Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is the first sound card on the market that is using Creative’s popular X-Fi sound circuit, but isn’t made by Creative. It’s Auzentech that has made the card and it has previously made a name through its Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect-capable sound cards. It has now made a rather interesting deal with sound giant Creative where it will use the X-Fi circuit with its coming Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 sound card. The sound card is expected to appear in May and bring full support for EAX 5.0 and other X-Fi technology.
Auzentech will add its in-house developed Dolby Digital Live encoder which makes it possible for Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 to encode regular sound streams to Dolby Digital signals and send these to a home cinema receiver or something similar. This is a feature many have been asking for with Creative’s sound cards and perhaps Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 can become our knight in shining armor.
“It will fully support EAX 5.0 and have the same expandability as the Auzen X-Meridian™ 7.1. Support for Dolby® Digital Live real time encoding for Vista is scheduled for Q4 of this year. The Auzen X-Fi™ Prelude marks the first time Creative has permitted a third-party soundcard vendor to use the Creative X-FI™ chipset in its own soundcard design.”
We look forward to hearing more of Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 and see what Creative’s and Auzentech’s cooperation will lead to in the future.
