ED#02 : SoundStorm In A Cup - Page 4

Adrian Wong · 3rd Apr 2003, 02:42 PM

Since I posted the revised SoundStorm editorial, I have received many e-mails and numerous questions were posted in the forums about the mysterious disappearance of the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe from the list of SoundStorm-certified products.

How can a product that was initially SoundStorm-certified be dropped from the list? Did NVIDIA tightened the SoundStorm requirements? Is ASUS cheating you by declaring SoundStorm certification with Dolby stickers on the box? I'm sure those were some of the questions that were running through your mind.

Today, I have posted an updated SoundStorm editorial that will answer all your questions! If you own the A7N8X Deluxe, this is definitely something you should read before you go hysterical and start marching with a placard in front of ASUS HQ! Hehe...

For more on NVIDIA's de-certification of the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard, read our revised SoundStorm In A Cup editorial!

goldfries · 3rd Apr 2003, 03:22 PM

ahh thanx Adrian. your efforts on this is admirable!!!

zeppelin · 3rd Apr 2003, 04:28 PM

Guys, Guys there's 1 news from me.
Sorry Adrian if its out of topic a bit.
The great news is I just Dump my Asus A7N8X Deluxe version 1.04, meaning that I sold it to someone and I tell you a lot of people massaging me. Selling like hot cakes

I dump the board cause initially , I thought I got the all in 1 solution with the board especially on the sound part. I got the wrong idea that the Soundstorm really supported DD5.1 software decoding. Dont get me the wrong idea, the soundstrom did support DD5.1 but only on the encoding part thru the digital coaxial. So back to my old faithfull SB Live, with my old system.

goldfries · 3rd Apr 2003, 04:50 PM

i'm thinking of putting back the SB Live for it's game port, similar sound and better bass.

i felt no diff though when using SoundStorm many have claimed it to be even better than Audigy and close to Audigy2.

EDITED

Adrian Wong · 3rd Apr 2003, 05:31 PM

Yeah... One thing everyone missed is that SoundStorm only provides Dolby encoding. You will need an external decoder to do the decoding...

Quote:

Originally Posted by goldfries

i felt no diff though many have claimed it to be even better than Audigy and close to Audigy2.

I hope you are referring to SoundStorm and NOT the SB Live!

gizzlon · 3rd Apr 2003, 10:01 PM

Hi

When u compare the sound quality of your nforce2 board, u need to know that
its a HUGE difference between analog out and digital out. If you use the digital
out,
there shouldn't be any difference between this and other cards, be cause digital
is digital. (many may say there is, but point is, its AT least as good as the
live.)
The analog on the other hand, is depended on the motherboard itself, as it uses
a dac (digital to analog converter) that is picked by e.g. asus when they make
the board. I have yet to hear about a nforce2 motherboard that has a good dac,
so bottom line is:
If you use the analog outputs, use the live
If you use the digital out (coax. or optical) the nforce2 is good

)

I have the asus a7n8x deluxe and pure/videologic digitheatre platinum speakers,
with a coax cabel and it rocks

The speakers dont have analog in, but the
reciver (build in) does have dolby digital and dts decoding.
So the nforce2 ENcodes to dolby (in games) and the speakers/reciver DEcodes
the dolby signal.
Oh yeah, dvds have already ENcoded dolbydigital OR/AND dts siganal, so they
are just passed through to the speakers ..

pUh..

