Crackling Audio and 3D Sound

2. Crackling sound
The current batch of Aureal drivers have some serious problems with crackling sound, although it is rarely evident in most games or regular 2D sound playback. This is most noticeable in the Ziff-Davis 3D Audio Winbench tests: as the suite runs through all the permutations of sound and bit rate, certain combinations cause an obvious, obnoxious crackle in the sound.

I'm happy to report that this does appear to be driver-related, since the crackling problem is identical on both the MX300 and the Montego II, though these two cards have radically different designs. They are both based on the Vortex 2 chip, but that's where the similarity ends.

3. 3D sound, wavetracing, and competitive deathmatch
After logging dozens of hours in online Half-Life deathmatch, I've found that 3D sound and wavetracing add tremendously to the competitive experience. I know a lot of these "3D sound card" reviews sound great in theory, but don't seem to relate much to real-world play. Allow me to give some specific real-world examples:

A. "Sounds like carnage-THAT way!"
Often, I'll be running down a hallway hearing vague sounds of distant conflict, when I pass a doorway, window, or another hallway, and all of a sudden that same combat noise becomes deafeningly loud, courtesy of wavetracing, as I pass by. This makes it a lot easier to navigate to where the carnage is. If you reach an intersection, just follow your ears.

B. "Someone's behind me!"
Using headphones, it's obvious when someone's behind you. It's a little more difficult to tell with two speakers, and relatively easy with four speakers. This is a basic function of 3D sound, but it's definitely an advantage. One great thing about A3D is that it has, hands-down, the best two speaker and headphone-based rendering of 3D sound.

C. "Someone's in the same room I am!"
With wavetracing, all sounds are reflected and muffled unless you have a direct line of sight to the sound itself. The difference between a sound in the same room, and a sound behind a wall outside the room, is like night and day. When I hear that "pick up ammo" sound coming through crystal clear, I immediately start looking in the room/building/area that I'm in for new prey.

D. "Someone just went into that tunnel!"
When I hear a heavily reverberated ammo or weapon pickup sound, I know immediately that someone's holing up in a small, confined area. Again, thanks to wavetracing, I hear the sound exactly as it would be in real life, and not a canned preset drawn from a table.