Wie haben sie das gemacht?

What we have with the TerraTec DMX 6-fire is a quality high-end 24 bit/96kHz sound card that has some good gaming capability.  From its audio reproduction quality alone, listening to anything else is a painful experience.  No one who loves music and computers should be without one.  The Audigy2 is a high-end gaming sound card that has some high-end 24 bit/96kHz sound capability.  If you already have an Audigy2 card there really isn't a reason to upgrade; it's still the best for gaming.  Compared to other consumer-grade sound cards the Audigy2 still remains an Editor’s Choice, but compared to the higher-end products that Creative is competing against, it becomes evident that the Audigy2 has a few compromises with sound, with software, and with functionality.

Software wise, the 6-fire comes with all that you need to get started.  The WaveLab 2.0 is fine for starters, but most folks doing serious audio editing will want SoundForge or a full version of some of the included CoolEdit or GoldWave software.  The drivers were solid with nary a hairy moment or incompatibility.  The control panel is also great.  It is simple, easy to use, and provides some very useful digital creation features (stripping out copyright bits, for example) and is customizable.  I did notice that the WinXP volume controls will override some of the sliders, but a restart will take care of that.

I couldn’t ask for more connectivity with the 6-fire.  Two analog CD-ROM inputs on the PCI card, and all the ins-n-outs on the break-out box make the 6-fire very flexible for anything you need.  Also great is the dedicated line-in on the back of the PCI card, which the Audigy2 mixes with the CD-ROM input.

The 6-fire does have a 5.1 channel limitation, no support for DVD-Audio, limited DirectSound audio streams, as well as lack of EAX 3.0 support.  But as we know, DVD-Audio is not well supported by the industry as a whole, and EAX 3.0, while it’s great for gamers, wasn’t the target for this product, and I've yet to see a DVD that has more than 5.1 surround.  Other than that, the 6-fire doesn’t suck up as much resources as that nasty on-board audio chip you might have which is great.

To sum it all up, this thing is hardcore.  There is no fluff or marketing BS to wade through.  It is smartly designed and very well constructed, enough to please the professional crowd, and is sure to bowl over anyone who gets to listen to it.  Also, $250 is a lot of cash for a sound card, but you do indeed get what you pay for.  To be honest, the 6-fire is complete overkill for the average gamer and may be too hardcore for even the hardcore.  But it you love music and want true high-fidelity, or want to do audio recording/editing chores, you would do well to get yourself one.  I admit I was skeptical about the 6-fire and its purported sound quality.  But not anymore.  The 6-fire out shines everything else I’ve heard, including some very expensive separate home stereos.  Of course, home stereos don’t game, so that makes the 6-fire even better.  The TerraTec DMX 6-fire is my new reference, and all other sound cards will be tested and held to its high standard.

Works Cited, Excited, Or, eh, Just for the Fun of it. 

Thanks to Herr Martin Tremblay at TerraTec for fielding my Deutsch questions, and the odd technical one too.

http://www.terratec.net

http://www.soundblaster.com

http://www.guru3d.com/review/creative/audigy2/

http://www.jimi-hendrix.com/

http://audio.rightmark.org/

http://lame.sourceforge.net/

http://www.vorbis.com/

http://www.gradolabs.com/

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=336

http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2003q1/soundcards/index.x?pg=1

http://www.amdforums.com/

http://www.via.com.tw/en/multimedia/envy24.jsp

ftp://ftp.terratec.net/Audio/DMX6fire2496/Manual/
DMX6fire2496_Manual_GB.pdf

ftp://ftp.terratec.net/Audio/DMX6fire2496/Manual/
Vinyl_to_CD_Manual_GB.pdf

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/proc/IO-APIC.asp

Test system, and don’t laugh, it’s paid for:

• A7N8X nForce2
• AMD AthlonXP 1700+ (@1466MHz)
• Gainward gForce 4200 (41.09)
• IBM GXP60, GXP75
• 2x256 Crucial DDR2100
• WinXP SP1
• TerraTec DMX 6-fire
• SoundBlaster Audigy2
• nForce SoundStorm
• DX9

Ancilliary equipment:

• Rega Planar2, Sumiko BluePoint  cartridge
• Sony CDP-XA1ES CD player
• Rotel RX-845 stereo reciever
• Grado SR-125 headphones
• Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies
• KiKi T. Cat

Recordings used:

• James Brown: Make It Funky; The Big Payback
• Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty
• Jimi Hendrix: The Essential Hendrix, Volumes One and Two
• Clash: Combat Rock (LP)
• Bob Marley: Babylon by Bus (LP)
• Rocky Horror Picture Show (DVD)
• The Osbournes Season One (DVD)

Special thanks to Michelle Maruyama, Seyoung Lee, Robert White, and Lila Watanabe for letting me use the Beethoven.

BAM

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