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DVD / Home Theater "Aptitude" Test

Since the Aureon 5.1 Sky used the Envy24HomeTheater chip, I expected strong DVD performance and I was not disappointed. In order to use the optical output to send a DVD soundtrack, I used the Aureon control panel to enable SPDIF output, and set SPDIF source to "Wave". I then compared the digital output (with Dolby Digital decoding done by the receiver) with 5.1 analog output (with decoding done by the system). Playback with the digital output was about 15 dB louder than analog. That was about the only difference I could hear. Footsteps, dialog, slinking goblins, arrows flying toward that characters; everything was clear both ways. The Aureon did as well as the Yamaha receiver.

A different angle of the Aureon 5.1 Sky.

Terratec claims the Aureon 5.1 Sky supports EAX 1.0 and 2.0, but with the Unreal Tournament 2003 demo, I could only use software surround. The demo would not let me enable hardware surround with EAX. In addition to listening tests, I used the Aureon in my main system for a while, with updated drivers dated Feb 10, 2003. Civilization 3 sounded amazing until the sound started stuttering and getting scratchy. The opening cutscene of Splinter Cell sounded horrible, like a tape played at 1/4 speed. I couldn't understand a word until I got to the regular gameplay screen. I used the Windows Control Panel to reduce the hardware sound acceleration and it helped with Splinter Cell, but the problems with Civ3 persisted. I finally took the Aureon of the system. The Envy24HT drivers need a lot of work for gaming.

Analog Recording / Vinyl Archiving

One of the strengths of the Aureon is its high sampling rate, which allows higher quality recording than most sound cards. Using WaveLab Lite under Windows 2000 SP3, 16 bit recording and playback works up to 96 KHz. 16bit/192KHz seemed to record, but would not play. There are two settings for 24 bit: 24 and 24 alt. Plain 24 did not work under W2K or Windows XP SP1. With W2K the 24 alt setting worked up to 96 KHz, but not at 192. With XP SP1 recording seemed to work at 16/192, but playback had the same slowed-down sound that troubled Splinter Cell. 24alt/192 works perfectly under XP SP1. I used 24alt/192 to record the Weezer and Van Morrison tracks, and I don't think I could tell the recording from the vinyl source. For somebody wanting to digitally archive their precious LP's, this is the way to go. The only disadvantage is that a 24bit/192 KHz recording eats up about 1.1 MB for each second of sound. A 45 minute record would require around 3 GB of space. Sounds to me like a good use for a DVD recorder.

Signal-To-Noise ... Oops I Blew My Speakers

In the signal-to-noise test, the Aureon was completely silent up to -24.5 dB. At -24 dB a high pitched tone started. With every change of volume, the frequency of the tone would change. At -18 dB the receiver shut off; the tweeters in my front HLS610's had blown. After dropping them off to be repaired, I rotated the HLS610's from my rear channels to the front, and swapped the American Acoustics 2550E's in for the surrounds.

The Envy24HT was designed for professional use and it needs to be adapted for mainstream consumption. This is quite apparent in the gaming results and hopefully Via will pursue aggressive driver development to bring the chip up to the expected level of performance. Apart from that flaw, the actual sound of the Aureon 5.1 Sky is beautiful. Its professional lineage is apparent in the Aureon's recording ability. I would highly recommend this card for a home theater PC, as long as games aren't a priority. CD playback edged out the impressive AX4GE Tube, but I'd be concerned if a high-quality sound card could not measure up to a motherboard's integrated audio.

So What's Next?

Speaking of integrated audio, the nForce2 MCP-T is out to change the idea that "Yeah, the onboard sound is OK, but if you're serious you'll get a separate sound card". How does it compare to the Audigy2? Is the Aureon Sky 7.1 going to be better than the Sky 5.1? And what about the Cirrus Logic sound chips that are on so many different cards? We'll see how they compare to each other, and to the two samples here, in the second installment of this review.

Next Page:    => Stay Tuned for Part 2 =>