X-Fi Forte Receives Recommended Award from Guru3D.com
The Gaming audio, the Forte's strong suit provided spectacular immersive audio in both EAX/OpenAL effect game and games with internal effect engines.
The CMSS-3D headphone routine offered spot on surround sound virtualization for those who prefer to game with headphones or love gaming late at night. The Forte offered exceptionaly accurate directional cues and impressive immersion that had this reviewer instinctively turning his head a few times to see what that sound was behind me. We at the Guru3D Audio Lab highly recommend this card for those looking for a new hardware gaming card or just a new sound card as the Forte offers impressive audio no matter what audio task your doing, no matter if your gaming, rocking out to music or enjoying some movies the Forte 7.1 has you covered.
The Auzentech X-Fi Forte has a lot of really great features that any HTPC owner should take notice of. Its low profile makes it perfect for small form factor gaming rigs, such as LAN boxes and its EAX 5.0 support is great for users still running Windows XP. The native support of DDL and DTS make it a good choice for those people who want audio quality that is better than on-board for their home theatre’s. Unfortunately, Vista users need to be a little bit more careful as EAX effects are only enabled when using ALChemy, and even then support can be somewhat lacking. Creative appears to be working to increase their OpenAL support, but by the looks of things, developer’s aren’t following the trend.
PC Game Hardware magazine of Germany has just reviewed 5 high end sound cards from Creative, Asus and Auzentech. The magazine gave the X-Fi Forte the second highest score using an earlier driver, due to a driver bug that is fixed in the current drivers.*
Review conclusion in German:
..Im Test brilliert die Karte mit exzellentem Klang, welcher in der Werkseinstellung einen Hauch besser ausfällt als bei Creatives X-Fi-Karten. Einen Teil trägt der standardmäßig aktive Crystalizer dazu bei (65%), der Rest kommt durch die hochwertige Platine. Der Bass wummert satt und sanfte Hochtöne schallen kristallklar hervor.*
Review conclusion translated to English:
..in test, the card shines due to excellent sound which is in factory set a little better than one of Creative's X-Fi cards. This is due in part to the by-default enabled Crystalizer (65%). The other part is the high-class printed circuit board (PCB). Bass hums full and soft high tones appear crystal-clear... Conclusion: this is the best sounding gamer sound card with X-Fi-DSP sadly is still suffering from driver bugs.*
* Backround noises from microphone FP, corrected in current driver.
X-Fi Forte Earns 93 out of 100 Points In Associated Content Review
The Auzentech X-Forte does a great job with sound, surround sound, gaming sound and all the other audio I could throw at it using my computer. I had a great time listening to a wide variety of music and playing games hearing all the great surround sound goodness in a variety of games. Overall, the Auzentech X-Forte 7.1 Low Profile PCI-Express Sound Card does a great job of taking sound away from an over-taxed motherboard and dedicating sound to a new entertainment experience. I highly recommend the Auzentech X-Forte as a great dedicated sound card .
- Jeff Gedgaud
X-Fi Forte Receives Elite Performance Award from EliteBastards.com
"...it's really next to impossible to fault Auzentech's X—Fi Forte — It makes good use of Creative's arguably ageing but still immensely powerful X-Fi audio processor, couples it with some stable and bloat—free drivers, piles on a tonne of additional functionality that will be welcomed by many, and ramps up the audio quality to please even the most ardent audiophiles. While it doesn't really hold much over its older predecessor, the X-Fi Prelude, unless you absolutely require PCI Express support, for anyone else in the market for a discrete sound card the X-Fi Forte is the new king of the hill in our book."
X-Fi Forte Receives HardwareAnalisis Top Product Award
Translated from Spanish: "Auzentech has developed a ultimate soundcard, which offers great support and integrates the latest audio technologies included in movies and games. The X-Fi Forte 7.1 is perfectly polyvalent, since though it was designed as a Low Profile soundcard, the user has the possibility to mount it on a standard system as it also comes with a standard PCI bracket. The chips which were used for this card are the best that can be currently found on the market, hence ensuring high quality audio. If you take into account the 64MB X-RAM memory, you can consider that this is a perfect soundcard for the Gamers. There is also a great flexibility as regards I/O, as it includes analogue and digital I/O as well as a special header for headset amplifiers. A real pleasure...And we must not forget neither the extremely complete software which comes with the soundcard, and which will enable the user to perfectly control the sound, whether he is listening to playing, playing videogames or watching a movie. Taking into consideration the features of this card, and its price, around 140€, it appears that we’re facing an outstanding card, as very few soundcards with such features (Low Profile, PCI-E interface, chip X-Fi &64MB X-RAM) can be found today on the market, and especially for such a price."
