Hercules soundcards

Buzz · Post by **Buzz** » Mon Sep 24, 2001 8:52 am

Does anyone have one? You like it?

Whats the diff between the "Game Theather XP", "Fortissimo II" and the "Muse XL"? is it different cards, or just different bundles?

Thanx

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Mon Sep 24, 2001 10:37 am

different cards and packages.

u have them listed from best to worse both ways there. I have both the muse and the fortissimo II and they are ok. But my new Audigy schools them.

Greg

Buzz · Post by **Buzz** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 3:10 am

I want to upgrade soon... and need a new soundcard when i do. Saw the OEM version of Live! 5.1 really cheap, but the Live! and Audigy have probs with AMD platforms (?), so i'm lookin for something else.

Whats the main diff between the Fortissimo and the Muse (dont care about the bundle)?

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 12:04 pm

muse pritty much suks. it is the Ensonic of there line. it has No neet features or anything. I never had a Prob with my Lives on anyof my systems...ever and the audigy is flawless as well.

Greg

Buzz · Post by **Buzz** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 5:09 pm

Hmm... well.. thanx Greg

Seeing the Live! 5.1 OEM el cheapo... dunno yet though... but no Muse then..?

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Tue Sep 25, 2001 5:26 pm

it is about the quality of onboard sound. maby slightly better but it ant all that great. The Live cards get rather worm compared to the Herc. brand cards and the Audigy. As long as U dont go with the bottom rung of soundcards you should be happy. Also the Live sucks TONS of the CPU. not sure about the HERC cards.

Greg

Buzz · Post by **Buzz** » Wed Sep 26, 2001 1:44 am

What do u recommend then? I currently only have stereo speakers (Altec Lancing AC48) and a AWE64.
Offcourse i want a PCI card.. but it would be nice with surround.. as an option for upgrading.

Post by **sbp** » Wed Sep 26, 2001 3:17 am

The Hercules Fortissimo II uses the Cirrus Logic Soundfusion CS4624 chip. The Hercules Game Theatre XP and Turtle Beach Santa Cruz use Cirrus Logic's CS4630 chip. http://www.cirrus.com/design/products/i ... visionID=2
http://www.tomshardware.com/video/01q3/ ... fusion_dsp

The Hercules Gamesurround MuseXL uses same audio chip as Iwill's KK266 mobo has. That chip is the Cmedia 8738 The sound quality of this chip is pretty good.

I've heard mixed thing about the Audigy having the same problem with Via chipsets.

As Greg has stated the Live WMD drivers use up a ton of cpu utilization and there are other soundcards that sound better than it.

I just bought an Audigy Gamer. If your not interested in the rack the Hercules Game Theatre has look at Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Beyond that look at Philips Acoustic Edge.

Links of interest:: http://www.3dss.com/reviews.html#Soundcard
http://www.neoseeker.com/Hardware/Audio/

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Wed Sep 26, 2001 6:33 pm

also there is a Soundcard review on our man page you might want to check out. Phillips makes good cards. the Muse still ant all that great.

Greg

Buzz · Post by **Buzz** » Wed Oct 03, 2001 8:56 am

Havent found anyone here in norway that sells phillips or turtle beach... crap.

NascarFool · Post by **NascarFool** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 10:10 pm

I currently have a SB Live X-gamer in my Atlon setup, no problems at all in Win98SE.