Audio quality comparison.

[Zapper_Weisman]

I am considering getting a new audio card and something other than a Creative card. My reason for doing so is a typical one...terrible driver support for Creative cards. I want to upgrade my gaming machine to 4, eventually 8GBs of RAM and move from Windows XP Pro to a Windows XP x64/Vista Ultimate x64 dual boot. (to have the best of both worlds)

Right now I have a Creative Elite Pro in my gaming machine. I tried going to 4GBs before just to discover that the Elite Pro wouldn't function properly with memory remapping enabled due to Creatives lack of proper driver support. So now I am looking for a good alternative. I have read good things about the Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1, such as it sounds great and actually works with 4GBs+ of RAM. I know it also contains an X-Fi chip, just like the Elite Pro but my hope is they will take drivers a little more seriously than Creative does. And I want EAX and other gaming features so I want something that can do that.

I know nothing about audio specifications though. When I compare the stats on the Elite Pro to the Prelude I might as well be reading ancient Greek. So I have two questions:

Could someone who knows this stuff look at these specs and tell me how they are different?

Creative Elite Pro:
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (20kHz Low-pass filter, A-Weighted)
Stereo Output 116dB
Front and Rear Channels 116dB
Center, Subwoofer and Side Channels 116dB
Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (20kHz Low-pass filter) = 0.0008%
Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input ) = <10Hz to 46kHz
Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/192kHz input) = <10Hz to 88kHz (Stereo only)

Auzen Prelude 7.1
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (20kHz Low-pass filter, A-Weighted)
Stereo Output : 120dB (part spec)
Front and Rear Channels : 120dB (part spec)
Center : 120dB (part spec)
Subwoofer and Side Channels : 120dB (part spec)
Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (-3dBFS, A-weighted) : 0.001% - part spec
Frequency Response (+/-0.01dB, 24-bit/44.1kHz input ) : 20khz (part spec)
Frequency Response (+/-0.01dB, 24-bit/96kHz input ) : 43.5 khz (part spec)

I tried to make sense of this stuff myself but failed. Which one is "better"? (dumb question i know. shows how ignorant about audio specs i am)

Second question, does anyone here actually own one of these Auzen Preludes and would you recommend it?

Thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time to help me out here.

[jamestehrippa]

Both are terribly good cards.

Elite Pro is top of the range X-Fi and Prelude is top Auzentech card.
Specs are excellent for both cards with Prelude claiming better values.

To be fair it does not matter whether SNR is 116 or 120dB.
Prelude has slightly smoother frequency response so it should introduce less color to sound. This is something you want have if you want to hear music as it was recorded. But for that you also need terribly great speakers I do not mind Klipsch, Logitech or Creative. Such speakers are great but you won't hear any difference between these 2 sound cards using cheap <$ 500 speakers

In my opinion Prelude claims better specs while Elite Pro is more versatile - it has more and diverse connections. Should be happy with any. I have X-Fi myself, but a cheaper one than this and I do not have any problems with it, it is a great sound card anyway... Prelude should be sound, too, tho.