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Five days before the launch on 23rd September 2002, we received a vaguely worded invitation from Creative, for the launch of a new sound card. The name or features of the new product were not mentioned.
Creative Resource: Creative's HQ in Singapore
When we reached Creative's HQ in Singapore, we were greeted with huge banners and "wall of boxes" (see the ones for the GeForce and Extigy) of the Audigy 2, and we went "ah!"
The event was once again hosted by Creative Chairman and CEO, Sim Wong Hoo, who was bullish about the capabilities of the Audigy 2.
"If you bought an Audigy 1 last year, you will need to buy an Audigy 2 because its so damn good."
"In Audigy 1, I said I almost came to tears when I heard the sound. This time, in Audigy 2, I came to tears."
"At 100 dB, every [additional] dB is so painstakingly difficult [to achieve]."
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
With the Sound Blaster Audigy 2, Creative enters its ninth generation of the Sound Blaster sound card. Three products were announced today: the Audigy 2 sound card-only package (US$129), Audigy 2 Platinum (US$199) with a similar internal drive bay as the current Audigy Platinum, and the Audigy 2 Platinum eX. The Platinum eX version was not shown as it was not completed. It will be released next year.
High Bit and Sample Rates
The most touted feature of the Audigy 2 is the ability to use your existing DVD-ROM drive to play DVD-Audio discs over 5.1 channels, using the 24-bit 96 kHz DACs on the Audigy 2. The Audigy 2 can playback 24-bit 192 kHz audio tracks in stereo, but this is more for future audio applications as no such content is readily available.
Hack-Proof DVD-Audio
It was revealed that the recording industry and some consortiums were very concerned about DVD-Audio playback on PCs, because of the open architecture of PCs, and the seemingly limitless abilities of crackers. The cracking of CSS on DVD Video discs was cited as an example.
The company had to go through rounds of certification and testing to ensure that "nobody can hack into it." There would also be a huge penalty for the company if the DVD-Audio playback system could be compromised. However, when probed, Mr Sim declined to reveal the organizations which Creative had agreements with.
Dolby Digital EX
Another area which is new to the Audigy family is the ability of the drivers to decode and playback Dolby Digital EX 6.1 surround soundtracks on many DVD Video titles.
The sonically excellent pod race scene in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was shown as a demo, which incidentally was also the first movie to utilize a rear surround channel.
Of course, the Live! 5.1, Audigy and now the Audigy 2 are the only sound cards that come with Dolby Digital decoding in the drivers. Creative emphasized that other competing sound cards claim to be Dolby Digital, but only because they bundle a software DVD Video player that can decode Dolby Digital.
Of course, the irony remains that no software DVD player like PowerDVD or WinDVD is bundled with the Audigy 2, so you can't play DVD movies out of the box, unless you buy additional software for your PC. Fortunately, the bundled MediaSource jukebox application is able to play DVD-Audio discs.
A New Jukebox Application
MediaSource replaces PlayCenter as the media jukebox of choice for the Audigy 2. Unfortunately, for existing users, Creative has not made a decision to release MediaSource for other product lines, so existing owners may be stuck with PlayCenter. Of course, you will not be able to rip DVD-Audio discs to MP3s, said Sim.
6.1 Gaming
The excellent Soldier of Fortune II was also showcased in 3D audio. The Audigy 2 takes into account the newly added rear center channel (in 6.1 mode) when performing 3D positioning. In the large auditorium, the game sounded fantastic, with sounds coming from all around, and new to us were the sounds of gunfire coming from right behind us!
The Audigy 2 does not bring new EAX features for gaming, but the improved Audigy 2 processor is now able to handle 64 3D streams - double that of the Live! and Audigy.
(For some reason, Creative did not have a card up close for us to look at, so we cannot bring you detailed shots of the Audigy 2 itself.)
Go to the next page for more information on the Platinum eX and new speaker products!
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