To Auzentech Prelude from an X-Fi Fatal1ty?

[cantankerous]

Hey guys,

I have an original X-Fi Fatality that was bought on release date a couple years back. It is the one with 64MB of onboard memory, no heatsink, and it came with the front bay panel. I have been hearing a lot about this Auzentech Prelude lately that also uses the X-Fi chip so I don't have to lose out on anything that I currently have, unless I am wrong?

I am wondering if going from the Fatal1ty to the Prelude would be worth while in terms of performance and sound quality? I mainly want the card for gaming those occasional music listening is also happening.

Can the Prelude be used for gaming with the same performance and features that my current Fatal1ty card offers in terms of EAX, settings etc?

Can the same drivers be used?

Can my current front bay panel be used on the Auzentech?

If anyone has any info on this new card and how it compares or differs to my current card I would love to hear from you. The idea of switching out the opamps that I have been hearing about also sounds great if anyone can share info on that as well.

Thanks in advance for your time.

[apexracing]

I went from an X-Fi XMusic, which is essentially the same as yours, bar the front bay and useless X-RAM, to the Prelude. The improvement in sound quality is profound, you can tell the Prelude is a much better card from the start.

Gaming is exactly the same with it, except it sounds better.

Due to the design of the Prelude, the front bay from won't work with it, despite the pins being on the card.

Prelude has its own drivers, you can grab them from their website (www.auzentech.com).

[cantankerous]

Thanks for the info bud. Too bad about that bay not working. Why are the pins there then? Is it a hardware limitation or are they just disabling the use of that bay by some other means? Do they have their own bay as I really don't want to go without it for my headpones etc.

The sound quality improvement is nice sounding and as long as games work the same I will be quite happy.

BTW, does the Prelude contain the onboard RAM even if it is useless?

[apexracing]

I'm not sure what they'll do with the front bay connector pins, perhaps make their own bay in time. It does have the full 64mb X-RAM, but that only works in two or three games.

[cantankerous]

ok thanks again. I guess if they have no bay out as of now and the current one won't work it is a deal breaker for me. I really want to keep my bay. I was looking so forward to getting this too.

I appreciate your time in answering however.

[ROBSCIX]

There is front audio connector pin out on the card. So if your case has the headphones and Mic jack that many do these days you can use that for your Cans. Many have asked about the drive bay but Auzen said they are NOT compatible and trying to connect it would damage your card and/or the bay unit. The pin header is used for interfacing the current X-Tension Din board and the newer HDMI 1.3 X-tension board that isn't released yet.

[cantankerous]

Yea I read around some more on this myself and realized what you have already said. Unfortunately my case (TJ09) has one dinky 1/8" connector that I really don't trust it's sound quality to. I really like being able to plug in my native 1/4" headphones and have separate volume control right there at my finger tips.

[ROBSCIX]

You could always mod the case and add the large jack and a separate volume pot circuit. Not sure if your into the audio modding/electronics thing. Might not be worth the trouble to you. Many guys on this forum are using Preludes now so if you have further questions I am sure there are lots of answers for you. Good luck with your soundcard hunt.

[cantankerous]

Thanks again. Unfortunately I am not comfortable with modding and soldering. I will give it more though however. It is still on my mind to upgrade especially since I can swap the opamps. You are the one I enjoy reading posts from. You seem very knowledgeable on this matter.

[Donnie27]

Thanks again. Unfortunately I am not comfortable with modding and soldering. I will give it more though however. It is still on my mind to upgrade especially since I can swap the opamps. You are the one I enjoy reading posts from. You seem very knowledgeable on this matter.

He should be he works for Auzen, LOL! Only joking. You have to give up stuff for the slightly better sounding Prelude. I'm not so sure about profound but hey, each person is different. I got it for 7.1, gaming and recording. My Receiver (use for a computer sound system) didn't like the RCA Jumper adapter. If I were limited to ONE computer though, I would have RMA-ed mine and went back to the Xtreme Music with the Drive Bay.

Whats not being advertised or said that that XTension Board mentioned here is almost $60. It seems funny how many times the add-on is mentioned without divulging the price. A newer version with HDMI will cost even more according to at least two VARs NOT in Canada LOL! Also note that the X- Tension also has to be slightly modded. To his credit, Rob is a great help getting that done.

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