ALive! Article: The 5.1 Sound Blaster
An early article speculating on the most probable features and the audio outputs and methods that can be used to implement 5.1 sound on the Sound Blaster. It also talks about how existing users may be able to use the 5.1 features without upgrading to a 5.1 Sound Blaster card.
What's Common On All 5.1 Sound Blasters
All 5.1 Sound Blasters have a new Sound Blaster Live! card that replaces the minijack digital output with a 3rd analog output to carry the center and subwoofer/LFE channels for 5.1 sound output.
Instead of replacing the minijack digital output, Creative has made this output dual function. You can set the drivers to switch between digital output and analog output (center/subwoofer).
The analog outputs can be used in a 2-speaker, 4-speaker or 6-speaker (5.1) configuration. You need the latest DTT2200 speakers, or any other compatible speakers like those from VideoLogic that supports 5.1 (6-channel) analog inputs for 5.1 sound. You can also use a 5.1 home theater amplifier that has discrete analog inputs for all 6 channels.
The Mini-DIN output is updated to support a 6-speaker (5.1) configuration as well. You will need the DTT3500 speakers and a Mini-DIN bracket and cable to utilize digital 5.1 output from the new cards. The 4-speaker configuration for digital output will still continue to work as long as you set them in the speaker configuration applet, for backward compatibility with the FPS2000 and DTT2500.
See below for more information on upcoming speakers from Cambridge SoundWorks!
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 1394
The latest version of the Platinum series has been released for the Japanese market. It comes with a FireWire port built into the Live!Drive IR. Check out our Sound Blaster Live! in Japan article for more information.
Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1
This high-end version replaces the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum released in September 1999. It comes with the new Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 card, and Live!Drive IR, with a remote control. Check out the software bundle(Americas bundle | Europe bundle).
It is similar to the Japanese Platinum Plus package depicted here:
This product comes with a 5.1 Sound Blaster, and a full 320kbps encoder that is able to encode MP3s up to 9x the actual playback speed. The software bundle(Americas bundle) is geared more towards audio playback and entertainment.
Finally, Creative has ported the Sound Blaster Live! for the Macintosh. Inside Mac Games has a preview of the SBLive! for Macintosh, which mentions several interesting facts:
Creative Labs is working closely with Apple to modify the Sound Manager in MacOS 9 and MacOS X to pass audio creation commands to the Sound Blaster Live!. In its current incarnation, the Sound Manager in MacOS 9 uses the CPU to produce all sound channels, which could cause quite a severe performance hit if there is sound coming from many directions.
...Creative Labs is pushing the adoption of OpenAL on the Macintosh and PC. At this point, it is unknown as to how much work would be required to update current games to the OpenAL standard. The results of their lobbying may be seen next week when the software bundle is revealed...
Sound Blaster Live! is expected to debut between $100 and $130 at next week's Macworld Expo.
Asia Press Release
This is a press release from Creative's HQ in Singapore. Two models will be available in Asia: Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 (also available worldwide) and Sound Blaster Live! Digital Entertainment 5.1 (only in Asia). They cost US$199.99 and US$89.99 respectively.
Americas Press Release
Following the announcement of the Asia products, Creative has issued a press release for the Americas. The models available are Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1, Sound Blaster Live! MP3+ 5.1 and Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer 5.1. The latter 2 are only available in the Americas and lists at US$99.99. The Platinum lists at US$199.99.
This product is known as the DeskTtop Theater 5.1 DTT3500 in the Americas and Asia, but is marketed as the PlayWorks DTT3500 in Europe and Japan, boasting its capability to accept the Dolby Digital input from the PlayStation 2 console.
Like its predecessor, the DTT2500 (read our review), it has an amplifier. New to the DTT3500 is that you will be able to place the amplifier vertically, saving some desk space.
This speaker system comes with a remote control and has both optical and coaxial Dolby Digital inputs, including several analog inputs for connection to many audio devices. It supports the discrete 6 channel inputs as well as 5.1 Mini-DIN input from the latest 5.1 Sound Blasters.
This product is like an improved FPS1800 that supports an addition center channel. This product was designed to pair with the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 cards to output 5.1 sound. It does not have any Mini-DIN or Dolby Digital inputs, nor does it have an amplifier like the other DeskTop theaters. The amplifier is built into the subwoofer like the FPS series of speakers, providing 81 watts of output.
The speakers will retail at around US$129, making it an extremely affordable 5.1 solution when paired with a 5.1 Sound Blaster.
These speakers are designed to work with Sony's PlayStation 2 console with Dolby Digital support on 5.1 speakers for the DTT2500, while the PS2000 creates a virtual soundfield with just 2 speakers.
The speakers will retail at around US$129, making it an extremely affordable 5.1 solution when paired with a 5.1 Sound Blaster.
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