If you’re still plugging your headphones and desktop speakers directily into your computer’s headphone jack, but are curious what lies on the other side of the audiophile divide, consider giving this little $US39 USB sound card a try. More »
After a frustrating few months of searching for a solution to the audio problems he encountered while ripping on-screen video with his Dell laptop, a ripten editor discovered that others were experiencing the same issue–and that the problem was not confined to Dell laptops. Apparently, the lack of a sound card Stereo Mix recording option is to blame–and numerous forum threads have suggested that the RIAA has put pressure on laptop manufacturers like Dell, Gateway and Pac Bell to remove it.
The Xonar HDAV 1.3 might the first sound card to claim to full HDMI 1.3a support, but ASUS has a few more tricks up their sleeves that could make it interesting to non-audiophiles. The Xonar is capable of performing some corrective post-processing effects on HD video with its “Splendid HD” chip, saving precious CPU cycles.
The story of Daniel_K vs. Creative reaches a temporary conclusion as Creative reinstates the deleted forum posts by Daniel that helped other users get their sound cards work under Vista. The company did this as a result of angry forum and blog posts (some here as well), mostly all siding with Daniel.
