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My Soundstorm Review

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grunjee

Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2001
Location
Tri-Cities, Washington
Before I bought my current board (Abit NF7-S rev. 2) I tried doing some research on the Soundstorm. Didn't find much here on OC forums or on the web. The majority of what I did find seemed to say it's good quality audio, even comparable to the Audigy(1 or 2). So I'm starting this thread for others who might be wondering as to the quality of the sound.

My opinion is that the sound quality is mediocre compared to my Audigy2. I watched some DVDs and played some games. The sound was just "flat", seemed hollow and just lacking in richness.

For the recordI have the z680's which are damn good speakers IMO. And this board is one of the few which are "Soundstorm Certified" according to a list I saw.

So I plugged in the Audigy and I'm much happier. And I won't be using the Soundstorm ever again unless my Audigy dies.
 
seems fine to me, although there are some issues when the sb gets too hot, sound starts crackeling in some games...
 
The soundstorm is only comparable to the SB A2 when you use the digital output on the mobo and hook it up to a receiver.
 
Bman1238 said:
The soundstorm is only comparable to the SB A2 when you use the digital output on the mobo and hook it up to a receiver.

I would like to believe that, but I've heard a lot of people say that there is little if any difference in sound quality when it comes to analog vs. digital.
 
Has to go through a realtek thingee for analog. So while analog to digital may not be so bad, this application of it may not be so swell. I too have heard this suggested.
 
The 680's have a AC3 input do they not? Why not try using the digital out into the 680's

BTW, soundstorm is a marketing certification, not the name of the NVidia sound product. The sound processor in the chipset is called the NForce APU.

The NForce APU is consistently judged to be better the Live 5.1, about equal to Audigy, and not quite as good as Audigy2.

Paul.
 
grunjee said:


Ooops... what a noob (me). :(

Don't feel bad, it's the most common nForce audio misconception, and having answered many of the same questions for a week or so, I'm kinda touchy.

I think I'm working on a FAQ, I'm basicly covering a bunch of my posts here and other places about nForce audio and Soundstorm.

Like the fact that if you turn Dolby Surround ON, it forces all output to be encoded into an analog Dolby surround signal, and outputs it thru the front (line out) jack only, the other jacks are dead.

This is handy if you have an older (analog ) Dolby surround reciver, or want to use headphones for a while.

Paul.
 
grunjee said:


I would like to believe that, but I've heard a lot of people say that there is little if any difference in sound quality when it comes to analog vs. digital.

I speak from personal experience that nForce's DD 5.1 upconversion on my A7N8X-DX is incredible. With the right equalizer settings, a 2 channel source would fill the room with surround richness, especially the bass which is clearly enhanced. This, as far as I know, requires a digital connection to a digital receiver.
 
yeah... i heard that the soundstorm chip is related to the one in the x-box and the downside to them is to get the high quality sound you need an external digital decoder as well as speakers that have digital input. I would advise the audigy 2 as it's much better then soundstorm any way you cut it.
 
Kind of disappointing then... well I guess it's still much better than the other onboard sound options usually included on mainboards.
 
Have you done any benchmarks comparing sys performance using onboard vs a card? Thats what I'd like to see.

peace.
unloaded
 
sound quality is 90% opinion. as far as the paper work goes they are even. in my opinion the audigy i have sounds better than my neighbors A7N8X's on board. if you're looking to free a PCI slot the soundstorm is a good peice but if you want bleeding edge quality neither soundstorm nor creative are where you should look.
 
Nvidia Lost Some Parts Along The Way

I've been ripping albums with the NF7-S. There is no independent bass and treble control. To boost the bass and the treble you have to utilize the equalizer. In the process of boosting the bass and treble I lose other frequencies.

For example, Filter - Hey Man Nice Shot - the vocalist is not singing too loud, but when you alter the frequency so you achieve that boost in bass and treble and the singer steps into the background.

For some reason the controller produces an empty sound...sort of tinny. I may not be using the right word, the sound is missing something.

The record volume is lacking. While using Dart Pro to rip an album, I can't seem to get the record level as high as I'd like it to go.

I'm frustrated. I feel I will have to pickup Audigy.
 
It's no matter. I'm dealing with it. I record on Soundstorm and playback on SB Live Plat.
 
hey grunjee, go buy a $20 optical cable and hook up your z-680's with that to you nf7-s and try it. I couln't say that my audigy was better once I hooked up the z-680's optically to my nf7-s. All I can say is that it is alot better than analog or coaxial digital. let me know what you think. I am interested becouse I am comparing and audigy gamer to the nf7-s and I think the nf7-s rules, and the optical made it that much better. Not hooking them up optically is stepping back a few years in sound quality.
 
New B....
AMD Barton [email protected] 204x10.5 mf 100% mt 4 3 3 2.5t
Asus A7N8X Del Antec power plus1080case 5 x80cm fans 3out 2 in
LG dvdrom-cdrw (48x24x48)
WD 120 caviar
Maxtor 60
What do you think???
 
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