Conclusion

Auzentech has come up with a highly interesting product that combines extensive gaming capabilities with superb music playback quality. Perhaps today it is the most “musical” sound source for the PC, yet a number of drawbacks limit its possible applications. For example, the lack of a speaker positioning option makes you use the appropriate option of the receiver, which negates the quality of the analog outputs. I also don’t comprehend the purpose of the headphones output without an integrated amplifier. And finally, the card doesn’t suit for recording music as it has too few inputs, lacks a native MIDI interface, and has problems with digitization quality. Thus, the audience for this product is limited to audiophiles who prefer listening music from the PC.

Highs:

• Superb audio quality on all the analog outputs
• Multi-channel audio can be encoded to the digital output
• Supports both coaxial and optical cables
• Audio ports of the PC case can be connected to the card
• Hardware support for EAX 5, DirectSound 3D and OpenAL
• High-quality optical cable in the kit

Lows:

• No sound adjustment depending on the positioning of the speakers
• Lack of bass control options in the Entertainment mode in Windows XP
• Cannot reproduce 192kHz DVD-Audio
• Multiple defects in the console of the Audio Creation mode
• No buffer for the headphones output
• Sloppy implementation of the ADC

The second run of mass production began in October. Perhaps it brings about some improvements to the card already. Hopefully, we will get a chnace to check it out soon.