News

Following Apple Computer's lead in bringing high-resolution audio to the computing environment, Creative Technology announced last week several audio products intended to facilitate DVD-Audio playback via personal computer. The company is also offering suggestions for making a PC quiet enough for use in a dedictated listening system.

At a press conference in Singapore, the company unveiled its new Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound cards, which Creative claims will allow the millions of PC users who have DVD-ROM drives on their PCs to decode DVD-Audio discs at sample rates up to 24-bit/192kHz. Creative says the Audigy 2 supports both two-channel and 5.1 DVD-Audio formats and delivers 106dB SNR.

Warner Music Group's Paul Vidich comments, "With Creative's introduction of the Audigy 2, DVD-Audio has achieved another important milestone. Consumers are experiencing the full sonic power of DVD-A on home stereos, in cars and now, on the PC."

In addition to high-rez playback, Creative says that the Audigy 2 enables multichannel recording at 24-bit/96kHz and also offers 16-bit/48kHz multi-channel low-latency ASIO support. Along with the line-level audio inputs/outputs, the Audigy 2 adds a FireWire port to the PC to transfer audio files at up to 400Mbps.

Creative anticipates that the Audigy 2 will hit retailer shelves in October with an estimated street price of US$129.99, or $199.99 for a "Platinum" version.

During the Singapore launch of its sound card, Creative also showcased a very quiet PC casing and power supply with an integrated liquid-cooling system. The company explains that these individual ultra-quiet components are essential to build a "very quiet" PC—especially important for the fussy audiophile market segment that the new card is targeted towards.

The ultra-quiet components are being trial marketed by Creative under the "SLiX" brand. "The SLiX ultra-quiet component concept is a way we hope to show the PC builders and system integrators how to build a very quiet PC, which would be very important for the PC's move into the living room as an entertainment device," says the company.

All is not rosy for music fans with the new sound cards however. Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation points out that the new cards have Digital Rights Management built right in, restricting how users can manipulate the digital data decoded by the Audigy. "With Hollywood demanding ever more restrictive 'copy protection' in all kinds of digital devices, consumers today have to be vigilant, lest that new digital upgrade turn out to be a downgrade," says von Lohman. "Don't throw out those old Windows 98 computers and sound cards -- you may have a hard time buying anything as flexible in the future."