Wireless music system controlled using iPhone

Earlier today home theater systems company Sonos unveiled their latest sound system, the Sons S5, a wireless sound system built to function seamlessly with the iPhone.

Unlike traditional media players, the S5 doesn't require you to dock your device in order to enjoy your music. By using the Sonos controller app, one can easily stream all of their music, whether it be from an iPhone or the internet, through the media player -- no tethering required.

Features:

• Full control of your music experience with your iPhone, iPod touch, PC, Mac or Sonos Controller including your iTunes library and all of the popular online streaming services such as Pandora, Rhapsody, Napster, Siruis
• Crystal-clear, room-filing sound from 2 tweeters, 2 mid-range drivers and subwoofer built in
• Access to music from your iTunes library and most every online music service/internet radio station
• Best-in-class wireless technology for multi-room music
• Simple setup & expansion - simple to add rooms

Written from scratch, lots of improvements for all your sweeping needs

If you don't like driver issues, Driver Sweeper is a free program we can wholly recommend using.

The long and short of it is before installing a new driver (like say, those new NVIDIA drivers released today), you uninstall the old ones, reboot, run Driver Sweeper to get rid of all the old bits lying around, then install the new set, thereby minimizing the possibility of any future conflicts or issues. We've been using it for some months now with only good results, so there's that.

Version 2.0 is released today, complete with an overhaul, Windows 7 support, lots of improvements and more. Grab it at Phyxion; link and changelog is below.

Driver Sweeper is completely rewritten from scratch at 2.0.0

• This version requires at least .NET 3.5 installed.
• UAC message requiring administrator access on Windows Vista and Windows 7 on startup if UAC is enabled.
• Resizable window.
• Lowered requirements to .NET 3.0.
• Windows 7 support.
  Only the final version is supported.
• Updated:
     - Improved ATi - Display cleaning.
     - Improved NVIDIA - Display cleaning.
     - Improved NVIDIA - PhysX cleaning.
     - Renamed AGEIA - PhysX to NVIDIA - PhysX
• Added many translations

Beta 1.04.0090 added to Creative's growing list

Now that Realtek soundcard users are taken care of, it's time for Creative users to get some Windows 7 support. The company has added to its website today additional support for the OS, specifically, for its Audigy, Live! and X-Fi Xtreme Audio cards.

These new drivers constitute Beta version 1.04.0090, and should offer an overall improved experience under Microsoft's latest. Grab the set here, and visit Creative's Windows 7 - Driver Availability Chart for other card and product support information.

Now Windows 7 compatible

Realtek releases today its 2.25 set of HD Audio drivers, these ones being the first compatible with Windows 7.

Hit the link below and click 'Software' to proceed to the new driver set. Note download speeds vary arbitrarily depending on which site you choose, so shop around!

Circuit City subsidiary to see amalgamation

Folks may recall January's news of U.S. electronics retailer Circuit City shutting down, with us left wondering what would happen to its Canadian subsidiary The Source.

The news in this week tells us wireless, digital TV, internet and home phone provider Bell will be capitalizing on the losses, buying the chain out and "enhancing [its] growth"; it will continue to operate as an electronics shop on top of carrying all of Bell's services.

The deal is expected to be finalized by Q3 of this year; no price has been disclosed as of yet.

"(The) acquisition supports Bell's strategic imperatives to accelerate wireless and leverage momentum in services like Bell TV, Bell Internet and Bell Home Phone," said George Cope, president and CEO of Bell and BCE.

Bell shares closed down 2.54 per cent Monday at $24.20.

The Source previously ran under the monkier of Radio Shack until it was bought by Circuit City in 2005.

No buyer, no refinancing, no stores

Circuit City has had a really rough 2008. First it saw a bid from Blockbuster, then some Sony trucks turned around on them failing a delivery due to bad credit, then they closed 155 of their stores, and finally, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. There's one final note to this sad tale: the chain is now shutting down completely. In retrospect, maybe a Blockbuster acquisition would've been a good idea.

