*I don't have the AC-1 Headset, so I am reviewing the card as a standalone device*
My first wow
mg: impression came from the box fedex dropped off. I open the brown box to see the manufacturer's 15x11x4" box. Good lord, thats more than twice as big as the box my video card came in.
[dont have my digital camera handy, this will have to do
]
I knew the Package had some manual of some sort and that the analog sound was output with a proprietary port dubbed "AVI" by razer, identical to a DVI port visually. And it came with this little adapter....
Still seemed a bit flamboyant.
Here is a closeup of the adaptor from the hi-def audio port to normal 3.5mm jacks for everything you could imagine
This, although I see it as a bs gimmick just to say ohhh we have this hi-def connector, I much prefer plugging my hd515's into this and letting the cord dangle down, as opposed to pluggin into a 3.5 mm port perpendicular to the back of my case. I am sometimes paranoid, and I could see one of my roommates walking into my room tripping on the cord and snapping the 3.5 mm jack off in the back of my computer
But after installing the card and all its drivers and first listening to my music on my speakers I was blown away. I have a 5.1 home theater system so I do have some expectations with regard to sound quality and I was definitely not dissapointed.
The equalizer presets really did do justice for all my songs of different Genres
Special effects offered with 2.1 speaker setup include dolby virtual speaker, dolby II pro logic, and dts neo-pc. Stereo headphone option offers the same, except dolby "headphone technology" in place of virtual speaker. Now I know why they say quality music headphones in css give you better directional sound than a surround sound setup... its incredible. As big of a boost as it was going from speakers to headphones, it was more than doubled going from onboard to dedicated sound.
Which reminds me, according to my netgraph in css, my fps is also boosted pretty good with this soundcard. If you're one of those poor saps still running a single core cpu like me, dedicated sound is a pretty nice little performance boost. Before, when a nade was thrown in side office, throwing all those "beefy computers" around, my fps would go from 60 into the low 20's or even teens. Now It rarely drops below 40, regardless of noise effects. Yay barracuda
Oh did I mention the little white circular thing pictured with the rest of the contents here:
Thats right! Its a certificate of authenticity! And here I thought someone slipped me a fake Sound card! No, sir.
If you do have a clear case, you won't be dissapointed with this card aesthetically, either. I know how much we all hate looking at little pins and capacitors, razer covered all that up with a plastic encasement, and on the side visible to the user even has a green glowy razer logo staring back at you while you game, I know everyone with those razer mice love that
.
Okay, so onto support for other features I dont have: its got 4 channel speaker support, 5.1, and 7.1, and obviously if you have a razer barracuda headset you just hook it up to the avi port and have fun, you're good to go.
Also, if you look at my thumbnails youll notice there is a seperate drop down box for digital audio. This card has an digital optical out and an optical IN, for use with a fiber optic cable for attachement to a reciever pre-amp, or high quality recording microphone, respectively. The out can carry 7.1 channels to your home theater system on a single fiber optic cable
.
This puppy went in my last available pci slot, unless you count the one that nothing can physically fit into due to my gpu's dual slot cooling solution. Yes, I would have been happier with a pci-e X1 alternative, but really, if you look at creative, or asus or any other soundboard manufaturer none of them really have any solutions for the interface either, so, if you are in the market just make sure youve got room
Hmmm, has no active cooling so it is silent..... the control panel and instruction booklet could have been a little easier for audio noobs to setup when trying to connect multiple devices.
It DOES have connectors for line in: protable guitar lol.... subwoofer connector if that isnt covered with the green jack to your 2.1 system.
This is a great card, the SNR beats Creatives best by 8 decibals.
Now, rest assure I am no razer fanboy, in fact I dont care for most of their products other than my deathadder... but at the same time take my enthusiasm with a grain of salt as I did pay about 35 percent retail for this badboy... regardless if you've got the money this card has everything you'll need for years.
oh... except EAX support, sorry battlefield fanboiz
To summarize:
Pros: Ton of features, surround sound standards, and hookup options (no that last part doesnt mean it will get you girls
)
Added performance boost (extra fps), way better sound quality than any onboard Ive ever heard, as it should have. Certificate of authenticity !!!!!1111ones11!!!
Cons: Somewhat difficult control panel for the average user, if pretty. A bit lacking in steps for "quick setup". No EAX support for those games that do use it. Also I am *assuming* it doesn't do hardware AL for your open GL/AL games (because I tried enabling it in
ut3 and my sound went in and out and lagged alot.)
Overall rating: 9.4/10