ø . s a k a g i z z l o n

Chai · 3rd Apr 2003, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gizzlon

Hi

When u compare the sound quality of your nforce2 board, u need to know that
its a HUGE difference between analog out and digital out. If you use the digital
out,
there shouldn't be any difference between this and other cards, be cause digital
is digital. (many may say there is, but point is, its AT least as good as the
live.)
The analog on the other hand, is depended on the motherboard itself, as it uses
a dac (digital to analog converter) that is picked by e.g. asus when they make
the board. I have yet to hear about a nforce2 motherboard that has a good dac,
so bottom line is:
If you use the analog outputs, use the live
If you use the digital out (coax. or optical) the nforce2 is good

)

I have the asus a7n8x deluxe and pure/videologic digitheatre platinum speakers,
with a coax cabel and it rocks

The speakers dont have analog in, but the
reciver (build in) does have dolby digital and dts decoding.
So the nforce2 ENcodes to dolby (in games) and the speakers/reciver DEcodes
the dolby signal.
Oh yeah, dvds have already ENcoded dolbydigital OR/AND dts siganal, so they
are just passed through to the speakers ..

pUh..

ø . s a k a g i z z l o n

I totally agree with you there. I doubt any NForce2 board uses good DAC that you will find on Audigy2, or Santa Cruz. NForce2 APU is very good for general use, but far from being the best sound card.

luma · 4th Apr 2003, 12:24 AM

i'm wondering if it was a business related falling out between asus and nvidia. i see this kinda thing happen all the time in the corporate world - i imagine the using the "dolby" logo on the box and claiming the "soundstorm certification" means that asus is paying nvidia or dolby labs licensing fees for the privilege.

i wouldn't be too surprised if asus has been dragging their feet or haggling over the fees and nvidia has chosen this moment to say "only these three boards are certified", while refusing to flat out say "the asus board has been de-certified", even though a month ago they claimed the board was in fact certified.

luma · 4th Apr 2003, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chai

I totally agree with you there. I doubt any NForce2 board uses good DAC that you will find on Audigy2, or Santa Cruz. NForce2 APU is very good for general use, but far from being the best sound card.

i think the whole point of the soundstorm is that the DAC doesn't matter a bit - it's the only board out there that will give you one handy digital cable to plug into your receiver, with 5.1 dolby coming straight out of the computer. if you're using the digital output on the board, the DAC will never be used and you can rely on the DAC in your receiver (cause you're all using mc-1's to plug it into, right?)

Chai · 4th Apr 2003, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luma

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chai

I totally agree with you there. I doubt any NForce2 board uses good DAC that you will find on Audigy2, or Santa Cruz. NForce2 APU is very good for general use, but far from being the best sound card.

i think the whole point of the soundstorm is that the DAC doesn't matter a bit - it's the only board out there that will give you one handy digital cable to plug into your receiver, with 5.1 dolby coming straight out of the computer. if you're using the digital output on the board, the DAC will never be used and you can rely on the DAC in your receiver (cause you're all using mc-1's to plug it into, right?)

If I'm not mistaken, you can do that on other sound card like Santa Cruz as well, right? I don't use digital out, so I'm not very sure.

3rd Apr 2003, 02:42 PM	#31 (permalink)
Adrian Wong Da Boss Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my ASUS F8V notebook! Posts: 30,124 Reputation: 3081 Rep Power: 67	Since I posted the revised SoundStorm editorial, I have received many e-mails and numerous questions were posted in the forums about the mysterious disappearance of the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe from the list of SoundStorm-certified products. How can a product that was initially SoundStorm-certified be dropped from the list? Did NVIDIA tightened the SoundStorm requirements? Is ASUS cheating you by declaring SoundStorm certification with Dolby stickers on the box? I'm sure those were some of the questions that were running through your mind. Today, I have posted an updated SoundStorm editorial that will answer all your questions! If you own the A7N8X Deluxe, this is definitely something you should read before you go hysterical and start marching with a placard in front of ASUS HQ! Hehe... For more on NVIDIA's de-certification of the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard, read our revised SoundStorm In A Cup editorial! __________________ Dr. Adrian Wong Tech ARP \| Blog @ Tech ARP \| The Free Trade Zone DYKT : The only offshore account I have is at the sand bank? Keep Tech ARP free! Visit our sponsors! We need PROGRAMMERS and TECHNICAL WRITERS! Contact us if you are a hot shot programmer or technical writer! My items for sale : 50x SD Card \| Memory Stick PRO \| Cyclone Energy Saver \| Seiko SS watch \| Tiger/Carlsberg beer jugs \| Travel Speakers \| Motorola V600 \| Nokia N90 SOLD! \| New Lowepro Mini Trekker AW Other items for sale @ the FTZ : Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7700 Cu @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7000 Cu @ $20 \| Swarovski bracelet watches \| Dell 17" LCD \| Hi-Fi speakers \| English DIVX movies \| HP LaserJet toners! \| Office chairs