They announced today they will be liquidating their remaining 567 U.S. stores after failing to find a buyer or figure out a refinancing deal. At the time CC filed for bankruptcy protection, they held 5-10% of the US video game sector. Circuit City was the nation's second biggest electronics retailer.

There doesn't seem to be any specific liquidation sale on their website, as one might expect, though its Canadian subsidiary The Source has an up to 70% off event.

New PCs packed with 'hand-held motion-based remote controller'

5,6 and 8 inch models available in new release.

Gamers often find themselves at a hard end of the audio spectrum, things are isolateed to headphone jacks or optical jacks and the rare situation where someone uses a few splicers to turn their headphone jacks into 6 audio out jacks. It never seems to be a pretty picture and most of the time the easy way out is just hooking up a 5.1 in a box to just get into action instead. The problem of course is the quality suffers most of the time using plastic cabinets without porting and no remote insulation of any form to help supplement the sound. Hardcore users will take the next step and use a digital line to their recievver to hook up a pair of bookshelf speakers and get some respectable sound but for those who want something more the KRK Rokit 8 seems to fill that void.

The G2 series is running about with great specs showing a Glass Aramid composite Woofer giving people some strength and flex for high power situations, while everything has a breaking point the use of this reduces the issue quite a bit and provides a wide range of frequency response without reaching a distortion point so fast that everything peaks and the driver goes into overload.

Key things to know:

Rokit 5 G2:

5" Woofer with dedicated 1" Tweeter
XLR support with RCA and TRS connection support.
75 Watt dynamic power bi-amp, 18dB Octave Filters
53Hz-20kHz response range per cabinet

Rokit 6 G2:

6" Woofer with dedicated 1" Tweeter
XLR support with RCA and TRS connection support
100 Watt dynamic power bi-amp 24dB Octave Filters
49Hz-20kHz response range per cabinet

Rokit 8 G2

8" Woofer with dedicated 1" Tweeter
XLR support with RCA and TRS connection support
150 Watt dynamic power bi-amp 24dB Octave Filters
45Hz-20kHz response range per cabinet

The cabinet focuses on audio response over high end abuse, the thing to note is that the 150w power rating is a great sign of actual output instead of using inflated burst / pmpo ratings and it signals a brief end to the often second thought inclusions of a subwoofer to make up for a lack of low frequency response by the actual drivers like many companies end up doing right now as the company has invested in the hardware itself. The XLR, RCA and TRS support seal the deal for many audio professionals with high end connection compatibilty.

For $300 - $500 set the Rokit isn't exactly cheap but it has the potential to deliver audio quality that rivals the $300 kits running around right now. For the more audiophile based users the sets will probably be quite a nice touch as some younger gamers often desire EAX5 with 7.1 over something that might provide higher quality output. If we get a chance to put these to the test we surely will, I've sampled KRK monitors in the past few months and the potential is pretty wild and very defined.

Anyone wanting more info can hit their site krksys.com

Click here to see more images

Forums explode in outrage; people toss sound cards off of buildings

You've probably seen this happen in hardware or game forums before: the company behind the forums does something that upsets the user base, and people chime in, saying how they will never buy so-and-so product again. Well this happening to the extreme right now, on the forums of sound card, speakers (and other things) maker Creative Labs.

The public relations fiasco started just this last weekend. A man who worked on drivers for Creative sound cards as a hobby was known to be a savior of the community: unlike official Creative releases, his Vista drivers actually worked. So people loved him; his forum name was Daniel_K and legions of Creative card owners would thank him, after using his drivers, after having numerous troubles with Creative's own releases. Personally, I own a Sound Blaster X-Fi, and never had any troubles using it in XP; but judging from time spent in Creative's forums, their Vista drivers were substandard in many cases, preventing many customers from fully utilizing their sound cards (or using them at all, for that matter.) In a perfect world, you would think that Creative would have been happy to have a dedicated smart guy working on their drivers in his own time -- but this is not a perfect world.

