The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz was the best sound card you could get. It ran circles around the Audigy, and was almost neck and neck with the Audigy 2, all while not having any bugs and costing less than half as much. Even today, that card easily outperforms the MCP-T onboard sound on nForce2 boards.
That was over four years ago, and I would pray to god that sound cards have continued to evolve. Unfortunately, it doesnt look like that has happened. Instead we have the insanely powerful, yet ridiculously buggy Audigy 4 with it's hefty $279.00 price tag. Also, Turtle Beach now has the powerful, but incredibly lax Catalina for a much cheaper $49.95. And I ask you, why the sam hell is everyone now cutting corners like nobody's business?
Jeez! I'd like to know why it is that the most powerful sound card has serious compatibility issues with WinNT and VIA. I would also like to know why the runner up is just a souped up Rivierra with no good features whatsoever. I mean christ, I would expect newer sound cards to be innovative. Unfortunately I am stuck with an overhyped, overbugged, and overpriced Audigy 4, or the sound card version of the GeForce MX4000, which is just a Rivierra with more channels!!
Someone, please tell me there is another option. I cannot believe that since 2000, there has not been one good revolution in the sound card business. I mean, come on. Why is it that the Audigy 4 can run an emulated 192KHz, but doesnt have the neccessary ability to export it, all while causing screech of death every two minutes? Why doesnt the Catalina have the ability to decode SPDIF, or have DSP, or even an equalizer? There has got to be a better sound card to have surfaced over the past four years that would actually be worth something. Seriously.
That was over four years ago, and I would pray to god that sound cards have continued to evolve. Unfortunately, it doesnt look like that has happened. Instead we have the insanely powerful, yet ridiculously buggy Audigy 4 with it's hefty $279.00 price tag. Also, Turtle Beach now has the powerful, but incredibly lax Catalina for a much cheaper $49.95. And I ask you, why the sam hell is everyone now cutting corners like nobody's business?
Jeez! I'd like to know why it is that the most powerful sound card has serious compatibility issues with WinNT and VIA. I would also like to know why the runner up is just a souped up Rivierra with no good features whatsoever. I mean christ, I would expect newer sound cards to be innovative. Unfortunately I am stuck with an overhyped, overbugged, and overpriced Audigy 4, or the sound card version of the GeForce MX4000, which is just a Rivierra with more channels!!
Someone, please tell me there is another option. I cannot believe that since 2000, there has not been one good revolution in the sound card business. I mean, come on. Why is it that the Audigy 4 can run an emulated 192KHz, but doesnt have the neccessary ability to export it, all while causing screech of death every two minutes? Why doesnt the Catalina have the ability to decode SPDIF, or have DSP, or even an equalizer? There has got to be a better sound card to have surfaced over the past four years that would actually be worth something. Seriously.
