[darianw]

My current speakers are the 7.1 GigaWorks 750s. Anyone have a recommendation on a sound card for my Mac Pro?

TIA.

[Greg Gant]

Well, this'll come as a disappointment but.... M-Audio never has released a Mac Pro compatible version of the Revolution 7.1, the 7.1 sound card. They did make the Sonica Home Theater, a USB sound out device that could use its matrixing to make stereo non-discrete 7.1 (Like the revolution 7.1) but I'm unsure if they ever made 10.5 Drivers for it. I have one from ages ago when I reviewed it.

The only real way to output 7.1 is to use a 8 channel card not specifically designed for 8 channel output like the Delta 1010LT. Using Perian, it can decode AC3 and output each channel discretely based on assignments done in CoreAudio but that's the best you're gonna do for internal OS X decoding. I'm guessing the Gigaworks being cheapy Creative Speakers do not have an internal decoder, so you can't use SPDIF.

There are various USB 2.0 and a few Firewire devices that do 6 channel out like the Firewire that'd allow you to do 5.1, and you could always buy a secondary USB audio output device, then Aggregate the two devices together so OS X sees it as one device with 8 channels of audio output. This would work with Perian on any movies containing AC3 (Dolby Digital) and if I recall right DTS. Some 5.1 games also would recognize this as well but you wouldn't be achieving 7.1 through games. Aggregating devices is pretty painless (I use it actually to connect my internal audio I/O with my Yamaha GO-46 for use with Cubase and Logic).

Basically, consumer audio some 10 years after PCs received the surround cards still hasn't caught up on the Mac side really. The best bet is just to get a speaker set that has SPDIF inputs and an internal decoder chipset and possibly analog for gaming as the Mac doesn't do on the fly AC3 encoding for output to Dolby Digital based systems like the PC, Xbox, Xbox 360 and PS3 can....

[J'nathus]

*sigh*

The Revolution 7.1. I only used it for 2.1, but oh the sound quality, the SNR, the PERFECTLY SOLID drivers. I miss it.

I wish I had advice, but I use my PC for the beefed up audio and although I do have a 7.1 card, I don't believe it's Mac compatible.

[Greg Gant]

Heh, the Revolution had its ups and downs with the drivers but eventually they got it. I was sad to give up my Revolution 7.1, I remember missing with OpenAL and ini files to get actual discrete surround sound. I always hoped the Mac would eventually get an on-the-fly AC3 encoder that'd service as a front end to OpenAL then pass the AC3 out to Dolby Digital. Apple could have gone a long ways in aiding this development to make Mac games have a viable 5.1/6.1/7.1 gaming setup. There's a good chance with VLC aside from the developer that I was the first person to get VLC to work decoding AC3 to analog and having it output via the Revolution.

I don't see the Revolution even on M-Audio's site. Its a shame as it really was a viable soundcard. It carried me through a-many recordings as well, and worked fine for capturing. Once I got a Mac Pro, I went out and bought a Firewire capture box. Its a better solution for what I do, but even with its ASIO 2.0 drivers, its still not as low latency as the Revolution. The other great thing was how reasonably priced the thing was. It was MSRP for roughly $95 but it always could be found for $80 and occasionally less. The one in my PC I paid $65 for.

They could just repackage the card as a PCIe card, pretty much the same specs and it'd still be worth it for quite a good audience. Maybe I should see if I still have any M-Audio contacts...

[J'nathus]

Greg Gant, on February 15th 2009, 12:35 PM, said:

I don't see the Revolution even on M-Audio's site. Its a shame as it really was a viable soundcard. It carried me through a-many recordings as well, and worked fine for capturing. Once I got a Mac Pro, I went out and bought a Firewire capture box. Its a better solution for what I do, but even with its ASIO 2.0 drivers, its still not as low latency as the Revolution. The other great thing was how reasonably priced the thing was. It was MSRP for roughly $95 but it always could be found for $80 and occasionally less. The one in my PC I paid $65 for.

They could just repackage the card as a PCIe card, pretty much the same specs and it'd still be worth it for quite a good audience. Maybe I should see if I still have any M-Audio contacts...