Phil O'Shaughnessy, the VP of Corporate Communications for Creative Labs, sent a letter to Daniel_K, asking him to refrain from posting, or working on, his drivers anymore: "...we are asking you to respect our legal rights in this matter and cease all further unauthorized distribution of our technology and IP." Mr. O'Shaughnessy cited legal obligations that prevent 3rd parties from working on their drivers, because they contain code that is licensed from other companies.

Daniel_K agreed to not work on the drivers anymore.

Then the forums exploded.

In a matter of a few hours, propelled to the public's eye thanks to news aggregates such as Digg.com, legions upon legions of Creative card owners chimed in. Most signed up to the forum just to say how they would never ever buy a Creative card again, and how choked they were that Creative released sub-standard Vista drivers for far too long. Many smelt a conspiracy, suggesting that Creative purposely was limiting the functionality of their cards in order to encourage a enforced obsolesce on their products -- so people would be forced to buy new cards.

The forum thread is continually growing; it is currently up to 200 pages of pure vitriol and anger over Creative's move. Here is one of the thousands of posts: "I've bought $1000 worth of Creative products going back to the Soundblaster 16 including speakers and a DVD Rom. I was going to buy the XFi to replace my Audigy 2 ZS on my next build. At a critical time for the company, with descrete sound cards being a dying breed, Creative needs the enthusiast market. So why go and kick us in the teeth?"

In less than 24 hours, a boycottcreative.com website has appeared. [April 3rd edit: Reference to Newegg posting on Creatives forum deleted, as this has been confirmed as a illegitimate (see comments below.)]

You can read all the colorful and interesting forum posts over here. Hell hath no fury like a gamer scorned.

Afternoon update: There has been some forum chatter about filing a class action lawsuit against Creative Labs, because they have been putting 'Vista Ready' stickers on their sound card boxes, when in fact, the sound cards do not run well in Vista (according to numerous reports.) Creative might be taking the threat of a class action lawsuit over false advertising seriously, as they recently appended the following message onto the bottom of their website's forums: "Pricing, product specifications and availibility are subject to change without notice. Package contents may vary according to the different regions." Adding further evidence to the fact that this message was added in haste (perhaps panic), is that they spelled 'availability' incorrectly. (Pointed out by forum guy MJC420. And thanks for linking to Neoseeker, Palewook.)

April 2 update: It appears Creative might be back-tracking slightly now, in thanks to the public outrage. While it looks like the popular Vista drivers aren't coming back, a 'Audigy Support Pack' the brings stuff like DVD Audio and Hardware MIDI to the discontinued Audigy line is coming back.

While Creative's beef with Daniel_K's drivers may legitimately be that the drivers include IP that they can not distribute, they are having a very poor time communicating this with their customers, or making and conciliatory agreements with the sound card using masses. The pent-up displeasure with Creative and its "weaksauce" drivers continues to flow through the official forums.

Further update: Daniel_K spoke to Wired magazine, and gave a detailed list of all the stuff Creative did to limit the functionality of their products, and his thoughts on the situation. For instance, you can basically update your Audigy cards to the functionality of and X-Fi cards by using his modded drivers. While the physical hardware is very similar across the different series of sound cards, it was the Creative drivers that said xxx function would, or would not, be activated.

"Creative purposedly modified the Audigy drivers to disable some features when Vista is detected and also purposedly introduced some bugs to prevent some XP utilities from running," Daniel_K says, in one part of his letter.

Asus

Asus is going after Creative Lab's market share in the high end audio card market; Asus apparently intends to go head-to-head with the Creative Labs X-Fi cards, while offering better drivers. Asus is targeting those currently mostly-useless PCIe 1x slots with their Xonar D2X - an excellent choice as PCI appears to be going the way of the Dodo. The D2X claims 118dB SNR for playback, and 115dB for recording; and it is also certified for Dolby Digital, Dolby Live, DTS Connected and DTS 5.1 audio.