X-Fi Forte Receives Hartware.net Top Product Award
Translated from German: "The Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 is an outstanding all-round talent and masters all areas from Gaming over music and movies to professional purposes with bravura. Due to its versatility, good performance and only few weak points the Auzentech X-Fi Forte obtains the award as Hartware Top Product."
Overall, I was very impressed and surprised at how well the X-Fi Forte performed. It really did make a big difference to sound quality. All the modes and adjustable settings were very addictive too and I couldn’t help tinkering. The down side and it is a big one is the price; £130 is a lot of money for any computer component and so I expect many people will be put off by it. But, for those willing to splash the cash, the reward is top notch; the X-Fi Forte is a great audio card with the combination of Creative and Auzentech proving once again a perfect match. Undoubtedly, the card has come on leaps and bounds from the Prelude with the introduction of Dolby Digital Live and other such features making this card stand out. For all you music lovers out there, this is the card.
Forum Member Review: "Well the good news is Auzentech took all the great things about the X-Fi chipset and made it better, the used the good software and seem to have made extremely stable drivers. I've been listening to music, checking out games and watching some of my favorite movie clips. Music sounds better than ever. Crysis, Left 4 Dead, Company of Heroes and STALKER all sound incredible. Finally the lobby scene in Matrix sounds better on my PC then I could have imagined, not as good as my HT setup but I do have 4.1 speakers and it is far superior to my on board audio or Creative Audigy card. I couldn't be more happy with this sound card, they really don't make them any better for this price."
CAUTION: To avoid damage from static electricity, do not place your soundcard on a table or other surface without the anti-static bag.
With all the X-Fi bells and whistles, like EAX Effects, X-Fi CMSS-3D (a feature that brings 3D sound to stereo sources), X-Fi Crystalizer (which attempts to clean up less-crisp sound, such as that from lossily-ripped CDs), and more, the Auzentech Forte brings with it everything you'd expect to find in a SoundBlaster branded X-Fi card. That's a good thing. This is an excellent card, and would fit in nicely with a home theater system. It certainly blows the mushy tones that come from most onboard audio codecs out of the water...For what it tries to be—a low-profile, HTPC alternative to wimpy onboard codecs—the X-Fi Forte succeeds thrillingly.
- Joel Durham Jr.
Translated from German: The X-Fi Forte is a worthy PCIe-addition to the X-Fi Prelude. It sounds outstanding, has a very high-end design and in addition it shows off with a first class gaming performance. All this recommends the Forte as the first choice for gamers with a PCIe slot.
GameStar Names X-Fi Forte "The New Reference Sound Card"
Translated from German: "In practise the Forte 7.1 sounds excellent, but you will hear the difference to a conventional X-Fi card only with very good speakers or headsets. The Forte could be interesting for HiFi-fans, which also like to play, due to the enormous high sound quality." Notes: 1) The X-Fi Forte is acknowledged as the new Reference Sound Card, meaning that it is the standard to which other soundcards will be compared.
I think that is one of the main things that really impressed me with Auzentech in particular, they are continually working on bigger and better things for products they have already released. The Dolby drivers and a few other things have been release after the card hit the market so the hardware was ready but the software was still in the works.
They continue to not only improve and fix problems but to upgrade the cards features so you can be sure they will not be selling these and forgetting about their customers after the sale. I have had a few problems with installation and running various consoles on the card but had great help from support and I don’t think they knew I was a reviewer.
• All Reviews - 06.17.2008
X-Fi Prelude Earns Effizienz Award
EffizienzGurus.de
Effizienz Award
High-class components, a flawlessly functioning driver with exclusive extensions, many connection possibilities and very convincing sound that screams for high-end equipment. Without a doubt, the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 deserves our EffizienzAward. (translation)
- Luca Marnitz
X-Fi Prelude Earns Top Class Product Award from DatorMagazin
Swedish Magazine Datormagazin announces Top Class award to Auzentech X-Fi Prelude. “In the latest issue of Sweden’s market leading pro-user magazine Datormagazin we test the Auzentech X-FI Prelude. The soundcard has been awarded Top Class product, an award that has been given only 1 or 2 times per year and is reserved for the best products.” - Excerpt from advance publicity
X-Fi Prelude Earns 9 out of 10 Points from AtomicPC.com
Listening to our CD and BD audio, it was instantly obvious that ‘more’ could be heard. The decay of cymbals, the fret-buzz of guitars and the luscious bass undertones jumped out at us. Low frequency effects and subtle dynamics (such as actors breathing) were obvious and transparent. At 192kHz, the Auzen amazed us.... The Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is a card for lovers of serious audio. With more ADC/DAC clout than any Creative card, upgradeable components, impressive driver support and a THD rating that Creative cannot touch, we consider this a stand out product.
