Its not often that a company has such dominance over a market area so that its very name becomes a byword for the component itself, Creative have rightfully earned this exact accolaid by continually setting the standard with PC soundcards. The advances in technology in recent years however have rekindled interest in the soundcard industry with multichannel Dolby Digital and DTS setups becoming more and more common in homes the world over. Consequently the competition for Creatives crown has grown to reflect demand ... its perhaps not surprsing then to see the launch a new range of soundblaster cards to replace the ageing Live! series and to embrace newer features ... welcome to the world of Audigy ...

In this review I'll be looking specifically at the Audigy Player, this is the cheapest package available and fetures the Audigy card itself with minimal extras. This base card is however common among the more expensive bundles too although they vary in the peripherals they contain (more on this later).

As you might expect the back of the box has all those juicy figures and details to check out ...

If theres one thing the Audigy isnt short on its features, I'll pick up on all the important ones throughout the text but heres the official list and requirements for quick reference purposes.

32-bit Professional Quality Effects Engine

• Creative's Audigy™ patented effects processor
• Support for real-time digital effects like reverb, chorus, normalizer, pitch shifter, or distortion across any audio source
  
• Capable of processing, mixing and positioning audio streams using up to 131 available hardware channels
  
• Full 32-bit digital mixer maintains all sound mixing in the digital domain, eliminating noise from the signal
  
• Customizable Plug-In Effects Architecture allows new audio effects to be downloaded via CreativeWare from the Web

• Playback of 64 audio channels, each with its own independent sample rate
  
• 24-bit Analogue-to-Digital conversion of analogue inputs at 48kHz sample rate
  
• 24-bit Digital-to-Analogue conversion of digital sources at 48kHz to analogue 5.1 speaker output
  
• 16-bit recording with sampling rates of 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1 and 48kHz
  
• Supports Sony/Philips Digital Interface (SPDIF) format input signal of up to 24-bit/96kHz quality
  
• SPDIF output up to 24-bit resolution at selectable sampling rate of 44.1, 48 or 96kHz
  
• Low latency multi-track recording with ASIO support

• Optimized user-selectable settings for headphones, two, four or six speakers and external A/V amplifiers
  
• Dolby® Digital audio decoding to 5.1 speaker channels in both analogue and digital modes
  
• Upgradable 3D audio architecture for future improvements
  
• Hardware acceleration of EAX® ADVANCED HD™ for games
  
• Creative Multi Speaker Surround™ (CMSS) technology places any mono or stereo source in a 360o audio space
  
• User-selectable EAX® ADVANCED HD™ music presets, pre-configurable DSP modes simulating various acoustic environments
  
• Advanced time-scaling functionality increases / decreases playback duration without altering pitch of original content
  
• Audio Clean-up functionality removes noise and 'clicks' from playback of vinyl disk or cassette tape recordings

• High speed connection to IEEE1394-enabled devices with up to 400Mbps transfer rate
  
• Hot-plug support for ease of connecting or disconnecting external devices
  
• Interconnection of up to 63 devices for peer-to-peer communication
  
• SB1394™ Certification Program thoroughly tests and certifies participating vendors' 1394-enabled devices with Sound Blaster® Audigy™ for optimal performance and ease of use.

• Creative's Audigy™ music synthesis engine
  
• 64-voice hardware polyphony with E-mu's patented 8-point interpolation technology that reduces distortion to inaudible levels
  
• Uses SoundFont technology for user-definable wave-table sample sets
  
• Unlimited sample size can be loaded into host memory for professional music reproduction (limited to available system memory size)
  
• Scalable PCI wave-table synthesis architecture with multi-timbre capability
  
• 48 MIDI channels with 128 GM & GS compatible instruments and 10 drum kits

• Support for analogue and digital or DirectInput™ game devices
  
• Support for two simultaneous MIDI devices with Sound Blaster® Audigy™ Drive (upgrade option)

• Analogue / Digital Out (Analogue Center & Subwoofer / 6-channel SPDIF Output)
• Line in
  
• Microphone in
  
• Line level out (Front) / Headphone out
  
• Line level out (Rear)
  
• SB1394™ port
  
• Telephone Answering Device in
  
• Analogue CD Audio in
  
• Digital CD Audio in
  
• Expansion header to an external 15-pin MIDI / Joystick port
  
• Internal SB1394™ header to Sound Blaster® Audigy™ Drive (upgrade option)
• Expansion header to the Sound Blaster® Audigy™ Drive (upgrade option)
  