In a move likely to endear consumers and enrage the MPAA, the card added an analog loopback mode without requiring an external loopback cable, allowing you to digitize any sound output thru the card.

There will also be a Xonar D2, basically a PCI version of the D2X

Corsair

Corsair is apparently demonstrating DDR3-1066 modules running on an Intel P35 chipset. The modules were shown running with CAS-6 timing, slightly beating the JEDEC CAS-7 spec. Corsair also displayed DDR3-800 modules and stated they have DDR3-1333 running in their lab.

Personally, I don't see any point in DDR3 until the PC3-1333 modules come out at CAS-5 timing - or lower; otherwise current high end memory modules running at PC2-1066 4-4-4-12 will soundly trounce them.

Nvidia

Nvidia 7050 chipset motherboards for both Socket 775 and Socket AM2 were shown by a number of vendors. It will be interesting to see if they will noticably outperform existing GeForce 6150 designs.

While Nvidia has decided to delay the launch of its mainstream video cards until sometime in April, there apparently were some vendors showing G84 and G86 boards. The G84 powered GeForce 8600GTS should significantly outperform the 7900GT while being smaller; and will apparently have a 675MHz GPU clock with 256MB of 2GHz DDR3, all for around $200. The 8600GT will apparently be clocked at 540/1400 and sell for around $150. The 8500GT will apparently be G86 based, and sell for as little as $79 with 128MB.

 

A new $79 price-tag, smaller size and even more style.

While many thought the iPod Shuffle was small as is, Apple seems to think otherwise as they now bring fourth the newest in micro MP3 players with the revised iPod Shuffle weighing in at half an ounce, 1.65 inches in length 1GB of Storage (240 songs estimated by apple) and 12 hours of battery life. The new style lends to the idea of clip and go, be it in your jacket, on your belt, acting as a belt, in your backpack and pretty much anything else you might be daring enough to attach it to. With an anodized aluminum body it joins the Nano in portable style.

Full spec listing:



Check out the details on the Apple Website.

Soundblaster Live! all over again

Amid increasing complaints from X-Fi users, Creative has spoken up to the Inq regarding the popping/crackling sounds that many users are having to deal with. Creative's European Audio Business Manager, Franco De Bonis, let it be known that the issues revolved around mostly high-spec gaming systems with nForce 4 chipsets.

The problem, according to Creative, is one of PCI bus/memory bus contention:

Creative believes that the larger volume of data being requested is causing larger access delays to system memory, especially when Sound Blaster X-Fi is sharing memory access with high-end graphics and hard drives.

"We have found that with certain high-end systems and configurations, Sound Blaster X-Fi is being held off from receiving data from the PCI bus for significant periods of time, in some cases for close to two-thirds of a millisecond. This causes our audio buffers to underflow, which produces crackling sounds," he said.

Mr. De Bonis went on further and explained that a BIOS update will resolve the issues on most motherboards.

I'm glad to see that Creative is being forward about this (even if a little late), and taking decisive action. What I don't understand is why they didn't do more extensive testing on high-spec nForce 4 systems -- the X-Fi is after all being marketed towards the high-end gamer types. It only stands to reason that they (Creative) would certify it on as many high-end nForce 4 systems as possible.

ATI have stated that they expect to see computers using the recently announced Display port standard coming to market in 2007.

ATI Technologies, the world’s biggest supplier of standalone graphics processing units (GPUs) said Thursday it expects first computers and monitors that support the new DisplayPort interfaces to emerge in early 2007. However, the company did not specify any timeframes concerning DisplayPort logic support by GPUs.

The standard, which will serve as a primary interconnection between monitors and personal computers (PCs), was ratified only recently, which means that the first graphics cards and, perhaps, displays will need a special chip that transmits signals according to DisplayPort standards.

ATI’s Mazen Salloum said Thursday that several makers of transmitters are developing appropriate chips now and he expected to see the actual transmitter products later in 2006. It is highly likely, according to Mr. Salloum, that computer makers – especially those, who specifically declared support for DisplayPort: Dell, HP and Lenovo – will adopt DisplayPort interface early in 2007.

