That's right, Creative Labs has announced a new product called the Sound Blaster Extigy.


So what exactly is the Extigy? It's actually an external sound card that works with your USB port. It delivers 24-bit 96kHz multi-channel audio playback and 100dB signal-to-noise ratio. It will retail at $149.99 and is expected to ship this month.

What's the big deal? Folks, this is the first EXTERNAL sound card that's not in a speaker system, and it's not something cheesy either. It offers 5.1 channel sound, features EAX Advanced HD technology, and has a great software bundle.

Aside from that, check out this quote from the press release:

Sounds pretty neat huh? It basically gives the full functionality of the Audigy line externally, including the break box (which has all kinds of connectivity options).

This will be a pretty big breakthrough for notebook users as it can really offer a viable audio solution. The only issue I can see is that the break box obviously is to be used with external speakers, so I wouldn't really consider this to be a mobile solution.

Another positive thing is that it uses USB, which means installation should be a breeze since USB is plug and play. It also has Windows XP support so there should be no issues with a Microsoft operating system.

Based on the press release and some of the product shots, this looks like a very nice product. I am trying to get one in here for testing so that we can give you a in-depth review of the product. I will definitely keep you guys updated on that.

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ActiveTuning - Partner & Director Of Sales & Marketing

Ha!

I fart in Creative Labs general direction!

$150 for JUST an external USB sound card? Sure, that's cheaper than the near $200 Soundblaster Audigy Platinum... but where are the 5.1 speakers???

Check this out:


http://www.kinyo.com/products/R-655U.JPG

Not only is it an external USB sound card that supports the Dolby 5.1 standard with all of the input and output jacks that one should expect from a 5.1 sound card, but it also includes 5 satellite speakers and a 5" subwoofer and a remote!

Here's the best part... It all sells for under $200!

Details: http://www.kinyo.com/cgi-bin/prodin...19622&cd=R-655U

Expect a review at the end of this month.

uhh did u look at the response of that sub?
spec'd to go down to 70hz..thats ABSOLUTELY horriable
i hope u don't plan on listening to music with that
most music goes done to ATLEAST 40hz and a fair amount goes lower

i wouldn't take that sub even if it was free

That's one nice bit of hardware to come across to play with, Jonny ;-)

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paul@pleaseohpleasedontspamme.slcentral.com
A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems -- P. Erdos

At least? The last "music" that I heard that required "at least" 40 Hz was "The Bass That Ate Miami" back when I had 12" Kickers in the back of my GTi. When's the last time you actually analyzed frequency responses... oh wait... EQs with meters are probably before your time.

Besides, we're talking about computer audio here. It'a 5" SUB. You should know that 70 Hz is actually pretty good. It's below the range of a kick drum, bass guitar or most explosions (think of the White House blowing up during Independence Day). You'd be hard pressed to find a 5" sub that can go under 90 Hz... even in car audio.

Sure, you miss some low, low, low end bass produced by a device like a Roland 808 in some rap or dance music because the speakers can't produce a 40 Hz hit, but the fact is that MOST MUSIC and movies perform as designed with a frequency response of 70-20,000 Hz. 20-20,000 would be ideal (as this is the range most of us hear), but again, we're talking about a 5" sub on an external sound card for under $200. Hello?!?!?

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Hey. What kind of party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker. -- Bender (Futurama)

after reading what you said i got quite interested in the actual ranges of such instruments as the kick drum, bass quitar, piano, etc

here is a chart showing the standard freq. ranges of some of these instruments
http://homerecording.about.com/libr...hics/frqpno.gif
of course these will change to compared to what the instrument is tuned to
i also have one of classic instruments if you would like it

