Auzentech Prelude - SCP Issues

[Yeungster]

I absolutely love the quality and features of the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude, but this frickin' snap crackle & pop issue is really doing my head in!

Is there anything I can do about this? Yes I am on an nvidia chipset, and it's pretty intolerable at times.

This has really put a negative point on this purchase, as there doesn't seem to be a resolution......as of yet?!?!?

I also wasn't planning on upgrading my computer until Nahalem comes out, so will I be stuck with the SCP problem until I move away from this chipset?

 

[SuB]

lol vista i assume?

it cannot be fixed i tried EVERYTHING

best thing you can do (if in vista) is set all your audio settings to 16 bit 44100 in the advanced speaker properties as this reduces it a little but apart from that mate i think you're stuck its an nVidia chipset bug that cannot be bypassed to my knowledge,

i have the X-Fi prelude on a P35 chipset and its nothing but sweet sweet sound no SCP bug

sorry to break it to you mate i actually quit vista JUST because of the SCP...

also have you installed alchemy? i had a point when everything was fine till i installed that and then everything crackled

also Auzentech recently released an updated driver for the Prelude have you got the latest driver or are you using the ones on the disc?

Cheers mate sorry to be the bringer of bad news but nvidia have done absolutely nothing to sort this out, creative tried but they have narrowed it down to chipset problems and can do nothing more

SuB

 

[Yeungster]

lol vista i assume?

it cannot be fixed i tried EVERYTHING

best thing you can do (if in vista) is set all your audio settings to 16 bit 44100 in the advanced speaker properties as this reduces it a little but apart from that mate i think you're stuck its an nVidia chipset bug that cannot be bypassed to my knowledge,

i have the X-Fi prelude on a P35 chipset and its nothing but sweet sweet sound no SCP bug

sorry to break it to you mate i actually quit vista JUST because of the SCP...

also have you installed alchemy? i had a point when everything was fine till i installed that and then everything crackled

also Auzentech recently released an updated driver for the Prelude have you got the latest driver or are you using the ones on the disc?

Cheers mate sorry to be the bringer of bad news but nvidia have done absolutely nothing to sort this out, creative tried but they have narrowed it down to chipset problems and can do nothing more

SuB

I guess I was hoping for a gift from above

I'm actually on XP, so no need for alchemy here. I was reading everywhere about this issue, but didn't think it would be this bad.

I'm not contemplating a minor upgrade to a C2D now as a stepping stone up to a highend Nahalem.

So is it definately associated with Nvidia chipsets? Do you know of any particular LGA 775 boards that aren't affected?

 

[Rastalovich]

No it`s not the Nvidia chipset. Not in the sense that "it`s an nvidia chipset thing" or anything. I`ve not had an nvidia board yet.

I`ve had it on every soundcard I`ve had and on every mobo, cept the ix38.- to this point.

Auzen, creative, via, intel c2d/c2q, amd x2/athlon fx, overclocked, ddr/ddr2, stock speeds whatever. All abit mobos tho to be honest - can`t say if that`s an issue.

It`s not something I can duplicate on a setup and show some1. U kinda like have a great install for weeks or months - and then all of a sudden it appears.

Both XP & Vista, upgraded, left as SP2 installs, stripped down and full installs.

I do know that it`s down to stuff and the data bus. --- that`s all I know.

Only "fix" I know is a reinstall - then it`s gone for the same period and comes back - so it seems.

Can`t 100% confirm anything tbh, cept the bus thing. Cos when I do get a pc doing it, I can make the crackles on demand by loading the bus.

EDIT: I`ve also tried pci latency utils and irq assigns and giving the pci bus more hz.

 

[Yeungster]

This has thrown a spanner in the works. I have no idea what to do then. Seems a waste to move back to onboard sound, especially now I've tasted the sweet sounds from above!

I may well attempt a reformat to see whether it helps the issue, but as you've pointed out, it's only a temporary fix.

The reason i jumped to the conclusion that it was nvidia was based on the information that creative have posted regarding their joint research with nvidia, which confirms the bus thing

 

[Rastalovich]

Could be that the bus issue exists in all the chipsets - more than likely an oversight by creative (auzen cards are the same reference).

Haven`t tried onboard sound for any great period of time.

Only other thing that nags at me is the possibility of codecs. Uninstalling them and reinstalling doesn`t solve anything, but I`m not totally convinced that this is "clean". I`d much rather have something akin to a CodecCleaner - that totally wipes codecs and their remenants from the OS COMPLETELY. Asked about for one and didn`t get a positive responce.

 

[firefly]

Could be EMI, or some induced interference.

If loading the FSB makes it worse then it's probably EMI.

Mobo's have 'spread spectrum' to help combat it - slightly varying the clock generator. But this gets disabled when overclocking.

You could try things as simple as moving the leads from the sound card - there are usually areas of less interference.

I've just got an auzen but I haven't tried it yet. Fingers crossed.

A soundcard with balanced circuitry would help a lot, but these only exist as pro-audio cards.

 

[SuB]

its not emi its a bus thing there are statements from creative and nvidia stating it somewhere,

i have to admit my auzen x-fi card is FAR better than my x-fi was, however when using games with Ageia logos (i have a physx card) all hell seems to break lose on the audio front which really

es me off tbh

 

[Cidious]

Did you manage to fix the problem??

I have the same problem.. and am also back to onboard sound..

Have a EVGA nForce 680i SLI mobo.. also nVidia..

Hope you managed to fix it..

 

[SuB]

unfotunately to my knowledge the nforce chipset seems to be the problem, and i have since moved well away from this, i am using the IP35 Pro chipset and no scp here at all

it seems the fix is a new motherboard

 

[Yeungster]

Afraid I had to bite the bullet and pull the sound card out. Havn't used it since and is taking up space in my cupboard now.

I love the soundcard, just a shame this issue still exists. I'm waiting to give it another try in my next build, but that could be quite a while yet.

Guess the saying "no news is good news" just isn't the case with SCP