The Week in Review: February 4-10, 2002

Last week's features at 3DsoundSurge

Drivers and bugs

• Creative Audigy's "Squeal of Death" Article
  Extreme Tech has posted an article about the "Squeal of Death" issue followed by a lock up some Audigy users experienced. Creative Labs has been able to reproduce it in their labs and posted a list of potential fixes. They say it's due to some conflict but according to this article don't yet know the exact cause. According to Creative Labs they had less than 50 phone calls about this to their US support center.

• PlayCenter 2 v2.52 upgrade for Live
  The PlayCenter 2 v2.52 upgrade we previously mentioned for Nomad users is also available for Live users. Thanks to Martin
  for the pointer.

New games, demos, patches and bugs

• Icewind Dale II News
  Black Isle Studios has announced that Icewind Dale II is in development and will be available May 28, 2002. More details can be found in the press release, official site, Icewind Dale II Q&A on GameSpot and RPG Vault.

  Not sure if Icewind Dale II will feature any use of EAX or 3D sound but while the original, just like the Baldur's Gate series, won't be remembered for great use of EAX or 3D sound (they all support EAX) the aural aspect of the game almost with out any exception has received good if not excellent reviews.

• Heli Heroes Demo
  Zuxxez Entertainment has released a demo of Reality Pump Studios top-down 3D arcade shooter, Heli Heroes. It's available in several languages including English. Separately they also offer voice-over, music, and cinematics add-ons and a manual in PDF format. The main demo is 160MB and I have yet to download it but according to the manual the game features support for 3D sound. You can find a full list of download links on VoodooExtreme. You can also find mirrors of the English demo on BonusWeb and 3DGamers.

• Ghost Recon patch
  Red Storm has released the promised patch for the 3D sound and EAX 2.0 supporting Ghost Recon which among other things "Fixed a bug that could cause popping sounds on some Sound Blaster cards". Thanks to Anders Albrechtsen for the pointer.

Reviews of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.

• Philips Acoustic Edge PSC706
  Active Hardware has done an overall very positive review of Philips Acoustic Edge PSC706. The only real complaint is the lack of optical in/out.

• Bantam Pro-M5
  IGN has also done a review of Bantam Pro-M5. It's a $15 headphone set which IGN found to offer surprisingly good sound quality. They even go as far as saying it sound better than anything at similar price points. Having said that they still had some complaint about the sound quality as well as the comfort. For the details check out the review. Once again thanks to Kuen Foo for the pointer.

• Bantam SPKR-05
  IGN has done a review of Bantam SPKR-05. It's $25 2.0 speaker system with a rather unique design, at least in toady's market. Each speaker feature an up firing 1.5" driver. Questionable design for your typical desktop set-up. IGN found it to offer fairly good mid and highs but bass is lacking. They also found the amplified headphone output to be a nice feature. Thanks to Kuen Foo for the pointer.

• Klipsch Promedia 2.1
  EX Hardware has posted a review of the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speaker system. As with pretty much every review of the system I have read, this one is very positive.

• TerraTec Electronic appoints new UK distributor
  TerraTec Electronic, the company behind soundcards like the DMX Xfire, has announces that it has entered into a UK distribution agreement with EuroTech Marketing Services Ltd. Under the terms of the deal, EuroTech will sell TerraTec’s complete consumer range of audio/visual peripherals throughout the UK. You can find more details in the press release

• SANYO License Spatializer N-2-2
  Spatializer Audio Laboratories has announced that SANYO Electric has licensed Spatializer N-2-2, DVD virtual surround sound solution, for its new Fisher DVD-SL30 DVD Player. The DVD-SL30 player is scheduled for release into the global retail market in March 2002. You can find more details in the press release

• S4 MidiLand 8200 v2.0
  MidiLand's website has been updated to now list the updated S4 8200 that we have been expecting an announcement of for some time. Based around the original S4 8200 the v.2 system features updated styling and a new decoder box with 4 channel analog inputs and DTS decoding capabilities. The original unit uses the ADS-2000 decoder which lacks DTS decoding and rear channel analog inputs. Just like the original S4 8200, the new version has a MSLP of $399.99. Thanks to Ric Heffern for the pointer.