as you can see that 70 is not even close to "below" the freq. range of those you stated
i side with you when you pointed out that this is pretty decent for movies, that i agree however music..no
i have about 300 mp3z ranging from hip hop, r&B, metal, rock, classic and from these a sub tuned to 45hz can only properly represent about 70% of the songs not one of them being a "bass" track..the closest to these would be pieces like 3-6 mafia and other bassy groups
this conclusion was based off having a 10" ported sub tuned to 44hz in a 1.50 cuft enclosure with about 17 sq. in of port area getting 200 watts of power..this setup could not represent quite a few songs i have(this was solved by changing the enclosure to a 1.65cuft net with 14sq of port tuned to 35hz) so from what i've gather from using different setups including computer selections..i'd want atleast 40-45hz from my sub, which btw even 50$ setup of 4.1 do

but then again is when it comes down to it is this setup really worth 200$?...the soundcard's "features" seem to be quite lacking..only thing noting surround features is "WinDVD Software Q-Space Tech, Transforms Stereo Sound Source to Multi-Channel Sound. Great for Multimedia, Gaming, Presentations & Karaoke
" which seems to be similar to a dolby pro-logic setup or logitech's M3d decoding
givin the speakers power and size..they would be in the 100$ range..and allow this "built-in" soundcard 100$ in cost...these speakers would get their A$$ kicked by most speakers even in the sub 80$ range
and from the specs noted on their site..this "built-in" soundcard is not worth the 100$

hope this look run on sentence here isn't to hard to understand

oh ya btw, any 5" speaker in caraudio that can't perform down to 90hz free air isn't worth having
poping any 5" speaker into a small enclosure should yeild a good 75-80hz

thx

Aside from that, think of all the connectivity options notebook users will have now. If I had a laptop, it would be a lot easier to hook my DJ setup to the computer if I had the Extigy....

I think this will be ESPECIALLY useful to musicians for the same reason.

Also, with that other speaker system, if it can't hit the lows consider it out of my head...I listen to rap so I need the speaker system/subwoofer to be able to hit the bass nice.

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ActiveTuning - Partner & Director Of Sales & Marketing

You got me on the frequency response ranges with the link. I was trying to find a similar link when I made my post, but apparently did not make enough of an effort.

But as you point out, what the speaker can do free air versus what it can do in a ported enclosure is the pudding of proof. Once I get the speakers hooked up, I will run a frequency response on the speaker set and see what it can really do.

Personally, I have my computer hooked up to my home stereo... BUT how many people do this? Like yourself, how many people have a 10" sub hooked up to their computer? Not many.

As for your overall assesment of the speakers without hearing them first: I think you're a bit harsh. Fact is that DESPITE speaker sets having subs capable of, let's say, 20~40 Hz, you still end up with 2~4" satellites that totally miss the mid range, and you end up with a sound that is bassy and brassy with no in between often missing the range between 100 and 300 Hz. I would rather have a representation of frequencies across the most common spectrum as opposed to having the lowerst and the highest and yet no in between.

Flashback... I was shopping for speakers with a friend of mine back in 1990 and we listened to a number of speakers and made the mistake of listening to the speakers with the "lowest lows and highest highs" first. Basically, "speakers that looked good on PAPER". These speakers had 10, and sometimes 12", woofers and were all two way speakers. I admit, this was my first mistake as they were not cabinets with mid range speakers, but honestly, the three way sets were all out of my price range or were too large and gaudy for my living room (as if the two computers in the livig room wasn't gaudy enough). We then tried a set of Cerwin Vega AT8s with 8" woofers. The speakers had a rich sound that covered a smooth, even, level (the word I need now is escaping me) gradual of frequency representation across, not as broad of spectrum, but where it needs to be for proper sound representation for 90% of what I need the speakers to do.

Even to date, I have replaced the Cerwin Vegas with Sansui and Bose (go ahead and laugh, but they were free) speakers with 10" woofers, and have yet to reproduce the rich sound of the CVs. I've since replaced the surrounds (they deteriorated) and crossovers (they blew out) in the 8" Cerwin Vegas and they STILL sound better over all and the wife is mad at me (even she can tell the difference) that I don't use them in the living room because the wood grain doesn't match the decor in the living room (it's a weird dark walnut).

