I invested some time in watching a small picture, V for Vendetta, with Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. While it didn’t win any Academy awards, it did win lots of others. It does have a good bit of action; perhaps not to Star Wars level, but it make big bangs done loud. The best thing I like about V for Vendetta is that the sound is very straight forward and not particularly exceptional.

The X-Audio acquits itself quite well, and for a middling sound card, it does remind us that it is a good value. Everything was in good balance, surround steering, dialog, music, explosions, witty dialogue, dénouement.  If the aim is to be better than an integrated or onboard sound chip, then the X-Audio does its job smashingly well. The onboard Intel was not bad at all, a tad dry and lackluster, perhaps, but in comparison when V taps the pipe to ready the orchestra, one is ready when heard by the X-Audio.

The poorest is without a doubt the Lynx ONE… very sparkly sound, but it really doesn’t like to do anything but ASIO, as the emulated DirectSound output constantly skipped.

While the X-Meridian is still a winner with movies, its strong output and very fine detail works nice with V, but I actually believe I prefer the X-Audio with movies. The balance is very even and there is a nice sense of ‘there’ (uh, I know, I’m getting a bit off the rocker here) there.  Guy Fawkes FTW!