• Statement from Cambridge SoundWorks Regarding Henry Kloss
  On January 31, 2002, the co-founder of Cambridge SoundWorks, Henry Kloss, passed away. Henry was a prolific and imaginative inventor who revolutionized the audio industry. Cambridge SoundWorks (and ourselves) would like to take this opportunity to applaud and thank him for some of the most innovative product developments in the history of audio and video:

  • 1952 First Acoustic Suspension Speaker-The AR-1
  • 1960 First High-Fidelity FM Table Radio-The KLH Model Eight
  • 1961 First High-Fidelity Transportable Stereo System-The KLH Model
    Eleven
  • 1968 First Tape Recorder with Dolby B Noise Reduction-The KLH Model 40
  • 1971 First High-Fidelity Cassette Deck-The Advent 200/201
  • 1972 First Big Screen Colored TV For Home Use-The Advent VideoBeam 1000
  • 1988 First Dual-Subwoofer/Satellite Speaker System-Ensemble
  • 1994 First Affordable High-Performance Multimedia Speaker System- SoundWorks
  • 1998 First Table Radio With Built-In Powered Subwoofer-Model 88

  Along with his many industry ``Firsts,'' Henry was a founder of Acoustic Research, KLH Research and Development Corp., and Advent. Henry Kloss is a member of the Audio Hall of Fame and an Emmy Award winner. For a bit more information you can check out the full press release.

• Cambridge SoundWorks Expands The Newton Series Line
  Building on the successful introduction of its high-end speaker line, the Newton Series(TM), Cambridge SoundWorks, has introduced new additions to its award-winning line. The Newton Series will now feature lower-cost speakers including new satellites, main speakers, a new main/center speaker, and a powered subwoofer.

  The additions to the Newton Series include: The MC50 (the included in the MegaWorks system), the MC100, the MC150 and the P200 (subwoofer). You can find details including pricing in the press release.

• SONICblue Reports Strong Q4 Results
  SONICblue has posted fourth quarter results and reaffirmed its better than expected growth outlook for 2002. Net revenues for the quarter increased to $79.6 million, a 45 percent sequential quarter-on-quarter increase. The Company's three core-product lines including Rio, Go-Video and ReplayTV, each achieved better than 20 percent gross margins.

  SONICblue reported a pro forma fourth quarter operating loss of $6.8 million as compared with a pro forma operating loss of $17.7 million in the third quarter of 2001. You can find more details in the press release

• SONICblue Becomes number one in Japan
  SONICblue has announced that it is the largest supplier of digital audio players in Japan according to BCN, a leading Japanese market research firm. Tracking monthly sales of 575 Japanese computer and electronic retail stores, BCN's research shows that SONICblue's Rio® family of flash and CD-based digital audio players outsold competing products from Sony and all other manufacturers in 2001. As I'm sure you know CD and MiniDisc players are for some odd reasons not counted as digital players these days. Even more odd is I bet they are included if they support the MP3 or WMA format. You can find more details in the press release

• Sigma Announces First MPEG-4 Decoder Card for PC
  Sigma Designs has announced the first MPEG-4 client player add-in card for the PC. Marketed under the name X-Card, Sigma's newest MPEG-4 offering turns a PC into a home theatre solution, providing TV playback of top entertainment content from DivX Networks, DVDs and new Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) compliant video streams. Sigma's X-Card will retail for $99.95 and will be available initially from the company's REALmagic Online store starting March 2002. You can find more details in the full press release

• Finalists For The 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards Announced
  The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) yesterday announced the finalists for the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Peer panel review boards made up of individual Academy members with specific expertise in each of the categories were established to determine the finalists for the awards. On the audio front there are two categories with the following finalists:

  Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design

  • Frequency (Harmonix Music Systems/Sony Computer Entertainment America) PS2
  • ICO (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc./Sony Computer Entertainment America) PS2
  • Metal Gear Solid 2 (Konami/Konami) PS2
  • Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (Red Storm Entertainment/Ubi Soft Entertainment) PC

  Outstanding Achievement in Original Musical Composition

  • Batman Vengeance (Ubi Soft Divertissement Inc./Ubi Soft Entertainment) GC
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts) PC
  • Myst III: Exile (Presto Studios/Ubi Soft Entertainment) PC
  • Tropico (Pop Top Software/God Games) PC

  Award recipients will be determined by a vote of the Academy’s membership, which will begin today (February 6th), and run until Friday, February 15, 2002. Interactive Academy voting is secret, conducted online using the Web Administered Voting Environment developed by Subvergent Inc., and supervised and certified by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Membership in AIAS is open to all qualified individuals working in the interactive industry. For more details and a full list of the award categories and finalists you can check out the full press release.

• Reviews that we are currently working on:
  Updated Santa Cruz/Sonic Fury and GameTheaterXP reviews
  Hercules Fortissimo II
  Terratec DMX Xfire 1024
  CMedia CM8738 Reference Review
  Full Audigy Review
  Full Philips MMS305 Review
  
• There are several other hardware reviews in the pipeline including, but not limited to the following:
  Guillemot Maxi Sound MUSE
  Terratec m3po
  DigMedia MusicStore
  Philips Seismic Edge
  Lots of other stuff on the go in including several guides and major site revisions that we will soon be releasing more details on.
  

As always if you have any ideas for products we should review or features we should do, please let us know.

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