The problem with the Revolution is that Creative bought Sensaura, which was the way the Revolution (based on the VIA "Vinyl" Envy24HT audio chipset) could emulate the EAX 1 and 2 abilities of Creative soundcards.

Creative appears to have used the Sensaura technology to release Software Audigy upgrades to motherboard down audio in some laptops / motherboards. I don't know if an X-Fi variation ever became available.

As a result, the Revolution 7.1 really couldn't move forward as a big chunk of what made it what it was is no longer license-able. *sniff* . .. I miss it. I have an X-Fi Fatal1ty Titanium Pro now, which is head and shoulders better than on-board audio, but still lacks some of the smoothness I remember enjoying with the Revolution.

The Revolution 7.1 does have OS X 10.5.6 drivers here: http://www.m-audio.c...r...&OS=81#tabs

That, of course, is dependent upon you locating one though.

[Frost]

If you can find the old Creative DDTS-100, that thing is the BOMB when combined with the GigaWorks S750s. I'm saving up for that exact setup, in fact (used to have access to one, now don't, want it back). Just run your optical audio cable into the DDTS-100, then 7.1 cables from the DDTS-100 to the S750s. Bingo, aurvana.

I'll warn you those things have been discontinued for a while, and demand for the ones left pushes them well over $200 usually (makes you wonder why Creative doens't bring them back).

And yeah, I lament there not being a Revolution 7.1 PCIe, myself... when I got the G5 I loved the one I have in my G4 so much I went out to buy the PCIe version, then discovered there wasn't one. Gah. I wish Creative would stop being lame and make a Mac Soundblaster card. They did once back in the 90s and it was great, then that was it. I like their products, but the company themselves sure can be flakey.

[Greg Gant]

The Mac creative Soundblaster was a flop. Basically they released it and then never updated it or anything. I mean, it spit out sound, recorded sound but it'd go haywire and ports would disappear, OS 9 would crash etc.

The whole reason I even started writing anything about audio was completely out of frustration with the Creative Soundblaster Live.
http://www.xlr8yourm...view/index.html

Eventually the Audiophile did mature into a functional OS X card but the Revolution was a better sound card, for.... get this, sound quality.

Honestly a Revolution 2 would be fine with me without EAX seeing as we don't have it regardless on the Mac side. If I recall right, Sensaura was completely software based.

[J'nathus]

Greg Gant, on February 16th 2009, 12:55 PM, said:

Honestly a Revolution 2 would be fine with me without EAX seeing as we don't have it regardless on the Mac side. If I recall right, Sensaura was completely software based.

Yes, Sensaura was completely software based, but written (in this case) for the Envy architecture. IDK if that meant anything special, but I didn't see it outside of that implementation. I did see it outside of M-audio's offerings, but not outside of the Via ENVY. I'm also sure the Sensaura is probably not present in any form in the OS X drivers, but I think the Revolution was M-Audio's bid at consumer / gamer high-end audio cards. The guy who I sold the card to continues to enjoy it to this day. He says it sounds better than his Audigy 2 on his other PC (which is true).

The X-Fi is decent though and the PCI-E version I have seems to be pretty rock solid. I wish I could get the console for Windows 7, as I could really use the ability to bring down the gain in the equalizer a bit (seems to level out popping and clicking that can happen in some uneven game audio).

[Greg Gant]

I know its not at all economical but these days the ideal way to go is to use SPDIF out to said sound hardware. I've been doing that since I wrote that article back in 2002, especially in these times and deal with better EQing on the receiver side. Onkyo's speaker sets are the best bang post-Klipsch speaker sets with Dolby Digital decoding and a mini receiver.

Its unfortunate but I just don't see soundcards for consumers coming back in fashion for Mac users ever again. Mac Pros are in the hands of so few of us and the average person just doesn't care and even PC gaming is pretty nitch. However what is in are external USB/Firewire devices for recording as you can create the form factor as needed. Just the way the cookie crumbles... M-Audio has shelved the Revolution as near as I can tell and I e-mailed the PR guys and haven't received any word back. I'll take that as the nail in the coffin. I think the closest thing now to the Revolution are the RME HDSP series PCIe and the M-Audio Audiophile, neither of which provide more than 4 channels I/O.