Audigy 2 Offers Audio Delight

PC audiophiles have a new reason to drool: Creative Labs has taken desktop audio up another octave with its recent release of the Sound Blaster Audigy 2, the first sound card that plays back DVD-Audio at 24 bits/192 kHz for two-channel stereo and 24 bits/96 kHz for six-channel surround sound.

DVD-A can reproduce sound frequencies out to 96 kHz. By contrast, standard CD audio (16 bits/44.1 kHz) cuts off at 20 kHz, roughly the uppermost range of human hearing. While you can't actually hear the higher frequencies (and your dog can), studies show that their presence results in the perception of a deeper and wider sound stage. Unfortunately, DVD-A recordings are expensive and in very short supply, but that's another story.

Creative Labs unveiled the card in September, and is now shipping it in two configurations. The Audigy 2 sound card, supporting DVD-A, carries a retail price of $130. The Platinum Package, with the Audigy Drive, costs $199.

Hands (and Ears) On

To test the card, I paired the Audigy 2 with Creative's new 120-watt Inspire 6.1 6000 speaker system (list price, $130). Just for fun, I later ran a cable from the Audigy 2's front-speaker line-out jack into a very high resolution stereo system. My goal: to hear how the card would do when unleashed from tiny PC speakers.

I used the Audigy 2 Platinum package, which includes the handy drive bay-mounted Audigy 2 Drive. It provides RCA analog inputs; a FireWire connector; headphone and microphone jacks; and ports for a DVD player, AV amplifier, and MIDI devices.

Using the drive to record and convert several old vinyl albums into .wav files proved quite simple. I connected a cheap pair of RCA-connector-tipped audio cables from the tape-out on my stereo pre-amp (you can do the same with most stereo receivers) to the Aux 2 inputs on the front of the drive.

Through the Audigy's bundled MediaSource software, I could then record anything played through the stereo, including phonograph records. I set the recording for .wav, 44.1-kHz, 16-bit files so that I could easily transfer them to standard CDs. The setup worked perfectly.

Sweet Sounds

The original Audigy sound card's capability to reproduce lifelike surround sound for gaming has been carried over into the new card. But DVD-Audio is where the new card shines.

I tested the card with CD and DVD-A versions of the Eagles' "Hotel California." Played through a DVD drive, it was no contest--the DVD-A was more involving than the CD, and as expected, the sound stage was astonishingly deep. The Inspire speakers, which are fine for games and DVD movies, were disappointing when I cranked the music up: harsh at the high end, and a boomy bass. To be fair, the Inspire system is not intended to compete with the kind of speakers you attach to a home stereo; they're meant for the close confines of a desktop system.

It was a very different story when I ran the same tests through high-quality stereo speakers. The DVD-A version was terrific piped through my living-room speakers and subwoofer.

To be honest, the CD version of the Eagles album sounded slightly better than the DVD-A version. That didn't surprise me, however, since I use a high-end CD player with my stereo, and the DVD-A was being played on an inexpensive DVD drive.

The fact that the sound even came close was what impressed me, and that is a tribute to the Audigy 2.

Audiophile Pleasure

Since I'm a hard-core audio nut, I couldn't resist one final experiment: a living-room 6.1 DVD-A sound system that combined the Audigy 2 and my home stereo.

It was actually quite easy. I ran a cable from the Audigy's line-out 1 port to my pre-amp's auxiliary line-in. That brought the front-channel sound from the DVD-A into my living-room speakers. I attached some extension cables to the Inspire's rear-channel and subwoofer speakers, and placed them in the living room.

The front speakers and subwoofer were set to my normal listening volume, and I adjusted the Inspire speakers to a volume that was low enough to hear but not so loud that it would interfere with the higher-quality sound coming from the front. It was cable spaghetti, but "life in the fast lane" never sounded so spectacular.