Auzentech Prelude-what do you think?

[leporello]

Dear Friends,

I've recently aquired one of these soundcards which seems to be getting quite good reviews on all the usual sites. The card was released before it's drivers were written. The early drivers contained a "time bomb bug" which caused to card to be cease function after a while, causing an "error 27" in Windows. The existing drivers fail to implement all the card's features but according to Auzentech new functioning drivers are about to be released this month and early next year.

At the moment my new soundcard is sitting in an anti-static bag on my desk and at the moment I'm using my motherboard's onboard Sigmatel sound system, connected via coaxial digital connector to my Denon AV receiver. I also have a set of immature Sennheiser HD 650s and an even less mature Green Solo. I also have a Nebula DigiTV card in my system. My computer is used for all the usual things including digital TV and radio. My son plays lots of bloodthirsty online games. I intend to re-install the Prelude once the manufacturers release stable drivers.

To the point. Auzentech seems to have a good reputation amongst PC audiophiles. In the reviews and in Auzentech's literature a great deal is made of the quality of the Prelude's components. I've learned through expensive experience to treat fan site reviews and fan comments with a great deal of caution, and I'd be very interested in comments and views of informed Rock Grotties of the components listed on page 3 of the Prelude manual. See this link...

www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_prelude.php

The reason I ask is that I'm wondering whether to plug my Solo into it when I re-install it. My hunch is that for games this could make sense.

Thanks for your attention.

[charleyphogg]

I'm the least experienced one to reply, but with todays computers there's no reason why you can't get great audio from one. Driver issues are no big deal. Thats just a matter of d/l'ing the new drivers and installing them. I don't have the Prelude, but I have the x-plosion or whatever it is 2 generations earlier, and for my use it is great for me. Which is mostly music, but also games and movies. I also changed the op-amps in it, which is a handy feature the Prelude should have to.


Just get a real good and effecient power supply and get your sound card as far away as possible from everything else, and have good clean power going to your pc. I'm also going to try a gizmo that rick pointed out in another thread........ it's not a secret or anything like that, I just can't think what it is right now. Oh well, hope that helped,lol.

[mrarroyo]

Currently I have a cheap Chainteck AV-710 in my computer. All I wanted was an optical out to use my X-DAC V3 and did not care for the soundcard's internal DAC. The Chainteck was under $30

[leporello]

Thanks for the replies. The driver issue which caused the Prelude to die has been resolved and I shoved it back into the system. I must say that it does sound so much better than the Sigmatel onboard sound on my Intel mainboard. I also have the card connected via digital coax to a Denon AV system. I'll give my headphones a whirl on the Prelude via my Green Solo.

The reason for for my original post was to see if any of the more experienced and qualified people would make of the manufacturer's blurb on the quality of the Opamps and things. More out of curiousity than concern. I've learned over the years to wear critical waders when reading reviews in the PC enthusiasts forums and review sites where bullshit seems to be the main currency.

Anyway, I'll give the Prelude a go via the amp. Perhaps there could be advantages in games and things by using the soundcard's technical bits to process sounds? We'll see.

[pagan]

I got this card just before xmas, and intend to use it in a pvr.
Just using for record ol vynal at present...

If you just need spdif(digital) out, then the chaintech will probably be more viable.

as for drivers issues, how about SB driver issues?

Opamps can make a difference for plus or minus, depends on the sound you prefer.
I prefer discrete, but thats just me.

Look at the card for layout quality, dac types and their implementation.

For a pc enviroment it pretty good. but it's still a pc.

The Xfi side of it is best for gaming, SB is a bit better with less cpu usage.
The auzentech are better for audio.
But still a pc driven audio.