VIDEOLOGIC SONIC XPLOSION DVD
Price: $349 DVD; $199 Sonic Xplosion
Supplier: Syslink (1800) 067 722
Link To: www.videologic.com
Specifications: Crystal SoundFusion chipset; 20-bit playback and 18-bit recording DACs; maximum 16-bit/48kHz recording; optical I/O; wavetable connector. Compatibility: EAX, A3D, DTS and 5.1. Software: InterVideo WinDVD 4. Drivers for Windows 98 SE/ME/2000/XP supplied
The original Audigy brought ASIO drivers, SB1394 (IEEE 1394) and EAX Advanced HD to the masses, but it was criticised because some people felt betrayed by the 24-bit 96kHz specification, which referred to the DACs rather than the sampling rate. This has now been addressed in the Audigy 2, which will actually sample at 24-bit/96kHz, although it will only sample at that rate in a standard sampling package. The ASIO driver still locks it at 48kHz, so you're restricted in programs like Cubase VST if you want low latency. That said, you'd be hard pushed to tell the difference between the two, and the forthcoming Audigy 2 Platinum eX promises full 24-bit/96kHz ASIO drivers too.
At least the ASIO drivers are there, which is more than you can say for VideoLogic's Sonic Xplosion. Based on the same Crystal SoundFusion chipset as the SonicFury, the Sonic Xplosion only offers a maximum 16-bit/48kHz sampling rate and its lack of ASIO support means you'll be lagging behind the Multimedia or DirectX ASIO drivers in Cubase.
Where the SonicFury was a genuine competitor to the Live! a few years ago, times have changed. The Sonic Xplosion now comes with the important addition of an optical in and out, but that's about all for hardware changes.
One advantage over the Sound Blaster is the wavetable connector, which is great for adding a hardware MIDI daughterboard. It now also supports DTS surround sound. DTS runs at a faster bit rate with slightly improved sound quality, but only if your DVDs support it.
The Audigy 2, however, takes surround sound a step further by offering Dolby Digital Surround EX. This adds another channel to the standard 5.1 setup for a rear centre speaker. This format is already supported by several DVD movies, most notably the new Star Wars films.
The Sonic Xplosion also supports Dolby Pro Logic 2, which converts a stereo signal into 5.1, although the Sound Blaster will also do this kind of interpolation in its CMSS (Creative Multi-Speaker Surround) mode. Officially, the Audigy 2 only supports the first generation of Pro Logic, but there's still another surround sound treat up its sleeve in the form of DVD audio.
The Audigy 2 supports all four forms of DVD audio, including the Advanced Resolution modes, which offer 5.1 surround audio at 24-bit/96kHz and stereo audio at 24-bit/192kHz. Unless you run it through high-end hi-fi equipment, it's difficult to tell the difference between the sampling rates, but listening to music in 5.1 surround sound is a real pleasure and worth showing off to your mates, particularly as hardware standalone players are expensive.
The Audigy 2 is THX certified, which means that George Lucas' minions have given it a hard-earned thumbs-up for sound quality and acoustics. Our comparative signal-to-noise ratio test showed the Audigy 2 averaged out at -90.31dB - our best yet by -10db. Interestingly, this dropped to -86.32dB when sampling at 24-bit, although the noise is still imperceptible.
By comparison, the Sonic Xplosion only managed -74.75dB - good enough, but noticeably behind the Audigy 2. And that's not its only problem. The Sonic Xplosion is a good enough card, but its feature set is so far behind the Audigy 2 that it can't compete. The software bundle looks good at first, but then you see it contains nearly all restricted versions. It does at least come with InterVideo WinDVD, which the Audigy 2 is notably lacking, although the Audigy 2 makes up for this with the great inclusions of Steinberg Cubasis VST and Ulead VideoStudio 5.
You can buy a cheaper version of the Sonic Xplosion without WinDVD and the other programs for $199, but our advice is still to plump for the basic Audigy 2 for around $299. If you can stretch your budget, go for the Platinum version, as it also features an SB1394 connector, optical and coaxial digital I/O and front-mounted MIDI ports. It may cost $549, but it's the most fully featured sound card out there and really does try to please everyone.