Placa De Som Creative Audigy Platinum Ex Drive Externo Midi

Now the design of the box is just a real piece of art!

Everything that I said about the Platinum eX concerns the characteristics of all Audigy sound cards. You should only allow for accessories of different models.

Accessories of the Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum eX

• SB0090 sound card with gold-plated inputs/outputs;

• SB0110B daughter card with connectors for an external module;

• external Audigy Drive SB0110 module (which can be placed anywhere you like outside the computer);

• wireless remote control;

• cables;
• CD with drivers and utilities.

What about the 24/96 ADC/DAC?

The AC'97 specification of even the latest version (2.1 sept 2000) doesn't allow making audio codecs with an AC-link data transfer format higher than 20 bits. That is why the card uses converters based on the I2S bus (EMU10K1-based cards used it actively, just take the DAC of the rear channel - UDA1330A and UDA1334A on the Live! and on the Live!5.1). The Audigy also uses the Philips converters.

The card has the following chips supporting a data format up to 24bit 96kHz: 6-channel DAC Philips UDA1328T on 6 linear-outs and ADC Philips UDA1361T for signal sampling from a linear-in. The stereo AC'97-codec Creative CT1297 is used for mixing of all analog signals from card's internal connectors.

Since the sound card is primarily used for PC applications the most interesting object to study is a 6-channel 24bit/96kHz DAC Philips UDA1328T:

Look at its specification:

Parameters of the Philips UDA1328T DAC (channels 1 and 2)

Parameters of the Philips UDA1328T DAC (channels 3 through 6)

You should remember, however, that the ideal characteristics do not matter much. A high-quality signal from an expensive DAC can be easily damaged by a couple of discrete elements or by noise in power. On the other hand, products with similar characteristics can sound completely different.

Parameters of the Philips UDA1361T ADC

The technology of converter operation is bitstream (1 bit with oversempling). That is why the characteristics for 48 kHz and 96 kHz are equal, and it is still the home-sector product.

The following tests with our RMAA program will reveal real characteristics of analog inputs/outputs after the signal has passed the whole track of the sound card.

Connection

Connection of the 5.1 acoustic system is the same. There are two ways to do it. Is it better to use DTT external converters from Creative and to apply a digital signal or to use internal 24/96 converters? It is a complicated question...

Here are external inputs/outputs of the card together with a daughter card:

You can see input and output minijack connectors and 2 SB1394 connectors (the connector conforms to the IEEE 1394 specification). A large connector with three rows of pins is meant for connection of an external module. The second SB1394 port is meant for connection of a cable which also goes to an external module.

The front panel of the Audigy Drive module contains:

• optical and coaxial input/outputs;
• headphones jack (1/4") with a volume control;
• mic-out 2 with an amplification level regulator which switches it to the linear-in 2 into the extreme position;
• stereo RCA input connectors for home audio/video equipment 'Aux in 2';
• MIDI-in and MIDI-out in the miniDIN format (there are adapters for usual DIN connectors);
• SB1394 port for connection of digital video cameras and other high-speed digital devices.

Card's internal connectors:

The daughter card is connected with a very wide standard cable:

Start-up

Test system:

• AMD Athlon 1333 MHz;
• MB ASUS A7V133 (VIA KT133A);
• Memory 512 PC133;
• HDD IBM ICXXX 41 GBytes;

The tests were carried out under the Win98SE with the DX 8.0a and 1394-patch installed (the SB1394 port didn't work without the latter).

After installation of the supplied drivers the system acquired:

At last, the SB16 emulation doesn't take resources because it is absent by default!

Utilities

The Audigy has now more utilities and they are more convenient:

The Surround Mixer looks extremely attractive. It is entirely redesigned:

SB Audigy Quick Start

Creative TaskBar

Click left button Click right button

Audio HQ

EAX Control Panel

As compared with the Live!5.1 the Audigy software has a better design and functionality, the effects are classified.

The SF2.X sample bank size is almost unlimited now:

Does anybody need such an expensive Platinum eX?

Creative states that the Audigy Platinum eX is meant for boundless musical creativity. The basic card's features to provide it:

• convenience of operation with an external module;
• 24bit 96kHz DACs;
• support of the ASIO with its 2ms delay (min.);
• SB1394 interface (IEEE1394);
• S/PDIF input/output with a possibility to work in 24bit/96kHz mode;
• SoundFont 2.1 with a theoretical limit of a sample bank size of 4 GBytes.

Everything apart from the first item also concerns other cards of the series.

Let's discuss each point separately. Whether it is convenient to use an external module as compared with a unit which installs into a 5" bay is for you to decide. At least, the external unit looks stylish and headphones with a volume control are necessary for studio work.

The 24bit/96kHz converter do not matter much. It is necessary to provide a hardware support of standard professional music data interfaces (MME, GSIF, ASIO, and EASI) and compatibility with professional programs. It is also necessary to control driver's parameters on a software level: buffer adjustment in samples or ms, switching on/off of a limiter and SRC, multiclient drivers etc.

The Cubase v 5.0 R6 has found an ASIO device but unfortunately with a single sampling frequency - 48 kHz:

It means that it is impossible to work with 24/96 sound under the ASIO interface with the current drivers.

The latency adjustment is impressing:

But on the PC equipped with Athlon 1333 MHz, VIA KT133A and 512 PC133 the operation at 2 ms was impossible because one could hear crack. 4 ms improved the reproduction. It is possible that for recording you will have to set 10 ms. But it is not terrible comparing to lack of 44.1 and 96 kHz modes.

If you want to work through the MME look at the screenshot:

The situation is better with the Nemesys Gigastudio 2.20.42: