Creative Labs X-Fi (page 9: 3D sound & Benchmark)

3D sound & Benchmark

Theoretically, Creative labs products in the Audigy 2Z and 4 Pro line reached the minimum processor use that a sound card could achieve under DirectSound3D. We obtained the lowest rate and DS3D architecture cannot really go any lower. To promote and continue the life of this architecture with the release of Vista (and the uncertainty that goes along with it) Creative has equipped the X-Fi with a couple of extras:

EAX support is still included up to the 5.0 version, in addition to DS3D support, but with the X-Fi it will be OpenAL, giving us the possibility to go even further. Just for your information, the EAX 5.0 is an evolution of the 3.0 and 4.0 version. With this newer version it´s possible to support up to 1280 processed and positioned voices in addition to X-Ram support.

OpenAL is an API, which is supposed to become the equivalent to OpenGL in the audio world. It provides a function library and language close to the C++, giving the possibility to use DSP or chip audio functions to play, position a sound and apply effects. Above all, the specificity is to be all multi-platform and to be used in the same way with a computer under Windows or Linux, a Mac, or any other device compatible with this language. This is the case of the Microsoft Xbox, Sony PS2 or Nintendo GameCube, amongst others. Supported for once by Creative Labs this API function is independently in relation to DirectX.

It´s currently used intensively with Apple and Linux platforms, but doesn’t have a great success with Windows because of the omnipresent DirectX due to DirectSound 2D and 3D modules. Games, however, sometimes have an audio part coded in OpenAL, which is the case for all games based on the Unreal Engine like Unreal Tournament 2004 or even Jedi Knight II. For computers, the only peripherals that are OpenAL compatible are cards in the Audigy line and the late NVIDIA APU SoundStorm. It´s possible that in the future OpenAL might become more important because of choices made by Microsoft for Vista. In order to preserve its market, it´s in Creative Labs’ to promote an alternative to upcoming DirectX solutions. This is the role of OpenAL.

Up until today, the Audigy could work under OpenAL but didn’t provide any satisfactory results compared DirectSound 3D. The quality is there, but performances are largely inferior. So for the moment there is no interest in using OpenAL. The X-Fi possesses a more efficient standard OpenAL driver and consequently provides worthy performances. We verified this with UT 2004 :

In the future, if developers work with OpenAL and use the advantages of X-Fi architecture (especially with X-RAM possibilities), the best way to have good 3D sound with a minimum impact on performance could be to use OpenAL. Only the future will answer this question.

We also made several tests with RightMark 3DSound v 2.0. We however kept algorithms of the 1.24 version to keep and compare results of OpenAL tests (only available with the version 2.0) with DS3D’s.

We see that gains brought by OpenAL and X-Fi drivers are significant when the number of buffers used is increased. Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro and Audigy 4 Pro cards are neck to neck until 32 voice but the gap increases beyond.

For DS3D, performances haven’t changed very much as this table shows:

X-Fi is much more at ease, however, as soon as we reach 32 and especially 64 voices. With 64 voices, Audigy card CPU-use began to noticeably increase. We also verified the low impact on performance of 127 voices. A good point for the X-Fi.

In practice, results observed under Dungeon Siege 2´s demo and Battlefield 2 confirm those observed in the RightMark 3DS benchmark. We noticed no gap between the Audigy 4 Pro and X-Fi in DirectSound 3D mode. On the other hand, the superiority of these graphic cards compared to the Realtek HDA chipset is clear. We tested the « X-Fi » mode available via BF2 in the audio options. There was a higher number of available voices and it uses the OpenAL driver provided by Electronics Art. You can change this OpenAL driver to a more recent one, but the price is a certain instability. In the game, we noticed an undiminished sound quality and performances slightly increased. We will have to verify this with other games. A specific X-Fi patch developed for X-RAM will be available soon for UT2004 and we will include it as soon as it´s available.