This board is one of the first products in its class to feature 3D sound. It uses the Vortex chipset (AU8820B2) from Aureal Semiconductors, which has proven itself in games. Accordingly, Diamond Sonic Impact S90 supports A3D technology, which allows you to position the sound source in space using just one pair of speakers or headphones. Note that it is the latter that allow one to determine by ear the location of a virtual sound source with the greatest accuracy. By the way, sound cards with Vortex and Vortex 2 series chipsets are the only ones that support A3D in hardware. All others perform only software emulation of this technology, and the quality of surround sound in this case is lower.
It should be borne in mind that the Sonic Impact S90 is primarily a gaming audio adapter, and not the newest one at that, and therefore, users who are demanding of sound purity are unlikely to be delighted with its characteristics. This board has a fairly significant noise level in the input and output channels, a limited frequency range and noticeable signal distortion at both high and low frequencies, which excludes the possibility of using it for recording and processing music. The quality of MIDI synthesis also leaves much to be desired – the tonal coloring of the generated sound is unnatural, which is only acceptable in computer games. In general, the S90 is clearly not suitable for music lovers who place high demands on sound quality.
In games, the situation changes radically: hardware support for A3D three-dimensional sound technology in the eyes of an avid gamer can outweigh all of the above disadvantages (which are almost imperceptible in a high-quality speaker system, but are almost imperceptible on cheap computer speakers). In addition, do not forget about the price: Sonic Impact S90 is more than two times cheaper than the older model from Diamond – MX300. So this board will be quite suitable for those who are going to use the multimedia capabilities of their home PC mainly in games.
Home PC 5-1999
