Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card Review

[empire23]

The DACs on the Prelude may be superior, but nonetheless the AD1852 is very respectable chip and when implemented well can sound better in my view.

The problems that one can face with PCI soundcards is usually PCI-Latency noise and PC Switching power supply noise creeping in therefor you might get better performance from your Sherwood. There's also the issue of in PC RFI and EMI which may reduce the Prelude's DAC performance. Therefor i think i would be smart to leave all the decoding and conversion to your Sherwood, which has a superior PSU and probably better filter design.

But there is a silver lining to an upgrade mind you, alot of people out there say that even digital outputs can influence the sound by the amount of jitter they introduce into the digital signal. Jitter is generally a function of timing accuracy and the amount of variance in the digital signal, which in this case although i haven't tested for it, i'd say that the Prelude should perform better here. But let me warn you that your milage from the upgrade might vary, some say it isn't worth it and some say it is.

I think the best would be just to chuck it into your gaming rig and have a blast and leave your old HTPC setup as it is.

[Chai]

Originally Posted by empire23

The problems that one can face with PCI soundcards is usually PCI-Latency noise and PC Switching power supply noise creeping in therefor you might get better performance from your Sherwood. There's also the issue of in PC RFI and EMI which may reduce the Prelude's DAC performance. Therefor i think i would be smart to leave all the decoding and conversion to your Sherwood, which has a superior PSU and probably better filter design.

This is one of the reason why some people actually prefer using the external USB sound card.

[Nicksta]

Thank's Empire23 and Chai, thats exactly the detailed and informed advice I was hoping for and will take it as gospel!

BTW, I got the card last night and did put it in my gaming rig and all I can say is, Wow!

I took advice from from general internet reading and decided to skirt around the DAC's in my Logitech Z5500's and use the analog 3.5mm's. I did try out stereo/stereo x2 and DD live over optical but much preferred the analog CMSS with crystalize as a nice punchy and non fatiguing sound. I also switched from 'entertainment' to 'audio mode' and using bitmatching with 96khz but honestly I couldn't get past the fact that it forced me back to 2.1 channels (although the soundstage was that good I didn't immediately pick it until I went closer to the speakers). I found bass in the former mode to be punchy, smooth with a nice pleasing warmth that kept smooth and warm even at much higher volumes. To say I hadn't really been utilising the capabilities of my Z5500's using the old realtek 850 onboard would be an understatement. Sure the Z's are no audiophile product but they became substantially more listenable in a computer/study room scenario for extended periods of time as a result of the prelude. Testiment is that you find yourself reaching to turn the volume up over time and not down!

I then fired up COD4 and i straight away noticed a seemingly overall lift in average frame rates of around 5fps. However, I did expect this having read past reviews on how little the realtek older chips do to offload audio tasks from the CPU. However, what blew me away was how much my game improved with the surround 5.1 implementation using this card. Huddled into a corner of a building listening for movement (yeah, read as camping if you like) I could litterly pinpoint the position of someone as they ran up the other side of the wall from where I was hiding by the sound of their fatigues and webbing. The realtek's sound positioning was tripe compared to the prelude and perhaps any other EAX5.0 capable card although my experience is limited in that respect.

Auzentech had already impressed me with the Xplosion and have blown me away with the XIFI Prelude. I was tempted to go and order a second card for the HTPC knowing that DTS and the other formats are merely a driver away!

Cheers,

Nick

[Papercut]

Originally Posted by Nicksta

Thank's Empire23 and Chai, thats exactly the detailed and informed advice I was hoping for and will take it as gospel!

For what it's worth...personally I feel that nothing you read about audio should be taken as gospel
No offense to our more experienced audio gurus in this forum but audio is so subjective, and in my experience it's best to try everything and form your own conclusions.

But most importantly, enjoy the process and enjoy the sound

[Chai]

Very true. It doesn't really matter what other people say. If you are happy with how it sounded, why bother listening to 'gospel'?

[Heichef]

Hi!
Thank you for the review. Does anyone knows how this Auzentech Prelude compares do the ASUS Xonar D2? I'm aware that Xonar beats the Prelude in RMAA tests. Does anyone here compared both? Thanks.