From a technical point of view we understand that Auzentech has fully licensed Creative Labs’s X-Fi chip onto their own proprietary circuit board design. So what does that mean? Well it means arguably the world’s fastest and most advanced audio processing at the average consumers reach right now, with upcoming driver support for Dolby Live, DTS interactive and since we have a Creative chip, the very latest in EAX surround technology. My first impressions were good with a very noticeable notch up from the low-end after swapping from the Xonar. Not only did the low-end sound a lot beefier, it had a lot more character to it; more warmth and depth.
- James Vozar
The card certainly met my expectations, and has definitely improved the audio quality, clarity, and even the performance of my flight simulator experience.
X-Fi Prelude Receives Top-Produkt Award from PCGamesHardware.de
X-Fi Prelude to receive Top Produkt award in March issue of German PC magazine PC Games Hardware:
"The performance data in our test lab is outstanding. Rightmark 3D Sound attests the card a very low CPU utilization like with the Creative originals. Due to the "real" X-Fi-Chip on board the Prelude does also not take second place in disciplines EAX 5.0, 128 hardware voices and the Crystalizer. The subjective rated sound quality on music and games is our new reference: High tones and surround sound appear crystal clear, you can sense every detail owning an adequate HIFI system. This is garnished with a luscious bass, that sounds never distorted."
X-Fi Prelude Receives APH Recommended / Best in Class award
The Auzentech X-Fi Prelude is probably the best sound card in the market today. Combining the most powerful, and arguably, the best sound processor in the market today, with some of the highest quality and a reasonable price consumer audio electronics, the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude is a very scalable product when it comes to compatibility -- whether it's in unleashing the potential of relatively weaker speakers by emphasizing on certain frequencies, or working with high end home theater systems in outputting raw unprocessed audio while retaining as much quality as possible -- the X-Fi Prelude is a winner not only on paper as shown in our RMAA test graphs, but also in real life performance.... To say the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude is an X-Fi on crack is one way of putting it, but the other way of saying it is that the X-Fi Prelude is pretty much one of the best sound cards available in the market today!
- chconline
X-Fi Prelude Receives Recommended Award from TechReport.com
RightMark confirms that it [the X-fi Prelude]t has higher analog output quality than the X-Fi Fatal1ty. You also get a upgradeable OPAMP, and more importantly, support for real-time Dolby Digital Live encoding that isn't available with any other X-Fi. With DTS encoding on tap for a driver release this quarter, Auzentech has done well to differentiate the Prelude from Creative's own offerings.
- Geoff Gasior
Notes on the review: The auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is the new reference soundcard for Hardwareluxx -- meaning that it is the best performing sound card the staff has ever heard.
X-Fi Prelude Receives Techarp Reviewers Choice Award
Because of its superb audio fidelity, great connectivity options and value for money, we would like to award it our Reviewer's Choice Award. Congratulations, Auzentech, and keep up the great work!
We were eager to find out what the Prelude could do and it didn't disappoint. As we expect from Auzentech, it's a well-engineered card sporting eight very solid inputs on a PCI card as big as some graphics cards. Audio software suites are often ridiculous bloat, but Prelude's was a joy to use.... The quality of audio produced is fantastic. Even hideously bad MP3s sounded better. And because the Prelude supports up to EAX 5.0, you might even get a boost in frame rate when gaming in Windows XP.
It's an X-FI, but not as we know it
With these extra features [Dolby Digital Live and dTS NEO:PC], it would be the only premium sound card to offer cross-compatibility with every past and future game, and it provides professional-grade sound quality to match.
-James Morris
X-Fi Prelude Receives Heavnly Hardware Award from DriverHeaven.net
Right now the X-Fi chipset is without doubt the best gaming oriented audio solution available. Auzentech however didn’t just repackage one of Creative’s cards and send it to the shelves, but used a series of proprietary solutions which make this card one of the best X-Fi branded products on the market.... the Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is quite possibly the best sounding X-Fi card currently available, due to the high quality of components used.
