A card to put Creative to shame.
Written: Dec 06 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: rock stable drivers, sound quality, very low price.
Cons: absolutely none
The Bottom Line: If you're interrested in beautifully clear sound from your PC, without all the stability issues of creative, this is it!
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| compu44's Full Review: Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card |
After being severely burned over forking over $200 for a soundblaster platinum live! that had problems from day one (popping, skipping, bluescreens) I wanted to look elsewhere. Looking at soundcards on newegg, I found the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. I snapped one up for about $55 (no software, drivers only).
I noticed what seemed to be a nice card upon opening the box. It seemed well made, completely covered in capacitors, and a beefy looking chip on it. And it had colored jacks on the back. Anyone else that ever had to hook up a soundblaster with every jack the same color knows how much of a pain that is.
After installing the card, I booted XP and it detected the hardware within seconds. I inserted the CD when prompted, and everything was loaded without a hitch. The drivers on the CD are rock stable, something that creative can't ever seem to pull off. The mixer that replaces the standard Windows mixer is well though out and gives the user a great deal of control, but through the intelligent layout, manages to do so without being overwhelming. Includes a 10-band graphic equilizer and capability for enviornment effects for those interrested in those things.
Now on to the true high point of the card: the sound quality. The quality of this card is nothing short of astounding. The clarity of mids and highs surpasses anything that Creative made up until the audigy series, and this card is several years old. The lows are deep and accurate. No distortion whatsoever. With a good pair of headphones or quality speakers, new nuiances in your music come out in a night-and-day comparison. The signal-to-noise ratio also seems quite good. I can run my amp up very high before I notice any noise out of the card. The output volume of this card into headphones is extremely good as well, but again, it does it without distortion or loss of fidelity.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 55
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Epinions.com ID:
compu44
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Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 0 members
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