely noticeable. With Giants, though, my system was pretty sluggish (although a lot of this probably due to other things than this card).
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