The spokesman for ATI did not specify when the company plans to integrate a DisplayPort transmitter into its GPUs, however, he said “when it makes sense”. The firm incorporated support for dual-link DVI interface into its Radeon X1000 lineup late last year, when only one or two monitors along with some specific applications used the standard.

Adds HD DRM content playback and VOIP support

Realtek has been displaying working samples of their latest codecs at the Intel Developer Forum in Taiwan this week. The new chips have specs that match those announced earlier in March, and fill out an impressive lineup.

The new ALC885 replaces the ALC882 at the top end, complementing the 882's HD capabilities with support for DRM protected content. The new chip is capable of streaming lossless audio at 24bit/96 kHz or higher, and features a higher signal-noise ratio of 106 dB. The new chip supports full 7.1 audio and has a dedicated headphone output as well. Realtek has also added VOIP support to its ALC888 chip which allows a standard phone to be plugged directly into the computer.

The ALC885 and ALC888 Telecom are being demonstrated only as development samples currently with no mention of consumer availability.

VIA today announced the VIA Vinyl VT1708 High Definition Audio Codec with premium quality and features PC's

VIA has announced a high definition audio codec, supporting eight channels of output and four channels of input at up to 192KHz sampling rates at 24 bits. Talk about high definition audio!

------ news release ------

VIA Announces VIA Vinyl™ VT1708 High Definition Audio Codec,
Delivering Premium Performance Audio for the PC

Building on the acclaimed audio excellence of VIA's Vinyl Audio
solutions, the VIA VT1708 Codec is designed the deliver the Warmth of
Sound™ for media-centric PCs

Taipei, Taiwan, 22 February 2006 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading
innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform
solutions, today announced the VIA Vinyl VT1708 High Definition (HD)
Audio Codec with premium quality and features for expanding PC audio
requirements.

The HD Audio standard realizes the next step in fulfilling the needs
of a new generation of PCs that are taking on increasingly complex
communication and entertainment roles. To meet these growing
requirements HD Audio technology enables support of the latest high
definition audio content, and advanced features such as enhanced
microphone support for clearer VOIP communication.

The VIA Vinyl VT1708 HD Audio Codec delivers to the market a solution
with high fidelity audio playback featuring four premium quality
stereo DACs enabling 8 channel support, and 2 stereo ADCs, all of
which support the latest 24-bit, 192KHz audio standards. The VIA Vinyl
VT1708 HD Audio Codec additionally supports features that further
tweak the audio experience, such as a high quality headphone
amplifier, enhanced recording features, and advanced connectivity.

"As users increasingly depend on their PC for multimedia applications,
there is a strong requirement for every PC to ship with high quality
audio support as a standard feature," commented Philip Chen, Special
Assistant to the President, Multimedia and Consumer Electronics
Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "The VIA Vinyl VT1708 HD Audio Codec
builds upon VIA's strength in developing high quality audio solutions,
and was designed from the ground up to ensure a premium acoustic
experience."



About VIA Vinyl VT1708 HD Audio Codecs

VIA Vinyl HD Audio Codecs are compliant with the Intel(r) High
Definition Audio Rev. 1.0 specification. Integrating stereo DACs
featuring a 100dB S/N ratio, and two stereo ADCs the VIA Vinyl VT1708
HD Audio Codec enables support for the latest 24-bit, 192KHz audio
content. To ensure a high quality audio experience the VIA Vinyl
VT1708 integrates leading features such as a high quality headphone
amplifier, enhanced recording support, and advanced power management
features making them ideal for mobile devices.

The VIA VT1708 Audio Codec also optionally supports leading QSound
technology that offers unmatched technologies to transforms the PC
Audio experience with enhancements for games, music, and movies as
well as advanced feature control that allows users to fully customize
their audio experience.

