Terratec DMX 6fire 24/96 Thoughts/Impressions

[IAmGhostDog]

First some pics.

Excuse the ribbon, haven't tightened it up yet.






Card and Breakout box installation went smooth. Initiall driver and Control Panel installation also smooth.
Updating drivers and the Control Panel, plus the RIAA plugin were a different matter. Although I've updated the driver, it still shows original driver file in Device Manager and in the About tab. When I went to update Control Panel and RIAA Plugin I got a screen that asked "Are you sure you want to Uninstall" I'm thinking "Ok. First it'll uninstall, then install updated version. Wrong. It uninstalls it. You have to put it back in using the CD.

Edit:When prompted to uninstall, it does just that. Apparently old version needs to be uninstalled first. I then clicked install(on downloaded update) and new version was in. A little convoluted, but that's the way it works with this card.
Driver updates are done through Device Manager. Click "Update Driver" and get to where you have them sitting. I sent mine to "My Docs", worked my way there, and they were in. Once again, a little bit different than the way I'm used to doing things, but way it works with this card.

The Control Panel Interface



This is playing a CD. Music is full sounding and robust. You actually have six parameters to play with (seven w/Hz settings on the Settings tab) The two sliders control left and right, the two knobs add db boost left and right, you have Master Volume and naturally your volume control on your speakers (In my case Klipcsh ProMedia v4.1) It should be noted here that the card defaults to the media recorded. Meaning that CD playback is two channel stereo. But what glorious two channel it is. And thru headphones (In my case Sennheiser HD 265 linear) this card thoroughly rocks. My Audigy can not hold a candle to this card. It should also be noted that in the Control Panel, if you select 4 speakers and Enable Sensaura 3D, your music will play through all 4 speakers. Nice.



This is playing a DVD. It took me awhile to crack this one (getting sound thru four speakers) Essentially your DVD player has to have support for four or more speakers. The original version of PowerDVD I was using only supported two speakers or SPDIF. I installed the Terratec version that came with the card set speakers to six (that's right, six) in the DVDplayer, set speaker mode to four in Surround tab. Bingo. I have sound. And this is true surround. It seemed to me with Creative that there was always sound coming from all four speakers. Now that could be because the player I was using was set to two, but with this if there is no sound set for that speaker, that speaker is silent.

[IAmGhostDog]

This is the Settings tab. Here you can set Internal, External, Hz amongst other things.



The About tab. Notice that my driver build is still 115 when I installed build 126.

A word about games. This card does not support the latest EAX. It defaults the in game settings to Hardware3D. Games are only heard thru two speakers. There is no "positional" sound. This is not a problem for me though because I play games mostly with headphones. This is definitely not a gamers card.
Some other things. If you wanted to convert vinyl to CD using say and Audigy, you have to connect your turn table to a preamp then to the Live Drive. This unit has a preamp built in. Comes with all software needed to complete that task.

I really like this card. I've always been about music. And music has never sounded better on my computer.

[IAmGhostDog]

Another pic.

[Barnacle]

Hey great job GhostDog!

Did it come with a silver face plate? If so that rules.

It would be great if someone could get a hold of one of these and a Revo and do a side by side comparisson (being that they use the same chip). It looks like a great card though. How much does it go for?

--Barnacle

[IAmGhostDog]

Thanx man. Appreciate it.
It came like it looks in the pic.
It goes for $250.00 at the two sites that I know carry it.
From posts I've seen, the Revo is also a nice card. Unfortunately it doesn't have a break out box and I really need that. That being the reason I've gone with Creative Labs Platinum Edition all these years.
GD

[JungleMan]

GD is paralleling me for case messiness

Looks like a nice card...would expect so for $250 smackers

Exactly what is that red thing called?

[TMack409]

Originally posted by JungleMan
GD is paralleling me for case messiness

Looks like a nice card...would expect so for $250 smackers

Exactly what is that red thing called?

That red thing is a guitar amp modeler. It lets you re-create the sound of about a bazillion different types of guitar amps.

Made by Line6 IIRC.

[IAmGhostDog]

Originally posted by TMack409
That red thing is a guitar amp modeler. It lets you re-create the sound of about a bazillion different types of guitar amps.

Made by Line6 IIRC.

Right. Line6 POD. Amp modeler. Fender Strat thru a "59" Bassman w/4-10's for less than 500 bux. Nice.

[IAmGhostDog]

Better set up.
Less interference.



Left cord is POD into break out box. Right is headphones.



POD settings. Tweed Blues = '59' Fender Bassman 4X10 combo

[TMack409]

GhostDog:

Have you seen the Line6 PODxt specs? It's got flashable upgrades now..... Sheeshe! I want it.

[fuzzyuu]

NICE GD! NICE!

[IAmGhostDog]

Originally posted by fuzzyuu
NICE GD! NICE!

[IAmGhostDog]

Originally posted by TMack409
GhostDog:

Have you seen the Line6 PODxt specs? It's got flashable upgrades now..... Sheeshe! I want it.

WOW! Very Cool.

[fuzzyuu]

Another nice!

[IAmGhostDog]

Originally posted by fuzzyuu
Another nice!

400 bux worth of nice.
Not even in my near future, but definitely on wish list.
zzounds.com has it. Place where I bought Terratec.
Nice.