High Definition Audio made its public debut with the launch of Intel?s 925X/915G/P chipsets in the middle of June. At launch time, we weren?t quite ready with our HD Audio article, as we ran into a few quirks that didn?t get resolved until post launch. After a few delays and multiple projects going on here and there, we?re finally ready to give our thoughts on Intel?s new integrated audio standard.

Earlier last month we conducted an interview with Intel?s Thomas Loza regarding High Definition Audio, formerly known as Azalia. At the time, High Definition Audio seemed like a savior for onboard audio, as it promised 32 bit/192 KHz audio output capabilities. For those that missed the interview, it can be found here. When we conducted the interview, HDA looked to be quite an improvement from the AC?97 onboard audio we?ve become accustomed to.

Just in case you don?t remember what High Definition Audio was, it?s Intel?s evolution of AC?97 that promises 7.1 channel audio output, Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Digital Live, 32 bit/192 KHz audio output, and an overall better audio experience for PC users. Now that HDA is available on shipping boards, its time to see if Intel truly delivered their promises.

Drivers...

Universal Audio Architecture (UAA)

High Definition Audio is the first audio solution to be supported by Microsoft?s Universal Audio Architecture. UAA is a generic audio driver that is designed to support all audio devices under Microsoft Windows codenamed ?Longhorn.? According to Microsoft documents I came across, UAA will support at least two channels of 24 bit/96 KHz recording and playback and 5.1 Surround Sound if the hardware supports it. Microsoft also promises UAA will simplify installation as the OS will automatically detect and install hardware, performance advantages as the drivers are designed to consume minimal CPU cycles, glitch-free audio, and security for protected content.

Essentially UAA allows MS to force everyone to have DRM on sound cards, which can either be a good or bad thing. The benefits would be that we might finally be able to experience high resolution DVD Audio tracks, the negative is we might not be able to play DRM encoded tracks.

Now the big question is if UAA is designed strictly for Windows Longhorn, why am I talking about an unreleased OS. Since HDA was designed with Longhorn in mind, Intel had to make UAA work in Windows XP.

To provide support for an early version of UAA, Windows has to be patched with a High Definition Audio Driver Package. The package doesn?t come native with SP2 either and is installed independently by the driver. Sadly the link for Support Information on the HDA driver package is nowhere to be found on MS?s site. This shows that UAA is in its early stages and isn?t truly ready Windows XP, as it was designed for Longhorn.

From our testing, the drivers had a very annoying glitch. After playing music in Foobar2000 and Windows Media Player, the system would just come to a pause and tweak out and the audio would just start skipping and repeat a short portion of the song. This continues to happen when DIVX movies are playing in WMP as well. After speaking with a few industry engineers, it?s quite apparent that UAA isn?t quite ready for primetime yet.  

Realtek Drivers

In this implementation of HDA there are two set of control panels. Realtek has provided their own drivers for the codec that somewhat complies with Microsoft?s UAA. In addition to the Realtek drivers, Intel has also bundled their own Audio Studio that features Sonic Focus technology.

Unlike the dull ALC650 control panel, Realtek as added some color and tried to make their ALC880 control panel look nicer. The first tab reveals Environmental effects that simply make the audio sound worst and a 10 band graphic equalizer for those that like to fine tune their audio. For Intel?s implementation, there?s no need to adjust the EQ as Intel?s Audio Studio handles all of that.

The second panel reveals what?s connected to what port and allows you to choose your speaker type. Before plugging in speakers, I?d suggest choosing the speaker type before running the audio wizard.

No control panel would be complete without some kind of loopy music surround sound testing thingy.

Lastly is the SPDIF Out control panel. Here you can choose to enable SPDIF and select the sampling rate.

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• Codec, output... (1 of 5)
• Drivers... (2 of 5)
• Intel Audio Studio, Jack Sensing... (3 of 5)
• Dolby Digital Live, Rightmark... (4 of 5)
• Conclusion... (5 of 5)