Audio tests

Testing Regimen - Testing System

• Speakers FC,RC,SC: Axiom
• Sub: Axiom
• Headphones:Sennheiser HD595
  
• Cables
• Interconnects: JPS Ultra Conductor
• S/Pdif: JPS Ultra Conductor
• Receiver: Sony STR- DE 975

Notes on testing, the card was tested in both analog and digital mode for two reasons, to gauges the quality of the audio output and to look for any anomalies or issues with the product in either mode. Although we do dedicated listening tests for the review, we use new products for awhile prior to doing the review. So we may add observations from other games, videos or apps not mentioned in the official tests.

Gaming Test

We have a very technical way to test new cards with games: We just install the card and play whatever games we were playing prior to the installation of the card.  So lets fire up some games and have some fun.

Games that we used during out testing were: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Max Payne 3 and NFS: Shift 2.  The Phoebus processed the FPS shooter audio easily offering an accurate soundstage and pin point directional audio and cues.  No matter how crazy or busy the action became the Phoebus seemed to process all the streams perfectly. During gun fights, bullets whizzed by going from the front soundstage to the rear soundstage seamlessly.

The card handled explosions without fizzle out or smearing.  Calling in an Air strike in GSFS produced explosions all around while still maintaining clarity and detail

Different weapons produced very distinct, clear sounds.  The different car engines in NFS:S2 produced very major as well as quite subtle differences in character.  The different layers used to produce the sound of the cars could be heard very clearly allowing a very powerful sound when volume was added during our tests races. Cars trying to overtake could be heard on the proper sides getting louder as they were gaining although that didnt happen all that often!

The Phoebus produced an excellent surround sound image that blended well offering a complete image not disjointed sources.  We did note that when testing with the Dolby Home Theater V.4 it seemed to re-enforcing a fuller surround image during gaming. We found our gaming tests very immersive and enjoyable and we found ourselves playing extended sessions.  In game voices were all properly balanced and easily heard from the source direction.

Note:  Based on research we did it seems that some people are having issues with BF3 and punkbuster while using the Phoebus.  It also would seem to right people are aware of the issue and it is being dealt with as quickly as possible. This info is a last minute addition and we have not verified the issue.

Music Listening Tests

Artist: My Darkest Days
Album: My Darket Days
Track: Porn Star Dancing

This track has a great driving bass track that the Phoebus reproduced easily.  The guitar reproduction was clean, clear and had its own place in the mix with no smearing or added distortion from the source.  The Phoebus 7.1 reproduced this track in fine style, in full detail with excellent articulate bass, excellent vocals and overall clarity.

Artist: Apocalytica w/ Adma Gontier
Album: Worlds Collide
Track: I Don't Care

The Phoebus reproduced this song in an excellent "layered" fashion.  The vocals music was very clear and open with no mushing or smearing.  The bass track reproduction was articulate without any booming or bottom out.  We tried out DHT4 on this track also and it offered up an excellent expanded surround track making us feel like we were in the room during the performance.  Note:  Adam and Brad from 3DG are actually old friends from High School.

Artist: Ozzy Osbourne
Album: Black Rain
Track: Here for You

An excellent track with many dynamic shifts, this makes it perfect for testing a new card.  The Phoebus produced excellent characteristics of the grand piano used in this track.

The main vocal, seemed to float in the forward soundstage with no smearing of detail.  Our system offered clean, clear bass, without overpowering the rest of spectrum. 

Final notes on music testing: The Phoebus has a very warm, musical quality, offering great detail and clarity without becoming cold or sterile and that is a very fine line.  Although it seems the Phoebus was aimed at gamers, the card has loads of sonic muscle for music also provided some excellent playback quality.  We had our heads banging and toes tapping in no time and the Phoebus produced a very nice experience on our test system.  We didnt hear any negative coloration or distortion from the source.

We are actually very surprise at the overall balanced signature from this card.  The layering and spaciousness of the mix on all test tracks was indeed very impressive.

Audio is very hard to describe in words, we generally listen for issues, distortion or anomalies in the playback and if we hear it we make a note, aside from this we describe what we like about the reproduction we hear.  Music was tested in analog mode, using normal stereo mode and Dolby Home Theater 4.

Note on ASIO, if you are using full surround mode with bass redirection and you enabled ASIO as an output plugin, you will lose your bass output.  We feel this is a problem more with ASIO, as it bypasses the card filtering of bass but either way it is unfortunate as many like listening to music in full surround mode or using routines such as Dolby.  This issue has been mentioned to ASUS in hopes they will produce a workaround if possible.

Movie Tests
We watched a few great actions flicks in both surround sound and using modeled surround on headphones.  Generally we look for anomalies such as missing dialog, incorrect directional cues or detail smearing.

These tests offer an excellent excuse to watch the Star Wars Episodes again and check out Thor and Captain America in full surround sound.  The surround imaging seemed spot on with no effects.  We tested out the new Dolby Home Theater V4 and found it quite enjoyable for movies if you take the time to dial in the various parameters such as dialog enhancement. 

The Dolby Home Theater V4 made the movie sound bigger and the image more immersive.