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What's Up With Computer Audio?
Mr.Tweak writes "Last month during QuakeCon it became clearly apparent that computer audio has become somewhat of a forgotten component in the computer industry when talking to gamers and listening to companies at the gaming event. We'll present some benchmark numbers of five different sound solutions as well as provide commentary along the way on our thoughts of computer audio solutions and what should be done to improve things using nVidia's SoundStorm APU as an example."
Maybe for most people it's nice to have one component that just works as advertised, and doesn't necessarily need to be replaced with an expensive upgrade every 2 years. Not to cast aspersions on the geek's need to endlessly tinker, but don't we have our hands full already with graphic cards, processors, memory, etc.?
There's probably several reasons for this, but I think a lot of it has to do with people being tone deaf and putting their sight above their hearing in importance.
I'd like to butt in, if I could, and really, you'll probably just end up agreeing with me here, but as a producer who dosen't play games on his computer(please don't kick me out), I care little about video and all about sound. "The Problem" for me is that I can't get high-quality sound equip for my computer without shelling some serious grip. But look at what's happened to the cost of video cards over the last 5 years! We sound dorks need innovation, too!
Sound is generally included with the motherboard now. Which means you have to choose based on all of the features of the motherboard (processor support, memory support, SATA etc.), and sound then becomes "part of the equation" instead of its own calculation.
Pretty much musicians and audiophiles choose their sound chipsets (or cards) carefully, most people buy the Fry's special or just make sure it says "sound included" on the motherboard box.
Not to mention people who buy prebuilt PCs, in which case the manufacturer chooses the cheapest (integrated) chipset.
Since relatively few people pick sound chipsets carefully, the "demand" is effectively "low," and that drives the supply down (and into specialization).
It is quite ironic (yes, this is irony, not coincidence) that an article that purports to bemoan the neglect of sound in favor of picture proceeds to rate the audio gear based on how it impacts graphics performance.
I would like to see more focus on delivering a higher-quality audio path from game developer to consumer, as opposed to gimmicky post-processing to make things sound "better". (e.g. we want to deliver N channels of 24-bit/96KHz audio with low CPU overhead, rather than a DSP that tries to "enhance" existing audio). Real-time Dolby Digital encoding is great, funky "spatialization" of 2-channel audio is not.
Not to name names, but I have switched away from a formerly reliable company's sound hardware because they got too "creative" (ahem) with their gimmicks and forgot about the basics.
It doesn't matter how good your sound card is if the game is outputting a simple stereo single with a music loop and some canned effects. If the developer doesn't go the extra mile to create decent sound content and a good audio playback engine in the game, then it will never sound as good as it looks- but it is possible to do both at once with the right approach.
There's an interesting rant from one of Halo's programmers here about the state and future directions of game audio.
Totally agree.
For grins and giggles, go download "The Last Ninja" and throw it into your c64 emulator of choice (Vice). The soundtrack on that is absoluetly amazing, and it was made.. what, almost 16 years ago? One of the best gaming soundtracks ever.
I can tell from page 2 that the authors are biased towards this AMD solution for some reason.
These guys actually try and claim that a $149 add-on card cannot provide 5.1 (6-channel) sound. Seriously, look at their comparison chart. It's so wacked you'd think it was Microsoft's work.
I mean, seriously, for less than $30 you can get a SB Live! 5.1 that will provide a lot of what's being listed on their page 2 chart. And certainly by the time you've reached their $149 price-point you're able to get yourself a nice SB Audigy2 that can do everything they want but hardware AC3 encoding.
And I have to be honest -- is the hardware AC3 encoding really going to be much of an issue for most people? I don't see audio enthusiasts being geared for onboard audio (no matter what it is capable of), and the value segment rarely goes for some fancy surround sound.
Basically, I'm saying this article is bullocks from the second page on. I know it's easier to critisize than to write a good article... but still, these guys seem to be entirely too biased towards this product to make their 'review' worth my time. Personally, I think it's worth a grain of salt.
Now go ahead and mod me down for being a crotchety old man.
/dev/random
But you might as well forget about high quality and impressive sound solutions such as the SoundStorm as nVidia and their motherboard partners in Taiwan don't seem to think this type of quality sound solution is important to consumers.
This is pretty sad news.
I have a $300 pair of headphones which simulate surround-sound along with my nForce2 mobo. I'm basically locked into upgrading with an nForce3 board in order to keep using these great headphones. (Because I need real-time dolby encoding in order to get surround in games w/ SP/DIF out).
Maybe the problem isn't that audio is a "forgotten component". Maybe it's just another example of a company(Sony) charging outrageous and prohibitive fees to use a licensed(dolby) technology. =(
The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
Video is something that is easily noticeable by an end user. The graphics look better on a monitor. Audio is different, you have to have a good sound system and if you want surround sound you have to have a room suitable for the 6 speaker setup.
Most people don't have surround sound at their computers and never will, I would if I was able to physically have the speakers surrounding me. I can't. Alternatively the only other speakers I can get are 2 satellites plus a sub. No ones offers a 3.1 dolby pro logic setup for computers. We have to make baby steps to surround sound - let's get that centre channel speaker in there.
The only time surround sound will ever become as big of a focus as graphics for developers is when someone can buy a single canister speaker that does surround sound in the entire room.
I bet if you heard a really good quality sound card, you'd agree that sound quality is important. If all you've ever heard is cheap audio gear, then you won't see the big deal.
Also, surround sound does also make a big difference. I never thought about it until I bought surround sound speakers.