Works with the Following Standards

• Windows® 98SE, 2000 and Millennium Edition
  
• Sound Blaster® MIDI and General MIDI
  
• Plug and Play
  
• Sound Blaster® PCI
  
• EAX® ADVANCED HD™
  
• EAX®
  
• Microsoft DirectSound, DirectSound3D & derivatives
  
• PCI 2.1 compliant
  
• AC '97 compliant
  
• Dolby Digital
  
• ASIO™

Sound Blaster® Audigy™ Audio Performance

System Requirements

• Genuine Intel® Pentium® 266MHz, AMD® K6 300MHz or faster processor
  
• Intel®, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard chipset
  
• 64MB system RAM (128MB recommended)
  
• 600 MB of free hard disk space
  
• Windows® 98SE, Windows® 2000, Windows® Millennium Edition or Windows® XP*
  
• Available half-length PCI 2.1 compliant slot
  
• Available adjacent slot for Joystick/MIDI bracket (optional)
  
• Headphones or amplified speakers (available separately)
• CD-ROM drive required for software installation

Comes with the standard card and joystick port plate (more on this later).

The Audigy Platinum - £153 (+VAT)

The standard card, gameport PCI plate, remote control and 5.25" drive unit featuring the following;

• PCM SPDIF In and Out (RCA/Coaxial Jack)
• Headphone Out (1/4" Stereo Jack with Volume control)
  
• Line In 2 (1/4" Stereo Jack, shared with Microphone In 2)
  
• Microphone In 2 (1/4" Jack with Gain control)
  
• MIDI In (mini DIN)
  
• MIDI Out (mini DIN)
  
• Optical SPDIF In and Out
  
• Stereo Auxiliary In (2 x RCA/Coaxial Jack)
  
• SB1394™ port
  
• Infra-red Receiver
  

The Audigy Platinum EX - £204 (+VAT)

The base card, external connection unit, remote control a modified gameport backplate (allowing the plugging in of the external unit). Features the same connectivity as the Platinum unit above.

Lets start by taking a closer look at the card itself ...

Taking a look inside the box you should be presented by the following; the card itself, 3 CDs (The drivers and the game Giants - more later), a digital CD/DVD cable and a blanking plate with a joystick port attached.

As with all electrical components you want to be careful of static so ground yourself before opening the bag :o)

...and here she is in all her glory, what really surprised was just how many capacitors there are on it, apart from that you can be pretty sure its a sound card ... lots of sockets !! (Oh and the fact it has Creative Audigy written on it).

The back ... errr not much here ... look at the sticky labels !?!

Going in a bit closer things start to get a bit interesting. First up we have the main Audigy chip ... this puppy is whats responsible for the 32-bit effects, multiple environments and real time effects the card can churn out.

One of the most obvious differences between the Audigy and the Live! card is the redesign of the connections on the backplate. The interesting integration of the SB1394 firewire socket has meant that the joystick port has had to be moved to its own PCI plate in order to make room. The SB1394 standard is essentially the same as IEEE-1394 but creative have been sensible enough to regulate it with a certification program ensuring compatiblity with all other SB1394 devices. Now I cant say I've ever used this socket but if it does as well as creative hope then it could proove a very important addition to the card, the possibilty of 400Mb/s transfer speeds and its ease of use certainly are appealing. Beyond that the connections are as expected (from left to right); digital out/center-sub analogue channel, Line In, Front/Headphone Out, Rear Out and finally the SB1394 port. Its also very nice to see Creative using gold connetors after ditching the colour coded ones.

The moving of the joystick port to its own plate means that it now has to be plugged into the main card via a ribbon cable (below) although it doesnt have to be attached if you dont want or need it. Also of interest to those thinking about the Platinum packs might be the bank of pins at the back of the card (on the left below) which are where the connectivity units attach to the card.

The other internal connections are as most other sound cards apart from the addition of the CD SPDIF (Sony Phillips Digital InterFace) for high quality CD audio and the SB1394 expansion socket (for connecting to the Platinums expansion units). As you saw above Creative were nice enough to include a digital CD audio cable in the bundle (unfortunately neither of my CD drives support it !!). From left to right CD SPDIF, SB1394, Aux. In, CD In and TAD In (Telephone Answering Device).

Just to show the card in place ... (the second and third PCI plates from the bottom)

Here it is again from the inside ...

Looking at the card is all well and good but you probably want to know what it can do so next we'll take a look at bundled software and some features of the card.

The main interface with the Audigy is still via Audio HQ as per the live! series

Device controls allows you to specify the output rate of the digital out connection (44.1, 48 or 96 KHz) - useful if you want to record with something that requires a certain sampling rate but cant resample itself (such as older minidisc players).

Those of you familiar with the predecessor to the audigy will no dobut recognise the EAX Control panel (all be it with some minor tweaks). This basically allows you to configure some of the EAX environment settings to suit your tastes. There are about 36 parameters between the Reverb and Chorus effects which can be freely altered as well as the master volume for the effect itself. I cant say that I felt any need to go beyond the presets with either my old Live! card or this Audigy however its still nice to have the option.

