Auzentech X-Forte 7.1
Auzentech brings the dedicated sound card market another blow with the X-Forte Low Profile PCI-Express Soundcard to deliver high quality sound with plenty of great features.
Ease of Use, Performance: 23/25
Look & Feel: 23/25
Features 23/25
How much I enjoy 24/25
Total: 93/100
Auzentech has done it again, when everyone thought the dedicated sound card was about as good as it could get they made it even better and smaller to boot. The Auzentech X-Forte is a dedicated 7.1 surround sound card offering Dolby Digital Live, DTS Neo: PC and DTS Interactive for Vista in a small form factor card.
The Auzentech X-Forte has many of the same features as the Prelude but has been fully redesigned into a smaller form to fit into HTPC and smaller PC cases. The card is a full X-Fi audio card using the Creative X-Fi Native PCI Express audio processor and includes 64 Megabytes of DDR-SDRAM for audio processing.
The Auzentech X-Forte is an easy sound card to use and install with simple small form factor size that goes into a PCI-Express slot using one of two brackets. The card comes with two brackets, a taller one and the shorter one for use in small form factor cases.
To use either bracket you simply unscrew the couple of screws holding the bracket on and pull it off and replace with the other bracket. The card is really nice and one feature I do have to applaud Auzentech for changing from the previous Prelude sound card is the rear connections.
I had one complaint about the Prelude and it did not change over time while using the card, the rear connections for speakers and line in microphone and such where hard to see. If your computer was positioned so the rear was hard to see you may have a difficult time seeing which connection the cables go into.
The X-Forte has a small adapter that plugs into a 15 pin connection and has about 5 inches of cable for each speaker, microphone and line in connection. There are six cable connections for Front, Side, Rear, Center/Subwoofer, Line In and Microphone connections which are very handy.
When connecting various speakers, microphones or setting up your system you do not have to refer to the manual to see which connection is which, the cables are color coded and written on each color coded label is the connection name. This makes working with the card so much easier and handy from the perspective of setup and occasionally changing things with easy to see connections on the adapter.
The X-Forte also has the multi use digital and optical connection as well as the headphone connection on the rear of the card. The card has an internal front audio header that is Intel HD Audio Compatible and a 2 pin S/PDIF input connector and the Creative X-Fi I/O interface on it.
The X-Forte comes with Dolby Digital, DTS Interactive, EAX Advanced HD, X-Fi CMSS-3D and X-Fi Crystallizer features for a wide variety of features that you can adjust or not use altogether. Some of these features enhance your listening enjoyment but others are for use solely with surround sound and digital so you may use them or turn them off easily from the Volume Panel in your task bar tray.
The Volume Panel opens with controls for volume, speakers, all the features and even the modes for your surround sound for complete control of your audio. You have three main modes with the Auzentech sound card; Entertainment, Gaming and Audio Creation with each having controls and features for its specific mode.
The entertainment has features like X-Fi Crystallizer and Dolby Digital while the gaming has a few microphone adjustments more prevalent and the Audio Creation mode has many of the equalizer and mixing features more prominent. Each mode is best suited for the type it is named after with the main differences being those appropriate for the mode like microphone control and equalizer with mixing features.