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Author Topic: New Sound Cards  (Read 3427 times)
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Steve - WB3HUZ
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« on: May 09, 2005, 09:17:52 PM »

Here's an interesting article on the new generation of sound card on the way from Creative called X-Fi.

These cards will have almost 25x the processing power of the current cards, up to 64MB of on board RAM, a specialized DSP engine just for filtering, an the potential to process up 192kHz/24-bit data.

Could have major implications for SDR and digital demods in radios.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1813719,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532
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K8SWL
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« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2005, 07:36:09 AM »

Steve,
   This sounds fantastic! I currently have Soundblaster Audigy 2 sound cards in two of the computers here. They work fantastic with the PC controlled receivers.
   Last week I did an unplanned test that proved that all sound cards aren't equal. I bought a new computer. Once I had it up and running, I installed software and connected my TenTec RX-321 receiver to it. The audio sounded like crap! Took me a few minutes to realize it was the sound card. Plugged an Audigy 2 in and all was great again. I can only imagine how well this next generation card will perform.
   I can see many uses for it. Using it in SDR applications is my main interest. I can also see it being a complete low level audio chain for a transmitter. Imagine a $70 sound card with appropriate software replacing a rack full of audio processing equpment.
   I know there are many that fight the concept of the computer becoming a key part of the shack, but I think it's going to open up some interesting options.

Mike K8SWL
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Jack-KA3ZLR-
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« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2005, 07:58:34 PM »

I think it's Great to Steven,

 I had the first when it came out and most likely i'll move into this direction as well. I've never had a problem with their stuff... Cheesy
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W1DAN
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« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2005, 01:10:55 PM »

Hi Steve and all:

Interesting article. Thanks for posting it.

A number of years ago I bought a Creative labs Audigy card for my brother, only to find out it did not fully support 24 bit 96 khz in the analog and digital domain (the box said it did). They lied.

I had an SB16 card a while back and when I tried to get support, I was not able to reach a human (like MFJ).

So I am not really interested in Creative Labs (they also own Cambridge Soundworks!). Their analog tech specs are not as good as other cards out there with the same sample rate parameters.

The biggest boost to Software radios would be native 192 khz analog A/D conversion. Processing can be done on the soundcard or the PC's main processor. Today it really does not make much difference in performance where the number crunching is done.

According to the article, the Creative labs card does not do 24 bit 192 khz. Many people are going this way, and it is a shame they did not make 192 khz.

There are many 24 bit 192 khz cards out there already. If someone's aplication code were written for the PC's processor, then it would run on more systems than if it were written to run on a dedicated sound card's DSP.

In the end I have seen audio cards with DSP (like Yamaha) around for a number of years. Creative is not creating anything new.

Even though this is an advance in certain areas, I think Creative is still trying to pull something over on the public.

73,
Dan
W1DAN
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