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CREATIVE LABS
Sound Blaster Live! TechInfo Review Extension
I created this page due to the immense amout of user feedback I was receiving. It will be updated periodically with content from e-mail messages, newgroups and our message board.
Digital CD Audio Update 98.8.16
It has been confirmed that Creative Labs will release a fix for the digital CD audio input bug within 10 days.
Here are some key e-mails I have received with the recent posting of the Live! review which addresses some frequently asked question.
I don't think you use the 2 pin audio cable they supplied like that. if you look at the red leftlet they provided properly, it's applies to PC-DVD Encore 2 only; or rather to an external CD-ROM drive. You still have to use the 4 pin cable for the internal CD ROM drive. Maybe you should re-read the red leftlet again? Hope that helps.
LeeThe announcement of a forthcoming fix obviously contradicts this. As I recall from the Live! sneek peek over a month ago, the 2-wire cable was indeed to be used with any CD-ROM drive with this type of connector. It is supposed to allow faster digital audio extraction (useful for ripping tracks for mp3s on a slower CD-ROM drive) and the ability to input raw digital CD audio to the live.
A3D Comparison
Awsome LIVE review...
You mentioned the improvement when used with the LIVE card. What are you compare that to though? My main interest is that does it handles current games, that only support A3D and not D3D, better then another A3D card such as the MX200.
KenGood question. I was comparing it to my old Monster Sound M80 with the A3D technology. As far as 3D sound, EAX is much better. It features an open API that doesn't rely heavily on the physics and geometrics of a given environment, rather, addressing what we would like to, and enjoy hearing. The Live! can only support A3D though DirectSound3D which almost everything now supports.
Digital CD Audio
It seems that I am not the only one experiencing problems with the digital CD audio input.
Hi!
Great review. I just got my SB LIVE two days ago and I think it rocks. But, one problem I had was when I connected my Digital cable for CD audio from my Samsung 32x CD to the digital input on the card, the music sorta played but, it would fade in and out every second or 2. So I got worried that it was the card. I changed it back to analog cd cable and it played fine. So don't know why this happens? If you have anymore info, let me know if you can.
PS Maybe the cdrom drive has to do with an incompatiblity problem?
Mike
I was having a similar problem; my system would hang on occasion. The following e-mail may shed a light of hope.
Great stuff man, we should have talked at the party :)
I don't know if you have been following the SB Live newsgroups, but I saw this:
It was mentioned on a different news group, and replied to by Mr. Chris Owens, but I am having trouble getting music to play through the digital CD connector, as opposed to using to the Analog CD Audio connector.Mr. Owens did say there was a patch forthcoming to fix a problem with the SP/DIF. Will this also fix the digital CD connector problem?
Steven Tellman
Only time will tell. I certainly do want to see the advantages of using this digital CD audio input. I'm assuming that the CD audio will be even cleaner since the only A/D conversion that would occur would be at the output level with the speakers.
S/PDIF
Apparently some users are not able to record via S/PDIF input. Forthcoming fix will be announced as soon as it is released.
DOS Compatibility
I installed Grand Theft Auto, of which the 3Dfx version is DOS-based. I could not get the audio to work. I believe this is due to the fact that it relies on the "SET" variable on startup which you can manually configure through a shortcut. I was surprised to see that it wasn't automatically inserted by installation.