Over the past year of doing reviews we have come to realize that scores are a problem.  Its not that we have trouble ranking a product in the big picture. Where the problem comes is with finding room in a score out of 10 or 100 to say that the product is better than what we though was the best product a few weeks or months before.  Pretty soon you run out of room and start to hand out 9.8 and 9.9 and we were well on the way to 9.95s just to squeeze in improvements without awarding a perfect score!  We really don’t think scores like that help you  pick what product is right for you and that’s the whole point of reading a review. We tend to pack a lot of detail into our reviews so you should have enough facts to make up your own mind and we will put more into summing it all up at the end. We feel that this method, along with the new awards will give you just what you need to know, which is where does a particular product fit into the big picture. With no further adieu here are our new awards;

3DsoundSurge of Approval:

This is our basic award, or better put, a stamp of approval. To get this award the product has to work as advertised and perform (or entertain in the case of games) at a level that is appropriate with the price or genre. If you see this award on a product, it means we think you will get good value for your money. In the case of a game, it will mean that we think the game is reasonably enjoyable, and 3D audio works and does not have an unexpected performance impact.

The next levels all retain the "3DsoundSurge Surge of Approval" moniker and in addition have a medal of excellence associated with the award.  In terms of hardware, we do consider the software bundle up to and including the gold award.   What we think of the bundle and how important it to our evaluation will usually be clearly described in the text of each review. The one exception where software bundle ceases to matter is our Platinum award of excellence.  For hardware to move beyond gold and get this ultimate 3DSS award, it has to earn it purely on it’s own merits.   To be clear, in this context we don't consider driver features or DSP enhancements to be part of a software bundle,  and if a particular bundled audio application only ships with some particular hardware with no other way to get it, then we might also consider it in our evaluation.  Here is a synopsis of what each step means to us:

Surge of Approval: Bronze

This is only given to products that are better than average. With respect to hardware (including sound cards, speakers and decoders), not only does it have to work as advertised, what you get in terms of hardware performance and bundle has to be a bit more than what you would expect for the money spent. In the case of games, on top of being enjoyable and having working 3D audio, the game must have a correct implementation of at least one of wavetracing, I3DL2 or EAX 1.0 or higher.

Surge of Approval: Silver

With respect to hardware like sound cards and decoder, this is an outstanding product that is well above average but has some "flaws" or a high price that keeps it out of the top. For speakers, products earning this award will have very good features and typically some combination of great but not excellent sound at high volumes or excellent sound but not great volumes. Price will also be a factor when consider the award a speaker system can earn and when it comes to systems with built in decoders the extra features and flexibility offered by the system can also play a significant role in our final award rating.  For games, on top of being enjoyable and having working 3D audio, the game must have a correct implementation of at least one of wavetracing, I3DL2 or EAX 1.0 or higher and the audio must in some way significantly enhance the gaming experience.

Surge of Approval: Gold

Simply an excellent product that delivers great performance, not just for the money but overall. For example, a $50 set of speakers that performs as well as a typical $100 set of speakers cannot win this award as it only goes to truly outstanding hardware.  Like all our awards, it's not limited to one product in a category but if you see our gold Surge of Approval on a product you know that its in an elite group of hardware or software. For games to reach this elite level, on top of being enjoyable, having working 3D audio, correct implementation at least one of wavetracing, I3DL2 or EAX 1.0 or higher and having audio that significantly enhances the gaming experience, the audio must play an integral part in the game.

Surge of Approval: Platinum