jmke

For the longest time, Creative has been the standard in
manufacturing sound cards. From entry level products to flagship high
performance units that encompass both the casual user and gaming enthusiast
market alike, the company has it all covered. Realistically, before
acceptable integrated sound came with every motherboard available on the
market, the only way to obtain good audio on your computer was to purchase a
Creative sound card. I still remember my very first Creative sound card back
when I was in elementary school -- the Creative Sound Blaster PCI 16 -- which
offered, well, three 3.5mm analog audio jacks for stereo output, line in, and
microphone. Nowadays, it is quite safe to say that any modern motherboard's
integrated sound has significantly more features, and delivers significantly
higher performance than the aforementioned product. As today's relatively
high performing integrated audio pretty much renders all budget sound cards
obsolete, dedicated audio has recessed to more of a niche market for users
looking only for the best of the best. Throughout history, gamers embraced
Creative's solutions primarily because of their powerful DSPs, but true audio
enthusiasts resented the company's products because of their relatively low
quality DACs and OpAmps. When Creative opened up the market a few years back
and let third party manufacturers license their excellent X-Fi audio
processor for the first time, Auzentech arrived onto the scene and created
the ultimate sound card -- the X-Fi Prelude -- which took the best of both
worlds by implementing the brilliant X-Fi digital signal processor, high
quality Asahi Kasei AK4396 DACs, and a combination of National LM4562NA/Texas
Instruments OPA2134 OpAmps into one awesome product. The end result was a
product that was legendary among gamers and audiophiles alike! Fast forward
to today, and the company has created a second iteration of their flagship
sound card. The Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD incorporates elements that made
the X-Fi Prelude such a success, as well as new technologies such as the
ability to output bitstreams of high-definition, multichannel audio from
Blu-ray Discs with no downsampling. Is the Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD the
new ultimate in high end PC audio? We composed this 12 page review for you
today, so read on to find out!

http://aphnetworks.com/reviews/auzen...hometheater_hd

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