-Peter Gracar
Overclick3D.Net Recommends X-Fi Prelude with Gamer's Choice award
The Auze X-Fi Prelude provided an incredibly immersive experience when gaming. Weapons fire and overall game soundscapes never sounded so good. There's nothing like hearing an enemy manta screaming past at full noise, or having the ball projectile of the BFG in QUAKE 4 land anywhere near you with the Auzen X-Fi Prelude in your rig....
My god how good does it sound when listening to your favourite tunes on the Auzen X-Fi Prelude! Making sure that I got a good mix of music at different bit-rates, the experience was nothing short of heavenly. In fact I would go out on a limb and say that the Prelude provided the best audio reproduction of any sound card that I have ever tried...period.
- Matthew Fogg
X-Fi Prelude Wins Best Product Award from PCTuner.net
Original review in Italian. English synopsis by original author. (below)
The conclusions are that the X-Fi Prelude is a killer sound card, full of quality, capable to reproduce high quality music but also high quality games or movies and that quality came at an incredible price, so the Prelude is probabily better than any other [sound] card on the market in the same price or even of a higher price. So I give the Prelude the PCTuner best award, that is "Best Product."
- Alessandro Crea
X-Fi Prelude Wins Editors Choice Award from Computer Shopper
When playing compressed MP3 and WMA music, we found sound quality comparable to the Creative X-Fi Elite Pro, with clarity enhanced by the 24-bit Crystalizer. Listening to original CDs and DVD content, the X-Fi Prelude's output was noticeably cleaner, particularly in very quiet sequences. EAX positional sound in games like F.E.A.R. was crisp and suitably creepy.... The X-Fi Prelude is one of the best-sounding audio cards we've ever tested, and its X-Fi driver compatibility means it's widely supported by games and other audio applications. If you can wait for the yet-undelivered digital audio features, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better sound card.
-Denny Atkin
As far as subjective audio results, I put this card to the test with the game BioShock. This game has an awesome soundtrack with a creepy and huge palette of audio. It's great to hear the enemies creeping up behind you. EAX sounds absolutely brilliant in this game. The addition of the X-Fi Prelude made this experience truly disturbing. I watched a couple of DVDs in Entertainment Mode. I couldn't believe how good it sounded, even better than my home system in my TV room. Very impressive.
-Brian Cochran
X-Fi Prelude Recieves 5 out of 5 Points from HardwareCanucks.com
Auzentech definitely listened to their customer base when they headed to the drawing board for the Prelude 7.1. It has a bundle of wanted features that were almost impossible to get on one sound card up until now. I am very impressed with this card from start to finish. The sound quality coupled with gaming features and new high resolution digital output specifications (which will be added) make this one solid offering from the Auzen audio group. It is in my opinion a modern audio masterpiece. It sounds very open, full and dynamic and it easily sounds the best out of the cards tested.... Indeed, Auzentech has succeeded in creating a card that has something for everybody. This card gets a 5/5 from this reviewer and will stay in my system until I have to review another audio card.
X-Fi Prelude Receives 5 our of 5 Stars from XS Reviews
So you want a gaming sound card? Creative it is then. Ah, see that’s where you are wrong. Creative (has) recently released their X-Fi chip to Auzentech who have worked their PCB trickery into producing a card with the good aspects of the X-Fi with the window open to use Dolby Digital Live, DTS Interactive, and DTS NeoPC in the future. Considering as this was one of the major complaints with the X-Fi itself, this card could be a serious contender to the Creative crown.
Simply put, Auzentech has an amazing card that will find a warm and welcoming home in my main computer. It is simply the best sounding card I have yet set ears to. The non-reference design, the extra connection features, the upgradable OPAMPS, and the overall build quality make for a very impressive product. When I look at what this card offers, I think that (the street price of ) $169 is a very fair price for what a user gets. I think quite a few users will likely agree with this assessment, and hopefully put this card in their computers as well.
-Josh Walrath
This card offers very good gaming performance from a sound standpoint. Shotgun blasts, rocket launcher explosions and sniper rifles sound as real as if you're in the middle of an honest to god battle. It's saved my butt a few times when someone would think they were being cute trying to sneak up behind me and I'd hear them creeping up on me just in time to spin around and blast them....
One thing I need to address about the X-Meridian is the analog output. The X-Meridian is capable of ungodly output, it puts out 5V RMS on the speaker outputs. This means that you don't have to crank the gain on your speakers to reach full volume. What this translates into is a cleaner signal since it's less likely that you'll be hearing electrically generated noise from your speakers....
