The Specifications
Now that Creative has released specifications for
the Platinum, here are some of the more interesting highlights.
I went down to Creative's BlasterShop at Funan Center, Singapore and lo and behold, they had the Platinum on display. Its a pity they did not have it installed into a PC for demo.
Live!Drive
The Live!Drive seems to be a very flexible solution enabling different connectivity options that Creative may be selling in other digital I/O products, like I/O boxes and cards.
I noticed that there are 4 sets of header pins on the Live!Drive, compared to only 1 set of header pins on the SBLive! card itself:
- DIGITAL IN
- TO DIGITAL I/O CARD - this means you can cascade and connect the Live!Drive to another digital I/O card
- TO SBLIVE! - this header connects to the pins on the SBLive! Platinum card
- TO EMU10K2 - this is the interesting one!
What does the TO EMU10K2 connector do? Does it allow 2 SBLive! cards to work together somewhat like a SLI configuration for 3D video cards? Or does it connect to the next generation SBLive! (EMU10K2)
Some evidence that the Live!Drive is more than a passive "digital I/O card in a box" - it requires power from the power supply in your casing. It uses the smaller connectors like 3.5" floppy drives. A splitter cable is included, since most power supplies in PCs have only one such power connector meant for the 3.5" floppy drive.
What does this mean? Creative and maybe even Hoontech will have some interesting digital I/O and expansion options in the pipeline!
Mic + Line Input and Headphone Output
I noticed that the Live!Drive has a mic and line input that is shared. It is labeled MIC IN2 / LINE IN 2. Since the standard AUD_EXT header on the SBLive! does not include analog input and output pins, Creative may have included an on-board ADC in the Live!Drive to convert the mic/line inputs to digital, then passing it to the S/PDIF digital input on the AUD_EXT header.
The shared mic/line inputs also has a gain control that has to be turned to 0 for line-input, and turned up for mic inputs.
Similarly, a DAC may have been added in the Live!Drive to convert the S/PDIF output to analog signal. Then a headphone amp to boost the line-level signals to be audible on headphones.
Note that this is purely speculative as nobody has had the chance to test a Platinum yet. Creative may have enhanced the pins on the AUD_EXT header in the new SBLive! products to include analog audio inputs and outputs.
What?! No Optical I/O?
Yep - you will need to buy the optical I/O card. And this card is not readily available at retail shelves. You will have to order it direct from Creative's web site.
I thought this was the chance for Creative to address the lack of optical I/O in the original SBLive! products but they didn't.
Same Card For All SBLive! Models
I can't confirm this, but what Creative displayed in their Singapore showroom is the CT4760 card which is similar to the one in the X-Gamer, MP3+ and Player products.
Most likely, Creative is selling similar SBLive! cards in all products, with the option to purchase the Live!Drive and upgrade to full Platinum capability.
The CT4760 does not have the I2S input found on the original full version of the SBLive! card.
Interesting Software
Here are the more noteworthy applications:
- Digital Audio Center - CD ripping & MP3 encoding up to 320kbps with Environmental Audio presets
- Game Commander - control games with voice commands. I can't imagine how this is possible without slowing down frame rates, and the recognition accuracy being affected by all the game sound effects produced by the SBLive! itself!
- Time-Scaling in PlayCenter - play media files faster without affecting the pitch (and sounding like the Chipmunks)
The Box
The existence of the Platinum was leaked by Creative themselves when they polled visitors on their US web site on various prototype box art. The only noticeable difference between the final version and the prototype below is that the silver guy and the waves are horizontally flipped. IMO this one is the coolest of the lot!
The selected prototype box
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