For more information on the VIA VT1708 HD Audio Codec please go here:

www.via.com.tw/en/products/audio/8-channel/vt1708/

VIA VT1708 HD Audio Codec Pricing and Availability

VIA Vinyl VT1708 HD Audio Codec samples are available now. Pricing is
available upon request.

Misleading claims of 24-bit audio leads to settlement

The Inq is reporting that Creative has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit stemming from the claims that their Audigy lineup processed 24-bit audio which in most cases it does not.   The settlement does not actually offer any sort of cash back but when you line Creative's coffers, the next time you purchase a soundcard, owners of any of the original Audigy products are eligible for a 25% discount when purchasing products directly from Creative.

SoundStorm gone for sure, but does that just refer to the name?

Hexus had a little chat with NVIDIA over at IDF, and it turns out that SoundStorm, the popular integrated sound solution on nForce2-based motherboards, is dead.

Now, before you reach for the Kleenex, consider the fact that NVIDIA's own CEO Jen-Hsun Huang made a statement back in December that read "[The new SoundStorm] will come in a way that you won't expect". Perhaps NVIDIA just means the old implementation of SoundStorm as we know it is dead, but they have something even greater up their sleeves?

Brian Del Rizzo informed us of this fact, and stated that at the recent NVIDIA Editors day in which their CEO and Spiritual leader - Jen Hsun was infact talking about other technologies in which they are exploring audio possibilites, these would eventually end up as sound solutions across all platforms. But he was firm in his statement that it was indeed gone.

I know some of you are tired of this SoundStorm whining (which, I'll admit, can get rather tedious), but I, personally, would love to see SoundStorm back. Real-time Dolby Digital encoding of any audio stream for playback on my Logitech Z-5500s was the best thing to happen to computer audio in the last few years, in my opinion. I was highly disappointed to learn that the Audigy2 is incapable of doing this, and requires me to resort to the analog outputs if I want true 6-channel audio while gaming.

As a side note, if anyone out there knows of a filter/encoder that transparently encodes any audio source into 5.1 DD/DTS, I'd be eternally grateful. ;-)

Real time Dolby Digital encoding - not through Soundstorm however

About a month ago we reported that Terratec may be working on a Dolby Digital Live add-in soundcard. According to The Inq, this project might've been shelved at Terratec, but Korea based HiTeC will be bringing out a card.

The company called it HDA Digital X Mystique 7.1 gold and this is supposed to be the first PCI based 7.1 Channel Dolby Digital live sound card. Of course it supports real time content encoding.

Of course, the devil is in the details and the details would be the drivers. A good alternative to the usual Creative solutions is nice but drivers will need to be bang on out of the box so hopefully HiTeC will not disappoint on that front.

Long time 3D Sound developer teams up with VIA

VIA has sent out a PR this morning announcing that they are licensing QSound technology for their audio solutions.

Under the agreement, VIA will bring together its award winning Vinyl Audio Controllers with QSound’s unique audio enhancement technologies and audio-processing algorithms that delivers a ready to market solutions for VIA’s audio partners. Powered by VIA Vinyl Audio Hardware, QSound offers unmatched technologies that transforms the PC Audio experience with enhancements for games, music, and movies as well as advanced feature control that allows users to fully customize their audio experience.

...

» Q3D: Complete DirectSound, DirectSound3D, A3D and I3DL2-compatible digital audio mix engine with advanced 3D positioning, including 2D to 3D remix for non 3D games, for headphones and 2 to 7.1 channel speaker systems
» QEM: EAX and EAX2.0-compatible acoustic environment simulation, for headphones and 2 to 7.1 channel speaker systems
» QXpander: Mono to 3D and stereo to 3D stereo sound stage synthesis and enhancement for headphones and stereo speakers
» QVerb: reverberation optimized for music and movies, for all configurations
» QEqualizer: 8 band equalizer

I remember that QSound first hit the spotlight in the arcades in the mid-90s.  I think it might have been Capcom games that first used it possibly Street Fighter II?  Any way back then it was expanding stereo audio to make it sound more 3D. 

