My Sonic Fury review

[pbirkett]

Hi there,

I am just posting here to give my initial impressions of the Sonic Fury soundcard (Santa Cruz). I just received my card half an hour ago, and have just installed it and am listening to some music now.

Firstly, the card itself actually has Santa Cruz on it, so this is an identical card all right. The drivers for XP are 20Mb and took me 5 minutes to download. Quite a bit smaller than Liveware!

The installation was a breeze, except for my PC freezing after uninstalling the SB Live!

My initial impressions are that this sound card definetly sounds different to the SB Live. It seems to have a warmer, more refined sound, whereas the Soundblaster sounded cold, and at times, harsh, there doesnt seem to be much harshness with this card. I like a brighter sound than it ordinarily offers, so I boosted the high frequencies to a level I like, and then it sounded just right.

The bass is definetly tighter, maybe not quite as weighty as the Soundblaster, but the SB was muddy in comparison - I get the impression the Sonic Fury has higher quality bass.

Elsewhere, I get the impression of more detail with this card, it just seems to sound more natural, and I'm hearing bits of certain tunes that I never knew existed, and these are mp3s!

All in all, I feel at the moment like I'm adjusting from the sound of these two sound cards, because they do sound totally different, but overall so far, I am very happy with it.

Anyway, thanx to Gluegun and Roj for recommending it to me - there certainly is a difference, which I feel like I'm appreciating more by the minute!

I would say to anyone else who wants improved sound quality over the SB Live to go for one of these - if you have good speakers you wont regret it.

PS I've just noticed that Winamp now uses 0% CPU on this below machine, which means mp3 acceleration must be working well!

Paul

[Gluegun]

I'm glad you like it!! Yes, the SBLive does boost the bass a bit, whereas the santa cruz is more flat... unless you use the high quality hardware EQ, that is...

[pbirkett]

Yeah, I noticed the EQ, and boosted some of the frequencies to how I like it, and I must admit, it sounds really excellent, which is unusual for an EQ on equipment at this price.

[Gluegun]

Yea!! Ain't it great??

What are your speakers again?

[pbirkett]

Originally posted by Gluegun
Yea!! Ain't it great??

What are your speakers again?

Oh yeah, I'm getting more impressed the more I listen. I think my ears are used to the Soundblaster, so its like it seems to be getting better.

The speakers are Wharfedale Diamond 8.2

[Gluegun]

Ah yea, the big nice ones!! What are you driving them with??

[pbirkett]

I'm driving them with a Cambridge Audio A500 amplifier, a british amp that prides itself on good performance for a low price and no "frills", and it doesnt dissapoint. 85 watts/ch RMS @ 6OHms (0.01% THD), its not the most refined amp you've heard, but it has plenty of welly!

The speakers have won several awards in the last year as best budget speaker. I even heard it being criticised because, for its price, it really demands an amp better than its price tag suggests, they are extremely demanding (86db sensitivity), so its not the loudest sound system you've heard, but it sure sounds good for what it is.

What u drivin your sound system with then??

[Gluegun]

The integrated amplifier on the Diva Swan M-200 bookshelf speaker system...

[pbirkett]

oooooh they look nice!

EDIT: Wow I'm a shark now! LOL, I was sick o being a bloody catfish!

[Gluegun]

I have Sooooo had this conversation before..

*watches a black cat go by*

Woah, deja vu...