Page 3 - Dolby Digital Live & DTS
Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect
If you had a SoundStorm or an Xbox, then you know what Dolby Digital Live is. Basically, it encodes any audio source, from your PC or console, into Dolby Digital for playback on your home theatre system. Creative has CMSS-3D, an algorithm that upmixes stereo (games, movies, etc) to 5.1 channel sound, but it is an analog solution and comes at a cost of slightly degraded sound fidelity. DTS-Connect offers the same as DD Live, and encodes any source for your home theatre, but has much higher bitrates than DD Live for the potential of much higher fidelity.
Both DD Live and DTS encoding technologies allow you to stuff 5.1 channel sound information down a single digital pipe to your A/V receiver for playback. The high-quality sound can be boiled down to bandwidth. DD Live is limited to 448Kbps on DVDs (HD-DVD is the same, too), which makes DTS the winner with a least possible encoding rate of 754Kbps. The increased bitrate of DTS allows for fidelity that is higher than a standard CD, which makes it quite desirable. While I dont have a preference for either one, the good news is that it wont matter what media you use with the HDA X-Plosion, youll be able to play it, no problem.
Digital inputs are optional with Auzentech's HDA DIM-X10 Digital Input Module
Whats more interesting is that the HDA X-Plosion 7.1 encodes everything into DDL or DTS in real time. Hear the Windows DING! in full, glorious 5.1 sound! Since it is a hardware-based solution, it is very low latency, and wont perceptibly impact games or movies. Well explore the performance issues a little later on in the review.
Opamps, what opamps?
The DIY people, and you know who you are, love to put together small, battery powered amplifiers, of which the most popular is the CMOY. I think its rather cool that Auzentech is catering to this segment, even though its a small community, with an upgradable sound card. This tweakability causes me to struggle with bouts of irrational audiophile thoughts, reminiscent smells of solder flux, and hazy dreams of op-amp part numbers float around the mind like an M.C. Escher puzzle-board.
Let me give you two words: Burr Brown. Oh, and a number: OPA2604.
Well, only if the board can tolerate them, that is. Or maybe some OPA627s with a single-to-dual converter board but youd need 12 of them to replace all the opamps on the X-Plosion 7.1, which would be excitingly expensive.
Op-amps in sockets for upgrades!
Or just try out the Auzentech recommended OPA2134PA as a drop-in replacements. Or even an arguable step up with the OPA2227PA
Didn't have a picture of the sockets themselves, but this is close.
Man, I have got to stop.
6 of them -- 4 outputs, 2 inputs.
Now, where did my IC puller get to?
