Sound advice - buying sound cards and speakers

In these days of the all-singing all-dancing PC, it's unusual for a system to come without some kind of sound hardware. Today's computers are no longer restricted to electronic hums and bleeps - full-blown synthesiser capabilities are the norm.

If you own a PC with a basic on-board sound chip, or an old-timer from before the audio revolution, then upgrading can make a world of difference to your games, multimedia and music applications. That said, there's more to good PC audio than just installing the latest sound card.

The features found on many products are near to professional studio standard so you'll need a decent set of speakers to get the most out of them. There's no point in having the electronic equivalent of a fine Stradivarius if the supporting hardware makes it sound like a scratchy old fiddle. You don't have to stop at simple stereo speakers either, with digital surround-sound packages now appearing left, right and centre.

To help cut through the confusion and find the right products for you, this month we auditioned the latest sound cards and speakers in our Labs.

How do sound cards work?

Sound cards work by using a DAC (digital to analogue converter) to transform digital data into analogue sound waves that we can hear. In modern products these waveforms are generated using one of two types of synthesis: frequency modulation (FM) or wavetable synthesis.

FM synthesis

Developed in the early 1970s, FM synthesis produces sound by mixing two pure sine waves (a carrier and a modulator) together to create a more complex waveform. Adjusting the frequency of the waves generates different sounds, which are then used to imitate various instruments. One of the best-known FM synthesiser keyboards was Yamaha's DX7, an extremely popular fixture in most bands of the 1980s.

Unfortunately, although you can dance to it, FM doesn't produce very realistic instrument sounds and that's why all the sound cards in our test use wavetable synthesis to produce their audio waveforms.

Wavetable synthesis

With wavetable synthesis, sounds start from sample recordings of real instruments, which the card plays back and manipulates to get the desired effect. Older wavetable cards stored these samples in small on-board ROM chips but today's models load their instruments from disk into an allocated amount of system RAM. Doing things this way makes a bigger performance hit on your system but allows for greater flexibility, and with the speed of modern PC processors it isn't a huge overhead. While the sound quality of FM cards is fairly similar, wavetable devices can differ greatly. Their performance is determined by a number of factors. These include the quality and frequency of the original recordings, the number of samples used for each instrument and the compression methods used to store the samples.

With the exception of the Marc 2, all of the sound cards on test use 16-bit samples that have the potential to be better than CD quality. However, sometimes data is compressed to squash more samples into less memory and this can affect the end results. In tests, the Game Theater XP exhibited the clearest and most well-defined sample set, closely followed, in terms of depth and sonic quality, by both Sound Blaster cards and the Sonic Fury.

Unless you have specialist musical interest in sample quality then all of the cards tested are of a standard good enough for all multimedia applications and basic sequencing programs. The Marc 2 is a specialist audio card with no wavetable synthesis on it, and is designed for recording music from an audio source onto your computer. The card is aimed at professional musicians and boasts a 24-bit sampling rate.

Voice polyphony

Another key feature to look at when comparing cards is the number of instruments or 'voices' that can be generated simultaneously. All of the cards here boast a standard 64 channels in hardware, which can be altered in pitch, timbre and frequency to create 1,024 or more voices. Hardware polyphony is really the number to compare, as most products can use software to create any number of different additional voices from the originals. Interestingly, the Hercules is the only one actually to claim unlimited software polyphony; it uses the Yamaha XG SoftSynth program to create any number of additional timbres.

MIDI standards

An important area for those intending to do more than blast aliens, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) was developed in the early 1980s to provide a standard interface between music keyboards and sound generators such as drum machines or early synthesisers. The aim was to make life easier for music programmers, and the standard has since evolved and been adopted by all manufacturers of music hardware and software. Up until 1991, however, one big problem with MIDI was that different manufacturers assigned different instruments to different program numbers. So, for example, a MIDI file that played the trombone on one machine might come out as an organ when the file was used on a different synthesiser.

To solve this, manufacturers agreed to adopt the General MIDI system level 1 (GM) standard, where sound generators had to fulfil certain requirements. The main requirement was that they must support a minimum of 16 MIDI channels for 16 simultaneous, different timbres to play various instruments. In addition, the device had to have at least 128 preset instruments assigned to a standard set of program numbers. All of the wavetable sound cards tested conform to the GM standard. Creative's Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 is the real king of MIDI with 48 program channels (all the other cards have the standard 16) making it great for use with programs for sequencing music.

Connections and extras

With the exception of the Marc 2, all of the products have a set of 3.5mm sockets for speakers, microphone and headphones. Apart from the Pine and the Marc 2 they also all include dedicated digital outputs, either coaxial or optical S/PDIF, for high-quality digital connections. Like many sound cards, the VideoLogic Sonic Fury, Pine PT2633 and Creative Sound Blaster Player 5.1 support external MIDI via a combined interface for MIDI and joystick.

This presumably saves money but usually requires an additional external interface box to connect a keyboard. However, the Sound Blaster Platinum 5.1 and Hercules Game Theater go one better by including dedicated DIN inputs and outputs for MIDI, far more useful for those planning to do musical recording and sequencing.

Where connection options are judged as a whole, the Platinum 5.1 and the Game Theater are undoubtedly the pick of the crop. They have both coaxial and optical digital S/PDIF connections and plenty of auxiliary jacks. They both use an external connection rack to provide more interfaces and make the actual job of connecting things to the card much easier. Creative's even comes with a remote control. The Game Theater goes further still. It has a 4-port USB hub, allowing you to connect all manner of devices such as MP3 players, gaming equipment, DVD drives and CD writers. Bundled software All of the manufacturers include software with their products, but you shouldn't let the apparent number of free goodies strongly influence your buying decision.

