The current state of the PC Audio Industry is, in nicer terms, completely pathetic. By PC Audio Industry, I?m mainly referring to manufacturers of add in sound cards and motherboard manufacturers that integrate audio. It was only a few years ago, when I first started writing for SoundCardCentral.com that the market for PC Audio was booming. Back then, websites dedicated to PC Audio made sense, as there was plenty of competition that arose to challenge Creative Labs. Ah the good ole days, Creative Labs had their Sound Blaster Live that touted their craptastic EAX environmental audio that simply added reverb and polluted games with an unnatural audio environment that made it hard to immerse yourself in the audio alone.

We also had Aureal with their Vortex 2 line of DSP?s that was in direct competition with Creative Labs?s Emu10k chip, much like the ATI and NVIDIA battle going on now. Back then the battle wasn?t too keen on sound quality, but more based on the gaming experience. In the never ending battle to deliver the ultimate gaming audio experience, we saw the sound card evolve from a simple stereo output device to a multi-channel gaming experience that was a must have for most hard core gamers.

Gamers who wanted the ultimate gaming rig usually sought Creative Labs or Vortex 2 based solutions for their audio needs. Back then, Creative touted their EAX2 while Aureal had their A3D 2.0 algorithms for an immersive gaming experience. While Creative?s implementation pretty much sucked and didn?t add much, A3D 2.0 was a totally different animal. The differences A3D 2.0 made for gaming was noticeable, the audio and surround sound effects made gaming audio a pleasurable experience. For once, the audio in gaming was realistic and natural, compared to EAX2?s unnatural sound.

It was only 1999 or so when Aureal and Creative Labs were trying to eliminate each other in their fierce battle to win the crown of best audio card. Back then there were a plethora of manufacturers that were serious about sound cards, aside from Creative Labs. We had Creative Labs, Aureal themselves, Diamond Multimedia, Turtle Beach, Video Logic, Terratec, Xitel, and Guillemot. Somewhere in between the Creative and Aureal battle, we had Yamaha; with their budget oriented DSP?s that was an OEM favorite and budget favorite as well. 

In late 2000, the battle between Creative and Aureal came to an end, with Creative winning. Aureal ran into financial problems and had to file bankruptcy, this move came as a shock, as Aureal clearly had the superior product. If the bankruptcy of Aureal wasn?t enough, Creative acquired all of Aureal assets. This left various sound card manufacturers dumbfounded on whom to go to for a DSP.

Diamond Multimedia opted for ESS Technology?s Canyon 3D for their MX400, the supposed successor of their renowned Vortex 2 based MX300. This didn?t fair too well, as both companies are no longer in the PC audio business. Diamond Audio, once holding the crown for the most desirable sound card on the market, released a pathetic attempt. Sure the ESS Canyon 3D looked good on paper, but that?s all it was good at. Thanks to poor driver support, or lack of driver support from ESS, the MX400 was plagued with various bugs that forced gamers to seek elsewhere for a competent gaming card.

Shortly after the Aureal acquisition, Turtle Beach and Hercules sought help from Cirrus Logic for a high end DSP. In turn, Cirrus Logic provided both companies with the CS4630 DSP. The DSP allowed 6 channels of audio output and MP3 hardware decoding. Out of the two touted features, only one was worth a damn. I don?t think I have to even say which feature that was, as MP3 hardware decoding was eventually removed from drivers. Turtle Beach once again rose to fame with their Santa Cruz, which some of our staff members are still using, and Hercules with their SB Live Platinum competitor, the Game Theater XP. Somewhere along the line came Philips with their VLSI Thunderbird Avenger based Acoustic Edge 5.1. Six channel audio appeared to be the direction the PC audio industry was heading, thus Creative Labs followed suit with their SB Live 5.1.

Eventually, all hell broke loose and we now face the aftermath. Cirrus Logic eventually laid off their driver development team, leaving Turtle Beach and Hercules with no reference drivers, and afterwards, the CS4630 and CS4624 were discontinued. Philips, while they had a solid competitor that produced great sound, had driver problems that forced Windows XP users to find another solution. Eventually the Philips Acoustic Edge was discontinued. Turtle Beach left fans bone dry for a few years with nothing but the Santa Cruz, while Hercules rehashed old products with 7.1 audio support and tried to market it to consumers who think more audio channels are better.

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• Add in Boards... (1 of 3)
• Integrated audio... (2 of 3)
• Conclusion... (3 of 3)