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Installation Hardware: Software: Audio Driver Something I always like to see coming with hardware is the latest main version of software. Companies still bundling Adobe Reader 5.0, for example, is just lazy and cheap. Therefore the fact that TerraTec have bundles Adobe Reader 6.0 and DX 9.0b is a promising sign. Unfortunately they haven’t gone the whole nine yards with WinDVD and rather than version 6 we have version 5, which is still a decent product. Installation of the driver and control panel is as easy as the hardware. For the driver it’s the usual case of waiting for Windows to identify the new product, then insert the CD and let the windows driver wizard install the driver. (At this point there is no WHQL driver for XP however the latest driver works absolutely fine, no stability issues were found). Following the driver install you are presented with the main CD menu:
First up is the Audio control panel install, this is the place you’ll do all your configuring… it’s a simple uncluttered interface with all the functionality you’ll need.
The mixer tab allows you to control the volume of the various items.
The Surround tab allows you to choose the volume of each speaker along with the surround sound mode (Headphones, 2 speaker, 4 speaker, 5.1 and 7.1)
The input tab is, as you would expect, used to configure the various inputs.
The settings tab allows configuration of the sample rate, S/PDIF source, Language, colour, and AISO buffer size. Now that that’s complete your good to go. We shall take a look at the performance of the product in a moment however I wanted to take a second or two to talk to you about the Soundrescue utility. Using the front module you can connect a tape deck or vinyl player to your Aureon 7.1 firewire and convert those old recordings to be playable on your PC or burned to CD.The utility also allows you to clean up the sound and remove noise associated with scratches.
The process for
converting and improving your songs/albums is relatively easy
and is explained in great detail in the Aureon manual. The process
is made easier by the seamless compatibility with the main CD
Recording programs on the market: Performance/How it sounds: Test System Specs: AMD Athlon64 FX-53 Socket939 Terratec Aureon 7.1 Universe (Driver 5.18d) Software: The test system was built from scratch, a format of the hard drive was performed (NTFS) and then Windows XP was installed. Following the completion of the install the only updates applied were SP1a and Direct X 9.0b and Windows Media Player/Encoder 9. Next the N-force/Hyperion drivers were installed and following a reboot the Catalyst 4.7 drivers were installed. The benchmarking tools were installed and finally the hard drive was de-fragmented. For all tests the display drivers were set to best image quality. Gaming performance: Painkiller: 640x480 0xAA 0xAF – Aureon 7.1 Universe Colin McRae Rally 4 640x480 0xAA 0xAF – Aureon
7.1 Universe Gaming performance comment Subjective listening This is always the hard part in an audio review. How do I, having experienced the Aureon 7.1 Universe, convey to you exactly how good it sounds?? Well the first thing I notice was that the hissing I normally hear on onboard sound products was not evident on the Aureon, this was one of the most striking changes. When no sound was playing the audio channels were completely silent. As well as giving a nicer overall experience this then carries on to your actual audio usage as games, music and films no longer have to compete with the slight hiss I noticed on many onboard products. On the gaming front the Aureon allowed for a much more involving experience, the excellent positional audio of the Aureon also helped with judging what is going on in Painkiller. Anyone who has played painkiller knows that things can get pretty hectic with well into double figures of enemies attacking you at once from all angles, the 7.1 Universe handled these busy scenes with ease, everything remained clear and focused. As far as general music listening
goes I couldn't fault the Aureon, it was indistinguishable from
the Denon separates system I use at home. Movies were a dream
to listen to, a real highlight on this product. The two scenes
I used were Jurassic Park's galloping gallimimus, Armageddon's
NYC opening sequence and the Matrix Lobby scene as they have some
excellent positional audio. In all 3 the Aureon produced excellent
audio quality, sounds were crystal clear and placed exactly where
they should be. Some effects worth a special mention were the
clarity of the bullet casings falling on the marble floor in the
matrix scene and the excellent bass/explosions in the Armageddon
opening.
Next: Conclusion
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