3rd Apr 2003, 03:22 PM	#32 (permalink)
goldfries More Than Meets The Eye Join Date: 22 Jan 2003 Location: KL/PJ Malaysia Posts: 7,869 Reputation: 539 Rep Power: 18	ahh thanx Adrian. your efforts on this is admirable!!! __________________ no computer specs \| no photography gear list \| no userbars \| no quotes

3rd Apr 2003, 04:50 PM	#34 (permalink)
goldfries More Than Meets The Eye Join Date: 22 Jan 2003 Location: KL/PJ Malaysia Posts: 7,869 Reputation: 539 Rep Power: 18	i'm thinking of putting back the SB Live for it's game port, similar sound and better bass. i felt no diff though when using SoundStorm many have claimed it to be even better than Audigy and close to Audigy2. EDITED __________________ no computer specs \| no photography gear list \| no userbars \| no quotes

3rd Apr 2003, 10:01 PM	#36 (permalink)
gizzlon Newbie Join Date: 3 Apr 2003 Location: Oslo Posts: 3 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	nforce2 sound quality Hi When u compare the sound quality of your nforce2 board, u need to know that its a HUGE difference between analog out and digital out. If you use the digital out, there shouldn't be any difference between this and other cards, be cause digital is digital. (many may say there is, but point is, its AT least as good as the live.) The analog on the other hand, is depended on the motherboard itself, as it uses a dac (digital to analog converter) that is picked by e.g. asus when they make the board. I have yet to hear about a nforce2 motherboard that has a good dac, so bottom line is: If you use the analog outputs, use the live If you use the digital out (coax. or optical) the nforce2 is good ) I have the asus a7n8x deluxe and pure/videologic digitheatre platinum speakers, with a coax cabel and it rocks The speakers dont have analog in, but the reciver (build in) does have dolby digital and dts decoding. So the nforce2 ENcodes to dolby (in games) and the speakers/reciver DEcodes the dolby signal. Oh yeah, dvds have already ENcoded dolbydigital OR/AND dts siganal, so they are just passed through to the speakers .. pUh.. ø . s a k a g i z z l o n

3rd Apr 2003, 04:28 PM	#33 (permalink)
zeppelin Newbie Join Date: 1 Apr 2003 Posts: 11 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	Guys, Guys there's 1 news from me. Sorry Adrian if its out of topic a bit. The great news is I just Dump my Asus A7N8X Deluxe version 1.04, meaning that I sold it to someone and I tell you a lot of people massaging me. Selling like hot cakes I dump the board cause initially , I thought I got the all in 1 solution with the board especially on the sound part. I got the wrong idea that the Soundstorm really supported DD5.1 software decoding. Dont get me the wrong idea, the soundstrom did support DD5.1 but only on the encoding part thru the digital coaxial. So back to my old faithfull SB Live, with my old system.

4th Apr 2003, 12:24 AM	#38 (permalink)
luma Newbie Join Date: 4 Apr 2003 Location: earth Posts: 3 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	i'm wondering if it was a business related falling out between asus and nvidia. i see this kinda thing happen all the time in the corporate world - i imagine the using the "dolby" logo on the box and claiming the "soundstorm certification" means that asus is paying nvidia or dolby labs licensing fees for the privilege. i wouldn't be too surprised if asus has been dragging their feet or haggling over the fees and nvidia has chosen this moment to say "only these three boards are certified", while refusing to flat out say "the asus board has been de-certified", even though a month ago they claimed the board was in fact certified.