Legitimate Creative alternative in the future?

Creative has not exactly won a lot of fans over with its coercive tactics that came to light regarding its 'deal' with id over DOOM 3 nor with their legal department crushing Aureal financially and their A3D technology with a frivolous lawsuit.  With NVIDIA bowing out of the sound arena with Soundstorm there seem to be few alternatives to Creative's dominance with the exception of the Envy24 chip from VIA and the various onboard sound solutions (which Creative is moving in on also). The Inquirer is reporting that Terratec will be announcing a Dolby Digital Live card - this is similar to the Soundstorm method of encoding Dolby Digital content in real time except this is a Dolby supported solution, not a NVIDIA one.

Very well informed sources tell us that Terratec is working on such a card. It will introduce it sometime in the second quarter of 2005.

Terratec does have an Envy24 based card out - I believe that DD Live is just an algorithm and there still needs to be a DSP or something to implement it so it will be interesting to see if Terratec stays with the Envy chip or whips up something of their own.

Creative launches yet another soundcard

I guess the Audigy 3 did not have enough changes to warrant a new name so instead, Creative has gone with the Audigy 4 moniker instead for what is labelled as a Limited Edition soundcard in the Audigy 4 Pro. 

Sound Blaster® Audigy® 4 Pro is an amazing fusion of Entertainment and Music Creation. Featuring ultra-high quality DACs and an External I/O Hub which provides 6 Stereo Inputs/6 Stereo Outputs, Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro enables amazingly clean recording of six channels at 24-bit/96kHz with low latency ASIO 2.0 support. Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro also comes with the all new Entertainment Center software and remote control unit, transforming your PC into a Entertainment Center with easy MP3 and movies playback and navigation.

The Audigy 4 sounds like it is a product aimed at music professionals. I'm not one so I can't really comment as to whether any of the changes between this and the Audigy 2 is any significant improvement. The breakout box does not look all too different from the one included in the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro nor does the remote.

Soundstorm rumors swirling yet again

A little bird have told the guys over at The Tech Report that Soundstorm will not be making an appearance on the next iteration of the nForce chipset.

The next nForce will likely support high-definition audio datatypes, but without SoundStorm's robust hardware acceleration. Taiwanese motherboard makers apparently feel that SoundStorm doesn't offer much value to consumers, especially when cheap 8-channel software audio is all the rage.

Personally I wonder if this has anything to do with Creative buying out Sensaura has anything to do with this. Pretty much everyone that makes a non-Creative board relied on Sensaura for 3D Positional Audio algorithms.

Creative developing EAX Advanced HD 3D Audio for DOOM 3 engine

In shocking news, it looks like Creative is going to try to develop technology instead of bankrupting rivals by litigating them to death. 

Apparently, Creative will be looking to improve the audio technology in id Software's Doom 3 engine. In CEO of id's Todd Hollenshead's very own words, "we look forward to further enhancing players' audio experience by working with Creative to leverage their EAX Advanced HD technology in the Doom 3 engine."

I do have a Creative sound card but I've been pretty jaded since the SBLive days when they claimed EAX support on SMP systems and failed to deliver. The Aureal debacle really cheesed me off too but there are few alternatives for gaming other than onboard audio thanks to no small part the efforts of Creative.

Things looking a bit bleak for Real Networks after another apparent set back.

This has not been the best year so far for Real Networks. Regardless of what I think about baseball, losing the MLB radio rights hurt Real a lot. In the last month, Real was also rebuffed by Apple when they suggested that Apple open up Fairplay and the Ipod. The latest set back is AOL/Netscape doing their own streaming service instead of relying on Real.

The Netscape Radio application is bundled with the Mozilla-based Netscape v7.1 browser, and also distributed in stand-alone form at http://radio.netscape.com. When these days you run the original bundled version of Netscape Radio, you get a friendly dialog saying the current version will "expire soon", and that you should upgrade to the newest version to continue using the service. Once you approve the installation of the update, there is something interesting... the "Real Audio" plug-in doesn't seem to be used, and instead an Active-X component is launched by the radio software.