Even when I had the Kicker (Kicker as in brand, btw, not as in the Ghetto term) subs, I had enough of an ear to compliment these with a pair of 5s and a pair of 3s. The complete antithesis of this is the Ghetto rice burners that have the 15" Fosgates in the trunk and a pair of 4s in the dash and roll down the street going "boooooom tick tick tick booooom", but are completely happy as long as he can drown out his 5" tail pipe. This will be my analogy for most computer speakers, except Joe Computeruser is happy drowning out his Delta 50cfm fan rather than a coffee can tail pipe.

I'm not saying the Kinyos are going to be any different, but rather asking you to look at a bigger picture.

As far as the external sound card goes, all I can say is you're basing an opinion on LACK oof specs. I hate that there are a lack of specs, but we do not KNOW what the bit rate, frequency response or signal to noise ration are on the USB unit due to the lack of specs, but yes, it's "Q-Space" is similar to Dolby's Pro-Logic and allows for the selection of "arena", "stadium", etc. This seems to be the only thing we really "know" about the speakers thanks to the "uninformative specs page" provided by Kinyo.

We'll just have to try them and see.

Oh... and Dave, "the first external solution"? The Kinyo model was available pre-Comdex. The Creative Labs unit wasn't even at Comdex if I remember correctly.

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Hey. What kind of party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker. -- Bender (Futurama)

Oh... and as for your enclosure dilema, you know that the frequency response of the cabinet is not dependant completely on the volume of the enclosure and the size of the port. A different speaker may work much better in the same enclosure.

For example, my Kickers worked best in a small sealed box, where other brand speakers would REQUIRE a larger, ported enclosure to reproduce the same frequency range, despite the different brand speakers being the same size with the same free-air "paper" specifications.

I think you and I are on the same army, I just think we are both drawing conclusion from a lack of information. I, being optimistic for the outcome of the performance of the Kinyos and you being pesimistic.

JUST REMEMBER....

If paper specs meant everything.... we'd all be using Pentium 4s!

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Hey. What kind of party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker. -- Bender (Futurama)

hahhaha
yes i guess we'll see

Oops, fixed that, there have been USB speaker systems with a built in sound card for a LOOONNNG time now....



Hehe, I have a 12" kicker sub in my trunk, pair of 5 1/2's and a pair of 6's...and I used to have a dual 3" tip exaust until my parents made me take it off since it was too loud ....now my roomate Ryan has it on his car since I sold it to him.

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ActiveTuning - Partner & Director Of Sales & Marketing

Frequency response, HA!

My biggest question is whether there will be any performance hit from the USB connection for gamers that use this option.

Other than that it sounds pretty cool. Get the external connections of the Live Drive and free up a PCI slot.

I could be wrong, but since USB is handled by the chipset, the same as PCI, wouldn't there not be any more of a performance hit?

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Aaron Dahlen - Gaming Editor
aaron@slcentral.com
SLCentral - Your logical choice for computing and technology
http://www.slcentral.com

Athlon XP 1800+ ... K7V DRAGON Plus ... 256 MB PC2100 ... GeForce3 PowerPack !!! ... Sound Blaster Audigy ... IBM 60GXP 40 GB ... Samsung SyncMaster 950p ... Windows XP Home

He he.... This is a review in the making...

I'm checking for actual frequency response, performance hit, sound quality (of course)... what else?

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Hey. What kind of party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker. -- Bender (Futurama)

I'm "unofficially" using them now. I'm listening to Rob D's Clubbed to Death... It's definitely dropping below 70 Hz! I'll definitely have to bring in something to test the frequency range. The speakers do suffer from a lack of mid range, though. It'll all come out in the review.

BTW: Windows 2000 and I didn't even need drivers for the sound card. Sweeet! This thing is idiot proof!

EDIT: Just switched songs to Cyrstal Method's Busy Child.... DRRRRRRRROP! I'm around the 40 Hz range now. Definitely should prove to be interesting to graph to full spectrum,

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Hey. What kind of party is this? There's no booze and only one hooker. -- Bender (Futurama)