- Matthew Harris
Digital streams sound fantastic whether listening to music or watching TV via my Sling Box AV. I have had no driver issues or system locks, except in synthetic benchmarks. This is most impressive given my choice to use a less fervently supported OS in XP Pro x64. The X-Meridian cooperates with the audio controls on my keyboard, adds front panel audio support and eliminated most nagging issues of its predecessor. The X-Meridian also adds several useful features like FlexBass and Dolby Headphone. In fact, one of my friends will be buying just for Dolby Headphone, as he was that impressed.
This is the best sound card I have ever used.
-Brian "HalcYoN" Gray
ZOL, a Chinese Website that is part of CNET™, evaluates how the X-Meridian can improve the Bach Media Lab Home Theater PC. The result is described as a "marvellous experinece" and a "luxurious HTPC." The sound of machine-gun fire in the test movie was so intense that it made the listener feel "as if pressed on the sofa."
If you're a true audiophile or music professional in any sense of the word, then the X-Meridian could well be the card for you - An excellent chipset with great capabilities and ASIO support, matched to a well-designed board with higher quality components than you'll find elsewhere (and don't forget the ability to replace the OPAMPS to further improve analogue audio quality).
-Hanners
Considering how simple the install and configuration were it was a complete surprise to hear the out of the box audio for the first time. Normally we would have to tweak settings to suit us, however with the X-Meridian the default audio quality was breathtaking and there was absolutely no audio hiss or popping which is so common on PC audio products. We honestly didn’t have to change any settings to experience crystal clear audio . This certainly is a good indication that Auzentech’s custom design and outstanding selection of high quality op-amps and DACs has reaped dividends in the long run. In almost every use of the card we were completely awestruck by the quality of the audio produced by the X-Meridian soundcard.
-Stuart "Veridian3" Davidson
Two good reviews for our Chinese customers. The first has closeups of board and packaging. The second features an audio output analysis. review 1 | review 2 (reviews written in Mandarin)
X-Meridian Receives Guru3D Highly Recommended Award
"You probably know this, but I’ll say it anyway: the X-Meridian makes better music than the X-Fi™. The only word I can use to describe the X-Meridian's sound: delicious. Delicious like a dark chocolate nugget that is intensely strong, long flavored, and super smooth. By this, I mean, that there are songs that I have listened to for years, can play them on my guitar, can even write out the notes for you to learn it, and I still heard new things I have not heard in them before. I cannot imagine a more complete sound than what I hear coming out of my headphones. Of all the sound cards we’ve taken a listen to, the X-Meridian crowns them all."
-Briann Mitchell
"If you are an audiophile yourself or you are looking for that perfect gift for an audiophile then look no further. The Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 has all of the features you could ever want in a 7.1 card and... it won't break the bank either. When paired up with a nice 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound audio system this sound card will definitely deliver. The Auzentech X-Meridian is the prefect companion for any mid range or high end PC that needs their audio to really shine to make it the perfect PC. Because of the X-Meridian's nearly flawless performance, ThinkComputers gives it a score of 9 out of 10."
-Jonathan Daniel
"One very cool audio card that's out now is the Auzentech X-Meridian, which is specifically targeted as an audiophile sound card. This card even has user-replaceable op-amps, if you're really hard core. More useful for us are the digital audio output and input ports on the card. These ports are dual-input, and can be used with either coax copper or TOSLINK fiber optic cables."
-Lloyd Case
• All Reviews - 11.27.2006
Club Overclocker Recommends Auzentech X-Meridian
Club Overclocker
Recommended
"For real world testing I first hooked the X-Meridan up to my home theater system using the included TOSLINK cables. After some easy sound stage tuning I fired up two of my favorite test DVDs; Blue Man Group's Audio in 5.1 and Lucas Films™ THX Wow! demo DVD. The resulting sound was astonishing, at times making my Kenwood™ unit sound like an expensive paper weight. "
"The Auzentech X-Meridian is the Best Sound Card Money Can Buy"
"We were staggered to find that the X-Meridian™ drove our Creative® Inspire™ T7900 speakers to significantly higher volumes than either the on-board HD audio or the Audigy™ 2 ZS, and both MP3 and movie playback had a new level of clarity and precision.... With its superb X-Meridian 7.1 sound card Auzentech™ has taken the fight to Creative, and I truly feel that this is the best sound card that money can buy."