In my eyes Real Media lost a lot of credibility back in the day when they were collecting usage statistics without telling anyone. That really hurt them on the trust side and arguably, they were one of the first instances of 'spyware' and because of that I have adamantly refused to use their product. I'm not sure what Real Networks is planning at this stage. Maybe become a litigation company like SCO? Their core market segment is deep-sixing fast though and does not seem like it will recover.

Logitech today announced the flagship 5.1 speaker system in its Z-Series family, the Logitech Z-680.

The Z-680 comes equipped with Dolby Digital and DTS hardware decoding for true 5.1 digital sound. These speakers make it possible to bring THX-certified home theater surround sound to multiple platforms, by enabling simultaneous use with PCs, video game consoles, DVD players and portable audio players. The Z-680 offers tremendous value, and is currently available in retail outlets for a retail price of $399.95.

The Z-680 is a THX-certified, 5.1-surround sound system with 450 watts of RMS power. Its high-end features include:

Eight-inch, long throw subwoofer driver with a flared bass port for powerful, distortion-free bass.

Dolby Pro Logic II for creating realistic 5.1 surround sound from stereo music, movies and games.

Digital optical and coaxial inputs, as well as six channel analog inputs, for simple connection to nearly any audio device

Digital SoundTouch Control Center with a wireless remote, for easy adjustment of the speaker controls from anywhere in the room.

“Last year, with the introduction of the Z-Series speakers, Logitech established itself as a top player in the multimedia speaker market,” said Bob Wick, senior vice president and general manager of Logitech´s Audio Division. “This year we plan to raise the bar for high-end multimedia speakers, with the introduction of the Z-680. This 5.1 system will surpass the competition by offering a single system that is THX-certified, includes Dolby Digital and DTS hardware decoding, and simultaneously connects to four different audio sources. The extraordinary power this system brings to both the desktop and the living room will revolutionize the multimedia speaker market.”

THX certification involves rigorous testing of sound performance, user interface and construction. With the launch of its second THX-certified speaker, Logitech is underscoring its commitment to providing superior clarity and power in a multimedia sound system. “We are extremely pleased with Logitech´s entry into the 5.1 speaker market with the Z-680 speaker system,” said Mark Paddack, director of sales for THX. “All speakers that receive THX certification must meet stringent performance parameters, including: bandwidth, frequency balance, peak sound pressure levels and the ability to play up to their rated output level. The Z-680 exceeded all requirements, and has received the THX seal of approval.”

Logitech plans to continue its successful Z-Series speaker line, by offering a wide variety of products to meet varying consumer needs and budgets. The Z-680 is the company´s current flagship 5.1 speaker system. Earlier, this fall, Logitech introduced another 5.1 speaker system, the Logitech Z-640. The Z-640 provides over 50 watts of RMS surround sound power, and includes adapters for instant connectivity to game consoles, TVs, DVD and CD players. These speakers let users experience Dolby Digital 5.1 sound in conjunction with a PC sound card or software DVD player with a built in Dolby Digital decoder. Using the adapter that is provided with the system, the Z-640´s provide immersive 5.1 surround sound with gaming consoles, TVs, DVD and CD players. The Z-640 uses Logitech´s patented dual-chambered Pressure Driver subwoofer, which enables lower and louder bass sound than conventional subwoofers for rich deep bass and greater tonal purity. This speaker system is currently available online and in retail outlets for a list price of $99.95.

Logitech´s Z-Series speakers are known for industrial design quality, and the ability to bring a home theater feeling to the desktop. The Z-680 and Z-640 speaker system satellites feature innovative stands that rotate for either desk or wall mounting. The Z-680 includes removable grill covers that can be detached to create the more aggressive, “audio-tech” look of the aluminum phase plug drivers. Both speaker systems utilize home stereo style connectors and standard gauge speaker wire.