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When
Creative Labs introduced their original Sound Blaster product
they managed to rally enough support to bring a greatly desired
standard to the PC Audio scene. This standard gained the name
"Sound Blaster Compatibility" and the term sound remained
synonymous with the Creative label. Never really stepping
away from the lime light in terms of product releases Creative
Labs has consistently produced new and more advanced sound
cards on a consistent basis which is one sign of any successful
company, product releases to keep the market's interest focused
on them and them alone.
As
if they were playing a strategic game of chess, Creative Labs
quietly positioned their game pieces in hopes of making one
major move that would send the market into a new era of sound.
By acquiring a company which has often been referred to as
the "Bose of the PC Speaker," Cambridge SoundWorks, Creative
built the second pillar for their future knockout triumvirate.
The third and final pillar, taking the load off of Creative
and Cambridge SoundWorks to support the infrastructure of
the triumvirate was put in place by the sound card giant's
acquire of Ensoniq, the original producers of the low-cost
AudioPCI sound card.
Creative's
flagship sound card for quite some while was the Sound Blaster
AWE64, it became the somewhat expensive standard for any PC
enthusiast's ideal configuration. Breathing new life into
their aging product, Creative's recently established relationship
with Ensoniq proved to be a profitable one as they implemented
some of Ensonic's technology into their next-generation AWE64,
the AWE64D, the first Sound Blaster sound card available in
a PCI interface.
At
the same time Creative was introducing improved versions of
the AWE64 and dropping its price, the rest of the market took
the opportunity to make use of their many pawns and threaten
Creative's domain. What was never taken into account is that
a single well placed move can destroy eternities of actions
without logic. This was made blatantly clear with Creative
Lab's introduction of their Sound Blaster Live! card.
While
just about every single product on the market is referred
to as a "revolutionary new product" by its creators, the SB
Live! actually has the potential to fulfill that one line
phrase present in virtually all on-line PDF manuals on the
net today. Creative Labs didn't approach the design of the
SB Live! with achieving better 3D audio in mind, the obvious
lack of the attention-grabber '3D' title in the product's
name make it obvious that this isn't your run of the mil "look
ma I can use 4 speakers" sound card, it is the Sound Blaster
Live!
Airing
it Live
In
a recent trip to Burlingame, California, AnandTech was given
a media demonstration of the capabilities of the Sound Blaster
Live! card and the technology that surrounds it. Normally
when a manufacturer gives a demo of their product they tend
to sweeten up the system it is being demonstrated on, however
when you go out to buy the card you usually don't receive
all the perks of the system it was demonstrated on. It is
much like being shown a house with a beautiful yard then being
told that the yard doesn't come with the house at the time
of the purchase. Approaching the SB Live! introduction with
the attitude you should approach any manufacturer's demonstration
of their product (always keep in mind that the product is
average and then give it the opportunity to earn some points
with you, never allow hype to build up) AnandTech received
a fairly decent overview of the capabilities of the SB Live!.
What makes the SB Live! what it is stem from what sets the
card apart from the rest of the market, as Creative put it,
the SB Live! is a total audio solution and not a single card.
The demo systems Creative Labs setup for the media to take
a look at weren't doctored up, they were actual SB Live! audio
systems that you can go out and purchase. So what makes up
the SB Live! audio system? Let's start with the card itself...
The
Card
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on the EMU10K1 Digital Signal Processor, the half length
32-bit PCI card that came out of the attractive Sound
Blaster Live! packaging looks like your average PCI sound
card at first. Featuring 4 gold plated output connectors
on the rear panel, a midi port, 5 internal audio connectors,
and a Digital I/O connector port the SB Live! makes excellent
use of the small amount of real estate that is provided
for on the brownish-gold printed circuit board (PCB).
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The
EMU10K1 DSP which is at the heart of the SB Live! is by far
the most powerful DSP available on the market. How powerful
is the most powerful? Where as the "powerful" Guillemot Home
Studio Pro has an on-board DSP capable of processing 50 million
instructions per second (MIPS), and where as the Sound Blaster
AWE64's DSP is capable of around 36 MIPS, the EMU10K1 can
process around 1,000 MIPS using its 2 million transistors.
Using a more complex processor for sound than we used to use
in computers just a few years ago, Creative made it clear
that the SB Live! would be the absolute best card on the market.
The first method to achieving that status would be to make
sure that all audio calculations were taken care of in the
sound hardware and not unloaded onto your CPU, the EMU10K1
definitely accomplishes this with style. The processor does
all sound processing at 32-bits and can produce 48kHz sound
using Creative's own 8-point interpolation system. Much like
Matrox G200 which performs all internal graphics calculations
at a higher accuracy then dithers the final result to the
requested output depth instantly improving image quality,
the EMU10K1 applies the same principle to sound production
resulting in instantly improved sound quality, no driver support
necessary.
The
card itself provides for 2 or 4 speaker output configurations,
however as mentioned before the card also comes with a Digital
I/O connector port on the PCB. Using the supplied cable you
can attach the SB Live! to its provided daughtercard which
features 5 new connectors. A midi input and output port, SPDIF
in/output ports, and one last digital port for a multi-channel
digital amplifier. This daughtercard extends the SB Live!'s
speaker support to a full 8 speaker configuration which Creative
will make available at a later date. One thing that you're
going to have to get used to with the SB Live! is its future
expandability, its expansion features remain unparalleled
by any other card in its price range to date.
For
you MIDI fans out there, the SB Live!'s 256-voice MIDI synthesis
capabilities should satisfy even the greatest of PC music
enthusiasts. In spite of the fact that most users that will
be considering the Live! won't really take into consideration
MIDI support, the support is there for those who desire/need
it. If you're worried about the professional qualities of
the card, a PC musician emailed me with a test to conduct
on the Live! card. By running a cable between the Live!'s
I/O ports and attempting to play a MIDI file while recording
the playback the SB Live!'s functionality as a true tool for
PC musicians. Unfortunately, like all other Creative sound
cards in the past, the Live! failed the test and wouldn't
allow the requested test to be conducted. Looks like you can't
make a product aimed for the average gamer that also pleases
the high end musician.
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