-Leo Waldock (emphasis added)
"The sound that came out of my headphones with Dolby Headphone enabled was awe inspiring. I have never heard anything like it. From ratty old mp3s to high definition audio, this card delivers amazing quality of sound. My wife even agrees. I made her listen to some mp3s normally, then with Dolby Headphone turned on. Then, I turned on the Virtual 7.1 speakers, and she became giddy...a very rare occurance....the bottom line is this: This card kicks butt, and you should not pass it up. "
-Brian Cochran, from the world's first Auzen X-Meridian review
The X-Tension DIN brings another layer of compatibility to an already fantastic line of Auzentech sound cards. It is nice to see support for so many additional devices can be so easy to install. With a price tag around $60 the X-Tension is not for everyone but for those who need the D9 support or additional ports for their home theater setup it is a Godsend. I am amazed that Creative has dropped support for their own interface but the upcoming Auzentech X-Fi Prelude shows that they have earned the rare right to bring these technologies to the table. Simply put you probably don't need the X-Tension DIN's additional ports for most audio setups out there today; but if you do there is no better way to get it than by picking up an Auzentech sound card and the X-Tension DIN.
-Darren
Elite Bastards Awards X-Tension DIN Award for Innovation
If you're a professional musician who was desperate for MIDI support or better microphone capabilities, then these additions may just turn your head. Similarly, if you were in need of more digital outputs and inputs for whatever reason, the X-Tension helps to put Auzentech's offerings ahead of the pack. For many non-professionals however, the inclusion of the 9-pin DIN connector used by certain Creative Labs speaker sets will be music to the ears (no pun intended) of all those people who were let down by the X-Fi dropping support for this functionality...and its return thanks to the X-Tension...may well be the deal breaker that draws users in to the Auzentech fold.
-Hanners
"What Auzentech has produced is a sound card that offers new features to a different market, the HTPC (Home Theater PC), as well as a little sum-sum for the casual gamer, and the music afficionado.... The X-Plosion 7.1 is great for a HTPC, and in that role it shall reign supreme."
-Brann Mitchell
Our first review from China praises circuit board design, audio quality, the presence of multiple audio technologies within a single card, and more.
( Chinese: Part 1 / Part 2 )
X-Plosion Receives Club Overclocker Recommended Award
"Here at Club Overclocker we may not be the Dolby lab but we do know goods sound when we hear it and the HDA X-Plosion sound card delivers. For home theater sound, the X-Plosion is simply the best sound card I have ever experienced. "
-Darren "NrKissed"
"Wir würden die HDA Digital X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect insbesondere Heimkino-Fans ans Herz legen, doch auch für Spieler ist sie durchaus attraktiv." Translated: " We would recommend the HDA digital X-Plosion with 7.1 DTS Connect in particular to home cinema fans, but also it will be quite attractive to game players. "
- January Philip Kolb and Michael Doering
"On the gaming side of things I would also use this card.... It is the perfect card at the perfect price. If you are looking for a new sound card I would suggest this card over all others. That is why I can give it a perfect 10 out of 10 and our Recommended Award!"
-Bob Buskirk
X-Plosion Receives Extreme Overclocking Highly Recommended Award
"After using the X-Plosion sound card for several weeks, I don't know how I ever managed without it. In fact, I plan on purchasing another card for my HTPC. To me, running a rats nest of separate audio cables from a PC to a receiver for surround sound is a little antiquated <cough>Creative<.cough>."
-Jason Rabel
"It includes all of the features that made the X-Mystique great while adding the amazing DTS Connect features. The DTS NEO:PC effectively up-converts stereo audio into surround sound. The DTS Interactive does exactly what Dolby Digital Live does, but better." Overall "Excellent"
-Daniel Wu
"Auzentech’s maturation in the sound card market is the single most significant development in PC audio over the last few years."
-Brian "HalcYoN" Gray
"Overall, this card is an excellent alternative to the Creative Labs Audigy 2ZS that I was using. Based on the multitude of features and the sound quality in my TV room, and despite front connector shortcomings, I give the HDA X-Plosion a Grand Slam".
-Brian Cochran
From our testing however, the biggest news should perhaps be the improvements in overall audio quality that have been made with the X-Plosion, with it giving a substantially better showing than its predecessor, and more than giving the SoundBlaster Audigy a run for its money. Everything it does, it does exceptionally well.
"If you are looking for a new sound card for your Media Center PC, you best wait a month or so for the new XPlosion. What makes this card different from all the others, you ask?..."