The Sonic Fury and Platinum 5.1 have massive bundles whereas the Pine has only one jukebox - but in reality all of the software is much of a muchness and you will probably never use half of the titles included. Obviously, you wouldn't expect the Pine to come with much more considering the price. The Game Theater, the Sonic Fury and the two Sound Blaster cards all come with various utilities, a few games, some audio tools and a very basic MIDI sequencer.

Audio effects

When Creative released the first Sound Blaster card back in November 1989, it set the benchmark for digital audio on the PC. In time this has moved through different stages (mono to stereo, 8-bit to 16-bit) to arrive at the wavetable devices we know today. Most sound card manufacturers were content to have their cards compatible with the Sound Blaster standards but, typically, Microsoft decided to muscle in on the act and set up its own standards.

The latest are DirectSound and, more recently, DirectSound 3D, which allows for 3D spatial and surround effects. A quick glance at the table will reveal that nearly every card supports one, if not both, of these. Two other popular standards for positional audio effects are Aureal's A3D and Creative's EAX 2.0 system.

Both use reverberation techniques to create not just surround-sound effects but, more to the point, realistic ones that suit their environment. For example, footsteps coming up behind you in an echoing tunnel will sound different from the same person walking in a carpeted living room. The Sonic Fury and the Hercules both support A3D as well as EAX 2.0, while the Sound Blasters cater only for the Creative EAX system.

In positional audio tests with games, both the VideoLogic and Hercules cards sounded a little crisper than their Creative counterparts, but the difference is minimal. The Sensaura 3D effects on the Pine card were surprisingly clear, given that this really is a budget model, but were less defined than the cards with EAX 2.0 or A3D.

Best Buy

Whether you're an audio buff, DVD film fan or full-time gamer, you will want a card that performs well in every area. The Game Theater sneaks in front of the others to claim our Best Buy award thanks to the best-sounding samples and its USB hub, which is a dream for game players everywhere. An abundance of sockets, housed in the external rack, means it can connect to almost anything you desire.

Its price beats Creative's Sound Blaster Live Platinum 5.1, though the two cards are very similar in quality of sound and number of features.

Creative's Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 runs away with a Recommended award. It sounds fantastic and has more than enough features to keep anyone happy, from hardcore gamers to mainstream musicians. The card loses out to the Game Theater only because it is slightly more expensive, so if you want to stick with the tried and tested Creative Labs brand, go for it.

The Sonic Fury has fewer connection options but produces a fine sound. The price is amazingly low for the quality. It's especially good value if you buy the DigiTheatre PC package including a 5.1 digital speaker setup and WinDVD software for £199.99 (inc VAT).

Speakers

A great wavetable sound card is all very well, but to get the best out of your hardware you'll also need a good set of speakers. PC speakers have made giant leaps recently: today's models offer digital cinema-style surround-sound for your DVD movies and games, using either the Dolby Digital (AC3) or Digital Theatre Surround (DTS) systems.

The so-called '5.1' setups generally comprise two front and two rear speakers and a centre speaker for dialogue plus a subwoofer (the '.1') for extra oomph in the bass. We looked at three of the latest digital 5.1 speaker systems along with some analogue models for machines without a digital output.

VideoLogic's DigiTheatre LC is a set of five amplified speakers and a subwoofer. They require a four- or six-channel sound card, such as the company's own Sonic Fury, and are great for games and DVD surround-sound. The sound quality is excellent for the price - especially if you buy them in the DigiTheatre PC package including WinDVD and a Sonic Fury card for £199.99.

Unlike their Creative and Yamaha rivals the #129 price of the LC speakers doesn't include a decoder for either AC3 or DTS so you'll either need to use a DVD player with a built-in decoder or purchase the more expensive DigiTheatre speaker package, which comes equipped with a decoder for £249, to get the more impressive sound.

The Creative Playworks DTT3500 5.1 digital system has a pre-amp with remote control and a built-in Dolby Digital decoder to deliver fantastic sound with compatible games and DVD films. The AC3 surround works extremely well. The costly but quality unit boasts plenty of inputs, including three digital ones.

The Yamaha TSS-1 home theatre system is a compact digital surround 5.1 unit offering both DTS and Dolby. Again, these speakers delivered great surround from both films and games. A handy test option checks each individual speaker to get the best results. Well designed with a deep sonic punch - good value for money. If your sound hardware has no digital output you might want to try Acoustic Energy's AEGO2 package. Available in black or white and comprising two satellites and a subwoofer, it uses the Active Sound system to vary the crossover point and power level for each speaker according to the sound level and frequency.

The sound quality is excellent and the soundstage very wide considering the size of the system. The only drawback is cost. Acoustic Energy plans an upgrade of three extra satellites with decoder and pre-amp to achieve a 5.1 digital sound system before the end of the year.

For PC audio fans on a budget, Labtec's £50 Pulse 424 setup has two satellites and a subwoofer that produce a meaty, deep sound. When pushed to the max they can sound tinny, especially compared to the others here, but for most gaming and basic music applications they produce a clear, resonant tone.

If you want to get more of a surround effect, the Arena 515 is a 4.1 setup that can produce a surprisingly wide 3D-like sound.

See also:

Hands on: The Sound of Music

Ian Waugh puts the latest release of Steinberg's Cubase VST through its paces.  23 Jun 2001

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