The Week in Review: April 21-27, 2003

Last week's features at 3DsoundSurge

Last week's sound news

Drivers and bugs

New games, demos, patches and bugs

• Delta Force: Black Hawk Down Patch
  A new patch (v1.2.1) for Delta Force: Black Hawk Down has been released

• UT2003 Patch
  A new patch (2225) for Unreal Tournament 2003 has been released. Here's the sound and music related changes:

  Sound/Music:
  - updated DefOpenAL32.dll
  - Add MusicSkip console command to skip tracks in OGGPlayer
  - Fixed possible problems with OGGPlayer
  - Add "Play List" button to player setup
  - fixed audio spatialization (thanks to Daniel Peacock @ Creative for the fix)
  - fixed sound precaching bug

• Divine Divinity Patch
  A hotfix for Divine Divinity has been released.

• Arx Fatalis Patch
  A v.1.17 patch for Arx Fatalis that includes a fix for a bug resulting in sound settings not being remembered is now available on the official website.

Reviews of soundcards, speakers, headphones and MP3 players.

• Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX
  A new detailed and overall very positive review of Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX has been posted on OC Prices.

• Jazz J9940W Wireless 5.1 Speaker System
  Tech Connect has posted a review of Jazz Hipster's J9940W Wireless 5.1 Speaker System. They found it to perform very well overall and gave it a Gold award even though they complained a bit about hiss from the rear speakers, a negative aspect of the wireless connection.

• Samsung YP-300S
  Envy News has posted an overall very positive review of the Samsung YP-300S portable digital audio player.

• Samsung SM-352 52x24x52x16 CD-RW/DVD
  PC Stats has posted a positive review of Samsung SM-352 52x24x52x16 CD-RW/DVD Drive.

• Plextor PX-504A DVD+RW
  Sudhian Media has posted an overall positive review of Plextor PX-504A DVD+RW Drive even though they note it unlike some new but more expensive drives only support the DVD+RW format.

• TDK Indi DVD 4x +R/RW
  Hardware Zoom has posted a positive review (score: 9 out of 10) of TDK Indi DVD 4x +R/RW Drive

Other sound news

• SRS Circle Surround II Brings High Definition Surround to Soundcards by M-Audio
  SRS Labs has announced that its premier multichannel audio technology, Circle Surround II (CS II), is now featured in M-Audio’s new Sonica Theater and Revolution 7.1 soundcards. The Sonica Theater is an easy-to-use, external USB 7.1 sound card for desktops or laptops and the Revolution 7.1 is billed as the first high-definition 7.1 surround sound card providing up to eight channels of high-definition surround sound with consumer-oriented features. Using SRS Labs’ Circle Surround II, PC and Mac users with M-Audio soundcards are now able to experience multichannel surround sound from all source material, including mono or stereo content, music CDs, MP3 files, PC games, streaming media content and other matrix encoded or Circle Surround encoded source material.

  Both the Sonica Theater and the Revolution 7.1 products also feature SRS Labs’ patented TruSurround XT™ technology. This enables users who do not have a multi-speaker set up to enjoy a rich, “virtual surround sound” by switching to the TruSurround XT mode, delivering a multichannel experience over standard stereo speakers or even headphones.

  For additional details you can check out the full press release.

• Logitech Closes Record Q4
  Logitech has completed a fifth consecutive year of record sales and record profitability. For Q4 2003, which ended on March 31, 2003, the Company posted sales of $302 million, an 18 percent growth over sales of $256 million for the same quarter last year. Operating income of $34.8 million was 24 percent greater than the same quarter in the previous year. Net income reached $26.6 million, compared with $21.5 million for Q4 FY02. Gross margin was 31.6 percent, compared with 34.2 percent for the same quarter last year. You can find more details in the press release.

• Aspire Digital Introduce Budget Home Theater System
  Aspire Digital debuts the AD-1100PLUS, a value-priced complete receiverless home theater system, which includes the new AD-1100 DVD player with progressive scan and added karaoke feature, robust surround-sound tower speakers and powered sub-woofer.

  At a special launch price of $399.99 (MSRP $459.98), the AD-1100PLUS is a complete home theater solution for value-minded consumers who do not already have a receiver or DVD player connected to their television and want high-quality audio playback with a minimum financial commitment. You can find more details in the press release.

Upcoming features at 3DsoundSurge

• 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.
  

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