Genius Sound Maker Live 5.1
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Genius Sound Maker Live 5.1
Ce parere aveti de aceasta placa?La pretul ei exista alta placa mai buna?
Am avut o astfel de placa timp de o saptamana si am fost fortat sa o cand la jumatate de pret pentru ca nu mai suportam ce sunet infect scotea.Avea o multime de bu-uri in jocuri si mp3-urile se auzeau foarte nasol.Cred ca mai proasta alegere nu exista.Te sfatuies sa mai strangi niste bani si iti iei un live la sh.Daca vrei iti vand eu unul cu 1 mil.
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Sir_KnupSkull
- Posts: 856
- Joined: Thu Dec 05, 2002 1:12 am
Mai bine iti cumperi un Creative Audigy, sau dai 400.000 LEI si iti iei o YAMAHA 744 care se aude foarte clar pentru acest pret.
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Thermaltake Volcano 7+(40 grade full load)
Gigabyte 7NNXP/ Bios F15 MODAT
2x256 Kingmax@7/3/3/2.5(380mhz)
GF4 Ti4200/AGP8x/128mb 3.6ns
HDD IBM 82.2GB 120GXP
Teac DW-548D & Teac CD-552E
Genius Sound Maker Live 5.1 sound card
By Maxim Lyadov
Today we are dealing with Sound Maker Live 5.1 sound card produced by KYE Systems under the Genius trademark ( http://www.geniusnet.com.tw ). The card is equipped with ForteMedia FM801 sound chip and a pair of AC'97 codecs from Sigmatel. A distinguishing feature of the card lies in the fact that you can create a home theater on a PC base with minimal money invested. You just need a 5.1 set of active acoustic system (e.g. Set 5.1 Genius SW-5.1 Surround) in order to get a normal 5.1 sound at $100 (totally for the card and acoustic system). And with decrease of prices for DVD-ROM drives and DVD video discs for the last year you can turn your computer into a modern entertainment center.
Briefly on the product
The main feature is 6 analog linear outputs which are intended for output a decoded audio stream Dolby Digital 5.1 (the most popular format of asound track for DVD movies) by any appropriate soft DVD player. The complete set contains
a licensed version of PowerDVD Pro 6 (note that there is also a card version without a DVD player!). The Genius Sound Maker Live 5.1 has no any digital in- or outputs. That's why in order to connect 5.1 sets of acoustic system you will need only those receivers and amps which have 6 analog inputs. Apart from it there is a possibility of connecting headphones, stereo and 4-channel sets since such modes are supported in settings. The Genius Sound Maker Live 5.1 is compatible with main 3D sound APIs in games, A3D 1.0 and EAX 1.0 by QSound algorithms at the drivers level. To get a proper benefit from the card I recommend you to use a modern processor and sufficient size of RAM.
The heart of the Genius Sound Maker Live 5.1 is a digital controller ForteMedia FM801 which was described in the article on ABIT AU10 sound card.
Complete set
A colorful retail-package includes:
PCI sound card
9-pin (G9) cable with 3 audio female minijacks
a detailed printed user's manual
a proprietary installation CD:
drivers for Win9X, WinNT 4.0, Win2000
soft XG wavetable synthesizer Yamaha S-YXG50
different demo programs of Q3D technology
Media@Show program for creation of modern presentations
an audio utility EzAudio which is standard for cards on ForteMedia
soft PowerDVD Pro 6 (v2.55) player with 6 speakers support
Installation
Q3D version is 2.03 (in the lately published review on ABIT AU10 sound card drivers were of 2.05D version). Unfortunately, ForteMedia doesn't display reference drivers for downloading on their site, and Genius doesn't release an updated version for drivers for Sound Maker Live 5.1.
Test system:
processor: Intel PIII-733 (133X5.5) Coppermine
RAM 128 MBytes
video card: GeForce2MX
Sound card: SB Live! Value (EMU10K), S/PDIF digital interface
sound card: Aureal SQ Digital (AU8830), Toslink digital interface
After installation the System has received the following devices:
Connection
For connection of 5.1 acoustic set you will need 3 stereo cables with minijacks on the ends (they are usually supplied with speakers). The cables are connected to an adapter, which is included in the complete set, and to an amplifier or a receiver. I liked the idea of marking output connectors with special labels.