-Danny Mavromatis
"Overall, this is a great card for readers out there in need of a new soundcard. If you really need the Dolby Digital support for some reason, it's an easy purchase at a reasonable $99. Or if you don't currently have a surround capable card, you won't be disappointed by its performance."
-Chuck Landry
"Creative has had the sound card market to itself for far too long, and I for one am glad to see a competitor step into the ring. I could recommend this card without hesitation to gamers and HTPC users alike"
-Gene M. Phipps
In all I think the VR-Fidelity is a great product, it can become an essential addition to anyone who travels a lot and uses VoIP or just wants better sound from there laptop.... ThinkComputers gives the ... VR-Fidelity a 10 out of 10 score.
R-4 Bulldozer Receives Recommended Award from Virtual-Hideout.net
Mid towers, they are thick as flies, and it’s pretty hard to make something unique and interesting. The R-4 bulldozer doesn’t have a problem with either however. One look and you can tell that. The semi vertical optical drive, and ‘hydraulic rams’ stand out as they are intended.... Saying the R-4 is meant to look like some sort of industrial equipment is putting it mildly. It’s not just the pistons, the guarding and rails all give it a very impressive look and feel... Even though the case is extremely small, it can actually fit a full ATX motherboard, and even 2 or more of the largest gaming cards on the market today.
The GMC R-4 Bulldozer will most certainly fire up all those enthusiasts who like to own something different to distinguish them from everyone else, especially all those who like Bulldozers and trucks. With the vertically mounted ODD, the many lights and the two temperature screens the R4 is certainly something unique and the fact that it also comes with three pre-installed fans justifies the Powerful Cooling PC Case at least in a large degree. Also the fact that this case although small is able to contain a normal ATX board and large components is also something that will certainly appeal to many users.
The GMC R-4 Bulldozer will excite all those enthusiasts who like something a little different, something with a twist. With the vertically mounted ODD and the interesting visuals this case is sure to do that and some. Cooling shouldn’t be any problem either with lots of fans and the fact that the case is very small and still able to support ATX components is very good.
R-2 Toast Receives Recommended Award from DreamWare Computers
For a reasonable price, the GMC R-2 Toast is a unique looking case available in a great selection of bright and lively colours. The design certainly is different than most computer cases, but for non-power users who don’t require a lot of bay components or extreme cooling, it would be a great case choice.
R-4 Bulldozer Wins TweakPC Top Hardware Design Award
Computer Translated to English: "Incredibly small housing saves space, specially in the depth. The quality can also be seen, especially when considering the low price. For an eye-opening effect the case is all good -- not least because of its vertically positioned 5.25" drive slot.
The system cases reviewed today all made a very positive impression. The GMC R2 Toast and R3 Corona are interesting due to their nonstandard layout that helped make them considerably smaller than standard cases. … The GMC AVC-K2 is quite a nice surprise, too. A well-designed full-size tower with an integrated HTPC-oriented kit is something we don’t see often. Considering its excellent exterior, the AVC-K2 will be a good choice for people whose computer is meant for work, games, multimedia entertainment - everything!
The red dot stands for belonging to the best in design and business. The red dot is an internationally recognised quality label for excellent design that is aimed at all those who would like to qualify their business activities with the help of design. The qualification is based on the principle of selection and presentation. Outstanding design is selected in the international design competition ‘red dot design award’ by competent expert juries in the fields of product design, communication design, and design concepts.
The X-7 provides a practical form factor along with some distinct extras. Even though it does have a few irregularities, it's a quality chassis for a midrange system.
The Noblesse K-2 Ebony pulls out all the stops to provide you with a true all in one media PC enclosure. With back lit card reader slots and a remote, all that’s missing is a good HTPC build. The case is solidly built at over 22 lbs empty so it won’t be your LAN party weapon of choice unless you really are showing off. The combination of the software and hardware controls included is unparalleled. The inclusion of the SoundGraph software package brings an out of the box multimedia functionality requiring no additional purchases or software to your build.
GMC R-3 Corona Wins Perfect 4.0 from Club Overclocker
The R-3 Corona shows the GMC case layout has some versitility and once again the amount of innovative design decisions at this price point will impress. The case looks great and had no problems handling a standard three drive setup. The R-3 Corona is slightly larger but still boasts a footprint much smaller than a traditional ATX design. I had the opportunity to take eth Corona to a local LAN and the smaller size was a dream to transport.
