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Introduction and Specifications |
Most people will be familiar with Best Data because they
have been a well known name in the PC/Mac modem market, but as far as
other products go, most people would not even think of Best Data when
buying a 3D video card, MP3 player or sound card. The fact of the matter is
that Best Data does make other great peripherals at a great price.
Currently, they have a good line of home networking products and modems
and have recently added a TNT2 video card and PCI sound card to their
arsenal.
The PCI sound card they offer is called the Theatrix. The card
is based on Forte Media's FM801-AS multi-channel PCI chip and touts some
other very interesting features which we will take a look at in this
review, here is a list of its features:
- Fully compliant with high quality
industry standard AC'97 ver. 2.1
- PCI 2.2 bus master controller with
full scatter-and-gathering function
- 2, 4 or 6 full Sound Channels
(Connect 5 Speakers And a Subwoofer)
- YAMAHA 128 Voice Software WaveTable
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Multi-Channel
Sound
- Supports A3D 1.x and EAX through
QSound 2.0 API
- Native DOS Game Compatibility
Without Software Emulation
- Built-in FM synthesis for AdLib
compatibility
- Built-in SRC (sampling rate
converter) and digital mixer
- Analog/Digital Joystick port
(DirectInput Support)
- MPU-401 port
- I2S ports and S/PDIF digital output
port
- ACPI, PME, and PCI CLKRUN power
management
- HSP dynamic 3D positional audio
support
- DOS/WinNT/Win9X WDM drivers
- 3.3V with 5V tolerance
- 1 Year Limited Warranty
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The specs are pretty decent, most of the features are
pretty much standard other than the Dolby Digital 5.1 support.
This is perhaps the most intriguing feature of this board and we'll take
a look at just how well it works with our 5.1 speaker system from
Skywell. It should be noted that the board does not have an actual DD
5.1 decoder but it can output the 5.1 channels of audio from a Software
DVD player. So in essence, the software DVD player decodes the
audio and sends it directly to the chip which directs the channels to
the appropriate speakers.
Most of the cards special features such as the 128 Voice
Wavetable, DD 5.1 and A3D/EAX are not fully accelerated in hardware, but
actually helped by software which is why the cost of the card is quite
low. The QSound system that ships with
this card provides the A3D/EAX emulation capabilities while the 128
Voice Wavetable is achieved by Yamaha's XG50 software.
Next Page: What's
In The Box/Installation/Testing
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