Not hugely new or interesting is the keyboard (might be due to my total inability to play a tune on it!!) however its still good fun to muck about on sometimes. If youre serious about making music on the computer there are undoubtedly better programs out there though.

Next up theres the soundfont configuration box which is where you selecct which MIDI bank to use as well as having some minor configuration options.

The creative mixer has had a bit of a makeover (much nicer colours - I like blue !!) and is integrated with the EAX selection panel as well as the speaker configuration.

The EAX aspects are essentially a cut down version of the main EAX control panel where you can select the effect you want. The speaker part is where the configuration of the cards output occurs and allows for headphones, 2, 4 or 5.1 speakers. Its also here that you have to check the digital out box if it thats what youre using to connect to your speakers. The other speaker options allow you to adjust the individual volumes of the center and subwoofer channels aswell as allowing bass redirection and the cards onboard AC3 decoding. The first two are self explanitary however bass redirection refers to which frequencies are sent to the satellites and which to the subwoofer, ticking it activates the crossover frequency slider above which is where you can set what is sent where. Unchecking the AC3 decode option is for people who intend to use an external decoder (such as Creatives DTT3500 or Inspire 5700 speakers) which they would like to handle the Dolby Digital decoding aspects instead of the main card itself. Finally theres the balance/fader configuration which now combines the front/rear and left/right controls into a single drag box. If your listening postion is off center you can simply grab the yellow dot in the middle and move it to whichever aspects need to be louder, combine this with the center/sub volume sliders and you can tailer the position of the sound to your individual needs.

Creatives playcenter will also be familiar to current soundblaster users all be it with a bit of a makeover. Apart from the basic features it also has some new ones to increase the enjoyment.

Not new but still quite cool are the EAX effects, once again theres a control panel for them here to select whichever you want (Environments, Advanced EQ or Special effects). While these are interesting to test out I personally always seem to end up going back to the original, as far as music is concerned I'm not huge EAX fan.

Next up is time scaling, this provides the ability to alter the speed at which the music/sounds are played without altering the pitch ... still not convinced how useful this is but its quite fun to play with !!

One of the new features is DREAM (Dynamic Repositioning of Enhanced Audio and Music) which I dont quite understand the point of but again its quite cool to play with. It basically takes whatever youre listening to and rotates it around you, its pretty much designed for surround sound speaker setups but isnt limited to them. The best way to describe it is to imagine yourself in the center of a carousel not moving, DREAM effectively sticks the band/singer on the outside part of the carousel going around you playing their tune. Its more clever than that though as you can alter the speed and direction of either low, mid or high range frequencies independantly too. The final result is really quite amasing but after a few minutes I found myself turning it off, still it may appeal more to other people I guess.

Finally we have audio clean-up which removes unwanted noise from your files, I cant say I really noticed all that much difference with or without it (even listening solely to what had been removed). I recorded all my MP3's myself though so theyre of quite a high quality generally. It would be interesting to try a recording from analogue tapes or vinyl like they suggest to see what it can really do unfortunately I dont have the ability to do that here at the moment.

Lastly we have the creative taskbar, I've never been a fan of cluttered desktops so I've never been too keen on these especially when all it really does is allow (yet) another way to acivate EAX effects, a nice thought but not for me. That said I can see that for a lot of users this would be the prefered EAX interface due to its relatively clean appearance and ease of use.

Moving on to third party software we firstly have the Oozic player. While there isnt actually anything wrong with this player it didnt really grab me, its a bit cluttered, not overly simple to use and worst of all had an advert - not a good start. Beyond that though it has some really nice visualisations going on and it works as well as can be expected its just that with so many music players about it doesnt really do anything to make it stand out above the rest.

Creative were also nice enough to give us a free game too ... Giants; Citizen Kabuto. Normally free games are associated with graphics cards so its nice to see creative following suit with soundcards too. I've not actually had a chance to play much of the game myself (too much work unfortunately) it appears to actually be pretty good though (Gamespot UK gave it 9/10) so they obviously thought about which game to include.

Reading back over what I've written above some of it might sound a bit negative, the fact is that the Audigy is a sound card and doesnt really need all these extra features to be able to perform it job. While I personally might not use the extra features it doesnt mean others wont so its nice to see Creative making the effort and having them available for those who want them. Its true that some features of the Audigy were also present with the Live! cards but I'm glad they've also been looking at new directions to take such as DREAM or the audio clean-up. In a similar way theyve also been busy trying to push EAX and the gaming experience forward too which I'll be looking at next.