SUMMARY: Sound Blaster. The name is synonymous with what is considered an industry standard for audio playback on the PC. Join Cameron "Mr. Tweak" Wilmot as he takes a look at the newest Creative sound solution to wear that name; the Sound Blaster Extigy. It uses the new Audigy sound chipset and creates an external sound experience that makes upgarding a breeze. Come join us as we see whether or not it can live up to the Sound Blaster reputation.
Sound and PC audio alike can often be overlooked as something which isn’t particularly important for those that don’t realize the stunning depth of quality we can obtain from our PC systems. People can often underestimate what is available on the retail market today. Depending on how serious you want to develop the multimedia aspect of your PC, you can spend anywhere between $100 and $2000 Australian on different kinds of setups from leading companies such as Creative, Hercules, Altec Lansing and Klipsch who have developed nice niche markets for themselves with some excellent products. And to be honest, if you have the money and you aren’t making the most of the stunning technology available to you, then you are missing out. Missing out big time on the audio excellence you could be experiencing from your PC, make it the entertainment center of your house, it is more than capable of the task with the right hardware. After experiencing such quality, you will never turn back to sub-standard sound cards and poor quality $20 speaker systems.
Using our PC systems, we can set up the ultimate in entertainment systems previously only available to regular stereo systems in the living room. Audio standards such as Dolby Digital 5.1, THX and CMSS can now be achieved through our PC systems at affordable prices. Soon enough we will all be designing our offices around the PC’s speaker system for optimal sound quality, instead of designing our offices around usability of the PC itself.
Now, we can play all the latest released movies using DVD technology (or the increasingly popular DivX standard which is a compressed and lower quality version of DVD) and play all the latest music downloadable on MP3s before they are even released on CD, at levels of quality not previously known to the PC industry a few years ago. Most new PC games being released support EAX, bringing the game to life with stunning 3D positioned sound making it feel like you are actually in the game, shooting down the bad guy.
Creative, one of the pioneers and market leaders in PC audio have released a cavalcade of PC sound cards and speaker systems for roughly 10 years now. Ranging all the way down from their ISA Sound Blaster to their new impressive Sound Blaster Live! and Audigy series of sound cards, they always seem to impress with every product they release. Just recently, Creative have released their first external sound card named the Extigy; an external version of the Audigy sound card seated in an impressive looking unit which produces the most amazing sound quality I have ever experienced in a home environment. Sit back in your seats as I take you on a tour of Creative’s new external sound card, the Extigy!
