3DsoundSurge Review: Mushroom's Siren Audio I and Siren Audio I Plus

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Important Info:

Price : Siren Audio I $58/Siren Audio I Plus $76

API Support : DirectSound, DS3D, EAX 1.0, and A3D 1.0 (by translating to DS3D calls, works with most but not all titles). A3D 1.0 only supported with the VXD drivers.

Minimum System Requirements:

PCI Slot on Mother Board
System Memory - 16MB or above (32MB for Wave table software users )
CPU - Pentium 133Mhz or higher, need Pentium 166 or higher for software Wavetable
If you wish to enjoy Dolby Digital 5.1 Channel effect, then you would need to have a Pentium II 266 CPU or Higher (preferably 400 CPU) installed on your PC’s Motherboard
OS - Windows 9x, Windows NT 4.0 or MS DOS 6.0 or above
Hard disk drive : 12MB free on your hard disk
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
The plug of Mini-Din G9 for 5.1 CH. Speakers system or DIY multi-channel speakers

Reviewers PC:

Mark
- Win98
- Celeron 333a o/c 416
- 128MB PC100 ram
- Creative TNT
- Creative Voodoo Blaster 12 M
- 6.1 and 13 GIG EIDE HD
- For four speaker testing purpose I hooked the card up to Videologic's Sirocco Crossfire speaker system using the analog inputs as well as MidiLand S4-7100. For 6-speaker testing I used the MidiLand S4-7100 and the Abit SP-50. For two speaker testing purposes I used the same speaker systems but only connecting to the front channels as well as the Diamond Audio Technology HPM-4100 and for headphones testing I used a set of Sennheiser HD525s. Digital output was tested with the MidiLand ADS-2000 as well as the Cambridge SoundWorks DTT2500 and Creative DTT3500.

Mikael
- Win98
- Celeron 300a o/c 450
- 128MB PC100 ram
- GeForce DDR
- 6.4 GB Quantum SE
- For four speaker testing purpose I hooked the card up to Videologic's Sirocco Crossfire speaker system using the analog inputs and later in testing I used Videologic's Digi Theatre speaker system for 6-speaker testing. For two speaker testing purposes I used the VideoLogic Sirocco Pro as well as the same speaker systems but only connecting to the front channels and for headphones testing I used a set of Sennheiser HD5570

Specifications

Supports Dolby digital sound (Stereo 4.1 CH. 5.1 CH.)
Uses YAMAHA WaveTable software synthesizer (with at least 128 notes) that can be instantaneously upgraded when required
Allows input via multiple connections:including microphones, external connections, CD/DVD-ROM input, and video input
Supports up to two sets of joysticks.
Supports all 5.1 channel speaker systems with Mini-Din G9 connectors, and has three independent three-dimension connectors to link up with the output connectors of any DIY multi-channel speaker systems
Uses QSound V.2x game 3D sound positioning system, compatible with Aureal A3D V.1.0 And Sound Blaster's EAX V.1.0
Provides drivers operable on DOS and Windows operating systems(Direct3D Sound & DirectX 5.x or later
S/PDIF digital output (only the Siren Audio I Plus)
Compatible with Sigma Design's MPEG II DVD hardware decompression card Chips REALmagic EM8220/EM8300, which automatically decompresses Dolby Digital 5.1 CH. Sound, from SIREN AUDIO I output, no additional Dolby Digital 5.1 CH. Decoder required

Mushroom Technology, a relatively small and young Taiwanese company, last year entered the now quite crowded 5.1 soundcard market with its Siren Audio I and Siren Audio I Plus. Only a few months ago just having support for 5.1 output was enough to get some attention. However, that changed quite rapidly during the fall (2000) with the introduction of the Santa Cruz/SonicFury, Philips Acoustic Edge, Hercules Game Theater XP, Creative Labs Live 5.1 cards and several other FM801 based boards. Just like the first 5.1 soundcards that were introduced last fall Siren Audio I and Siren Audio I Plus uses the FM801 chip. It’s a newer version, FM801-AU, compared to the FM801-AS with the most important change being support for AC-3 pass-thru.

As with other FM801 boards, Siren Audio I uses QSound’s Q3D 2.0 engine as its 3D sound and reverb engine which includes support for DS3D, A3D 1.0 and EAX 1.0. A future driver upgrade may add EAX 2.0 support as well. The features that make the Siren Audio I Plus card stand out in the crowd are the bundle of WinDVD 2.2, digital CD-in and both optical and coaxial SPDIF in/out for just $76. Unfortunately the SPDIF input isn’t supported with the current VXD drivers and the Windows 2000 WDM drivers doesn't even support SPDIF output. The less expensive Siren Audio I ($58) is identical to Siren Audio I Plus both when it comes to the hardware and software with the exception of the lack of digital CD-in and SPDIF in/out. In this review we will offer an overview of how the two cards performs for playing music, games and DVD movies the card only going into more detail where it offers features not common for all other 5.1 FM801 based boards. For a more detailed look at the FM801 chip we suggest you check out our FM801 reference review.