Audiotrack parameters measurement
The Sound Maker Live 5.1 card has two AC'97 codecs: a dual-channel SigmaTel STAC9721 and a 4-channel SigmaTel STAC9708. They are time-proved chips which were installed on such popular sound cards as SB Live!, SB Live!5.1, Aureal Vortex2. However, comparing an analog part of our card with these models you can easily notice some difference: developers have saved on capacitors and power supply stabilizers. Let's see how much it influenced the characteristics of this board.
The measurement procedure is given separately.
Test type Measured parameter Reference SBLive! Value rear Genius SM5.1 front
External loopback
48 KHz -> 48 KHz
1000Hz@-3 dB signal/noise
the more the better 90 dB 82 dB 77 dB
distortions
the less the better 0,0001% 0,004% 0,003%
distortions+noise
the less the better 0,003% 0,008% 0,013%
By Maxim Lyadov
Today we are dealing with Sound Maker Live 5.1 sound card produced by KYE Systems under the Genius trademark ( http://www.geniusnet.com.tw ). The card is equipped with ForteMedia FM801 sound chip and a pair of AC'97 codecs from Sigmatel. A distinguishing feature of the card lies in the fact that you can create a home theater on a PC base with minimal money invested. You just need a 5.1 set of active acoustic system (e.g. Set 5.1 Genius SW-5.1 Surround) in order to get a normal 5.1 sound at $100 (totally for the card and acoustic system). And with decrease of prices for DVD-ROM drives and DVD video discs for the last year you can turn your computer into a modern entertainment center.
Briefly on the product
The main feature is 6 analog linear outputs which are intended for output a decoded audio stream Dolby Digital 5.1 (the most popular format of asound track for DVD movies) by any appropriate soft DVD player. The complete set contains
a licensed version of PowerDVD Pro 6 (note that there is also a card version without a DVD player!). The Genius Sound Maker Live 5.1 has no any digital in- or outputs. That's why in order to connect 5.1 sets of acoustic system you will need only those receivers and amps which have 6 analog inputs. Apart from it there is a possibility of connecting headphones, stereo and 4-channel sets since such modes are supported in settings. The Genius Sound Maker Live 5.1 is compatible with main 3D sound APIs in games, A3D 1.0 and EAX 1.0 by QSound algorithms at the drivers level. To get a proper benefit from the card I recommend you to use a modern processor and sufficient size of RAM.
The heart of the Genius Sound Maker Live 5.1 is a digital controller ForteMedia FM801 which was described in the article on ABIT AU10 sound card.
Complete set
A colorful retail-package includes:
PCI sound card
9-pin (G9) cable with 3 audio female minijacks
a detailed printed user's manual
a proprietary installation CD:
drivers for Win9X, WinNT 4.0, Win2000
soft XG wavetable synthesizer Yamaha S-YXG50
different demo programs of Q3D technology
Media@Show program for creation of modern presentations
an audio utility EzAudio which is standard for cards on ForteMedia
soft PowerDVD Pro 6 (v2.55) player with 6 speakers support
Installation
Q3D version is 2.03 (in the lately published review on ABIT AU10 sound card drivers were of 2.05D version). Unfortunately, ForteMedia doesn't display reference drivers for downloading on their site, and Genius doesn't release an updated version for drivers for Sound Maker Live 5.1.
Test system:
processor: Intel PIII-733 (133X5.5) Coppermine
RAM 128 MBytes
video card: GeForce2MX
Sound card: SB Live! Value (EMU10K), S/PDIF digital interface
sound card: Aureal SQ Digital (AU8830), Toslink digital interface
After installation the System has received the following devices:
Connection
For connection of 5.1 acoustic set you will need 3 stereo cables with minijacks on the ends (they are usually supplied with speakers). The cables are connected to an adapter, which is included in the complete set, and to an amplifier or a receiver. I liked the idea of marking output connectors with special labels.
Audiotrack parameters measurement
The Sound Maker Live 5.1 card has two AC'97 codecs: a dual-channel SigmaTel STAC9721 and a 4-channel SigmaTel STAC9708. They are time-proved chips which were installed on such popular sound cards as SB Live!, SB Live!5.1, Aureal Vortex2. However, comparing an analog part of our card with these models you can easily notice some difference: developers have saved on capacitors and power supply stabilizers. Let's see how much it influenced the characteristics of this board.
The measurement procedure is given separately.
Test type Measured parameter Reference SBLive! Value rear Genius SM5.1 front
External loopback
48 KHz -> 48 KHz
1000Hz@-3 dB signal/noise
the more the better 90 dB 82 dB 77 dB
distortions
the less the better 0,0001% 0,004% 0,003%
distortions+noise
the less the better 0,003% 0,008% 0,013%
