Introduction to the Santa Cruz The Card - continued Installation/Drivers The Versa Jack/Outputs Test Systems Audio Quality Tests - Subjective Audio Performance Conclusions

Audio Quality Tests - Subjective

    We've looked at the card and the drivers now let us look at what kind of quality we are looking at sound-wise.  The listener did not know which sound card was in at which time and as such was able to give an honest subjective opinion of the sound of the systems.  The person used has had previous experience in detecting the quality of sound and as such I believe that he is an ideal tester for sound quality analysis.  I would like to thank him for his cooperation in this test.

    You can see the audio system setup in the previous page so how did the Santa Cruz sound in DVD movies when compared to the Zenith DVD player and the two Creative cards?  Let us see:

DVD Movies

    Turtle Beach Santa Cruz

• Rating  - 6/10
• Comments - The sound was 'brighter' than the reference player.  The vocals were more defined and separate from the musical tracks in the movies.

    Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live 5.1

• Rating - 6/10
• Comments - The sound was quieter than the reference player.  I also noticed some jittering in the playback that was not there on the previous card (Santa Cruz).

    Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy

• Rating - 5/10
• Comments - Sound was not as 'detailed' as the reference player.  There was some jitter present in playback on this card as well.

MP3's

    Turtle Beach Santa Cruz

• Rating  - 3/10
• Comments - The guitar parts tested sounded very good; the bass was excellent;

    Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live 5.1

• Rating -5/10
• Comments - There were no glaring flaws in the sound quality.  Overall a well balanced sound.

    Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy

• Rating - 2/10
• Comments - The sound was harsh but at the same time it was also very bright.  The guitar sounds were acoustically very well defined.

CD Audio

    Turtle Beach Santa Cruz

• Rating  - 4/10
• Comments - The sound was well defined but it was still a little too 'bright'.

    Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live 5.1

• Rating -5/10
• Comments - The sound was well defined and balanced, while being fairly natural.

    Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy

• Rating - 3/10
• Comments - This card was quieter than the reference card.  The instruments were not as detailed as the reference card.

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