The R-2 Toast is our first look at a GMC case and I am impressed with the amount of innovative design decisions that make their way into a budget friendly case. The case looks great and had no problems handling a standard three drive setup. With some slight coaxing it even handled one of the largest heatsinks we had in the lab. The R-2 Toast would be an excellent choice for smaller workspace needs or those of us that regularly pack our system off to a LAN party... The Toast design provides a small but innovative footprint at a mighty attractive price. I cant wait to see what else GMC has up their sleeve!
Video Review of the GMC K2 Ebony HTPC / Media PC case, and the R-2 and R-3 ATX Mid-Tower cases. Rodney provides a full tour of these cases on this vide, available in standard or HD quality.
The R-3 Corona is the latest offering from GMC's mid-tower series. With the R-3 Corona comes the very innovative optical drive (ODD) which is mounted vertically on the case. But how do these aesthetic changes affect the performance of the case? Watch our video review to find out...
" If you have room for the case, it will definitely make a very nice HTPC setup. The large 140mm front fan and rear 120mm fan provide adequate cooling for even power hungry rigs, with the fan controller allowing you to find the perfect balance between noise and cooling (even though the fans on full speed are pretty quiet). "
Translated from Italian: "
Using the case and installing the internal components does not revealed any manufacturing defects. All edges are rounded to prevent the user from receiving cuts during installation. The hardware installation went smoothly despite having a very small space. The placement of the hard disk uses the space optimally and at the same time allows it to cool properly...
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DriverHeaven.net Awards GMC R-3 PC Case the Editors Choice Award
"The R-3 is a tower case designed to fit a standard ATX system but with the minimum possible dimensions, making it considerably smaller than any standard ATX case out there."
"The PC case market is certainly competitive with manufacturers always trying to outdo each other. Most PC cases are comparable over a small set of features such as the number of fans and extension slots, easy access to the computer’s internals, and aesthetic design that can make a PC look modern and differentiate it from the original beige-colored designs. GMC’s R-2 Toast PC case, offers many features, a nice design, and a vertically positioned optical drive that you won’t find on any other PC case today."
Computer-Translated to English: "As a Media Center box, it offers a lot of attention as a VFD screen, multimedia buttons, navigation buttons, a remote control and a memory card reader.... It could involve people in a small space like a dorm room, a studio or a small apartment and see him in a box that can serve as both a desktop PC and Media Center."
"The slim and elegant design of the AVC-S7 may not be unique but GMC is probably the only company which offers such a small case loaded with so many features, including iMon VFD and remote. The AVC-S7 is very small but it can accommodate a very good HTPC system and perfectly fit in your living room among your home theater equipment."
GMC R-4 Bulldozer Receives Innovation Award from HardwareBistro.com
The whole case installation for GMC R-4 BullDozer will take around 30mins to an hour for the first time unless you are very familiar with this case. For the testing for a PC case, most of the time the benchmark subject will be temperature and noise. Both CPU and system temperatures are around 3-5 degrees lower compre with our previous case and it is very dependent on what case are you going to compare. If you are comparing with low end case and the temperature will be much lower but if you are comparing with high end aluminum case then maybe you won't get much improvement compare with this GMC R-4 BullDozer. For the noise, we can't hear any significant noise although GMC R-4 BullDozer has plenty of case fans.
"You get alot of equipment for the money, so you can easily create a functional entertainment appliance with spare hardware just lying around. Even if you buy new equipment, all you have to purchase is a miniATX motherboard, processor, memory and hard drive. "
- Alan McCloskey
Translated from German: "GMC has worked with the R-2 Toast is a very attractive product in the low price segment.... It meets the basic requirements of a case and is also well equipped for the street price from 30 to 40 euros.... Due to the low weight of about 4kg, it is also the case for regular transportation to LAN parties."
" The GMC R-2 Toast PC case has very original (and patented!) concept for optical drive placement and loading. Instead of the traditional horizontally-positioned, tongue-like tray extension, the Toast, as its name implies, orients the drive vertically so that the optical drive tray shoots up like a piece of toast. The hard drive is also mounted vertically, so the case is very slim.... "
- Colin Dean
The Windy 6 Firewire (audio) interface offers many tools for the home studio artist or mixer. Considering the card has 6 output and 6 inputs with Pre-amps and gain controls on two, phantom power Neutrik connectors, balanced output, Coax digital and dual channel inserts the Windy 6 is very versatile and inexpensive audio interface..... Infrasonic packed a great deal of features and audio muscle into this compact interface and all for a great price. We had a great time recording tracks and working with the interface, all features were simple to find and easy to use.
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