BloodRage add-on soundcard not bad at all?

[Mescalamba]

A long time ago I wrote some not so nice things about BloodRage add-on soundcard (Sonar X-Fi). Recent events (some problems with crackles and Auzentech Bravura) forced me to try it. I said to myself, well its better than nothing, right?

Well, its much better than nothing, if used properly.

"Properly" is that important word, so .. how to make it work really good?

First you need driver, preferably Sonar X-Fi Realtek driver Win7/XP x32/x64. Not sure I would tempt those Creative drivers that add ehm.. "EAX" functionality.

Then you need to configure what you will be using via that Realtek center, this is hopefuly last time you will see it.

Next you need to disable that Realtek center (might work without it, but it gived me just issues). So "Run - msconfig" (or Win button + R and "msconfig"), select Realtek HD Audio Manager under Startup tab and say bye bye to it (disable it).

Now restart is good thing to do.

After restart - Control Panel, Sound, and properties of your playing system (thats one with green check), then if you see Enhacements - click there and disable them after that Advanced tab and select appropriate number of channels and 192khz/24bit (as far as Im aware this thing can do 8x 192/24.. pretty impressive). Check both Exclusive modes checks. That should do it.

Now we need something to play music with.

Im normaly using uLilith (cause it sounds pretty good), but it doesnt work with Realtek in WASAPI mode so not this one. Ive used Foobar2K for long time before that, so Ive used it again.

Foobar2K Download Foobar2K, then we need WASAPI plugin WASAPI plugin which is put inside foobar2000 installation folder into "components" subfolder (where are all plugins). To get those nice 192/24 we need one more plugin SoX resampler for Foobar2K, Im using 0.7.6 and it works for me (install is same as with WASAPI plugin).

So now power up that Foobar thing, select what user view you like. File - Preferences - Playback - DSP manager - Resampler (SoX) move from right to active left - click on it and up is "Configure selected" - Target sample rate 192000 - Quality: Best - Passband 99% - Phase response is default 50%, leave or choose 0% (experiment if you wish). Then move to - Playback - Output and select WASAPI + thing you use for listening, in my case it was Headphones through Realtek. We need to choose shorter Buffer, so let it be 250 ms (Realtek should handle up to 500ms - 650ms is on verge of stability, but you really dont need more than 500ms), output can and should be 24-bit. Apply and restart Foobar2K.

Play and enjoy music, at least if you are using Win 7.


If you want something more for movies and you are using MPC-Home Cinema you can use WASAPI too. You need ReClock download and install. In Start menu or on Desktop you should have configuration shortcut for ReClock. Fire it up and set following PCM n Bitstream "WASAPI Exclusive", WASAPI exclusive set to whatever you use for listening music/watching movies (in my case Headphones on Highdef device/Realtek), sound pre-buffer as before 250ms, sampling rate as you wish - 192khz ofc works, but as format you must set 24 padded into 32bit or it wont work (but leaving it on "same as input" should, but no point in doing that if you set it on 192khz), you can enable "set matching speaker configuration" which will well, set sound to whatever will movie provide (2 in case it has stereo sound, 5.1 if it has 5.1 sound etc.). Kinda usefull for home theater sometimes, but you can leave it disabled. Thats all for ReClock configuration, just ok and start MPC-HC.

In MPC-HC - View - Options - Playback - Output - Audio Renderer - ReClock Audio Renderer. And thats it, now you can have 192/24bit for movies too.

MPC-HC has one special hidden feature. It has built-in FLAC plugin that sounds exceptionaly well, so if you wish, you can try it now for some FLAC music. I hate it for music, but it sounds really nice.


So I hope everything works well and you havent fried that poor thingie.

[Lord Trident]

nice one will give it try on my system

please you like the sound card i did like the design and wish they took it to another level

[Mescalamba]

nice one will give it try on my system

please you like the sound card i did like the design and wish they took it to another level

Yup kinda like it, plus its only soundcard I have at moment.

It could been better, but its good even as it is. Next time I would try something else than Creative, that brand causes more problems than use. And maybe dedicated headphones AMP with switchtable OP-AMPs? Ok, that might be too much for add-on soundcard, but its just idea.