From owner-freebsd-multimedia Mon Dec 14 01:20:28 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id BAA00491 for freebsd-multimedia-outgoing; Mon, 14 Dec 1998 01:20:28 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from k6n1.znh.org (dialup6.gaffaneys.com [208.155.161.56]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id BAA00482 for ; Mon, 14 Dec 1998 01:20:21 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from zach@gaffaneys.com) Received: (from zach@localhost) by k6n1.znh.org (8.9.1/8.9.1) id JAA06213; Mon, 14 Dec 1998 09:16:49 GMT (envelope-from zach) Message-ID: <19981214031649.B5825@znh.org> Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 03:16:49 -0600 From: Zach Heilig To: Luigi Rizzo , David Kelly Cc: multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: SoundBlaster AWE 64 -- good choice? References: <199812140008.SAA60153@n4hhe.ampr.org> <199812140159.CAA03367@labinfo.iet.unipi.it> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.93.2i In-Reply-To: <199812140159.CAA03367@labinfo.iet.unipi.it>; from Luigi Rizzo on Mon, Dec 14, 1998 at 02:59:31AM +0100 Sender: owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Mon, Dec 14, 1998 at 02:59:31AM +0100, Luigi Rizzo wrote: > > Zach Heilig writes: > > It's ok, but definately not the best choice. I have one, and it is quite > > noisy (If lots of hiss doesn't bother you, it's a fair choice, just don't plan > > on getting good results when digitizing audio). I think I read that it barely > > has 40dB SNR. The regular soundblaster 16 has about 35dB SNR. Just about > I have a hard time believing it -- 35-40dB is terribly poor for any > standard. Are you sure you have read things right or perhaps those > values refer to only some modes e.g. 8-bit ? I lost the link to the review that stated that. When they tested, they digitized a sample, played it back, and compared the result to the original. Any difference was taken to be noise (distortion/etc). Just about every other card reviewed (except the very cheap cards) were far better in this respect. I sure wish I could find that page again. >From my not at all scientific experiments, The AWE 64 "value" is an extremely noisy card. For example, an MP3 converted to CD audio and played directly to the sound card has significantly more hiss (it sounds about the same as a cassette tape) than burning to a CD, and playing in the CD-ROM attached to the same sound card. When playing back something digitized with the card, the hiss is more like a dull roar. -- Zach Heilig (zach@gaffaneys.com) Our one strength was that our senior officers were more flexible than theirs... How's that? We can customize our colonels. [ Illiad in User Friendly, Dec. 1, 1998 ] To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-multimedia" in the body of the message