Razer AC-1 Barracuda 7.1 Sound Card

Introduction:

Razers AC-1

The Barracuda

   Before you read any further, you should read my review of the partner to the AC-1, the Razer HP-1 Barracuda Headphones. It gets much more in depth than I’m going to get here. For the basics however, all you really need to know is that they are extremely nice headphones, with the one flaw is the lack of bass using my Audigy 2.

   As I mentioned in that headphone review, the market for sound cards has been much like the market for operating systems in the last 20 years. There is the one main option that 80% of the population uses, then there is a half dozen other options that no one actually thinks about.

First Impressions:

The box

The back

The Who?

Razer has obviously put a lot of work into trying to make sure they don’t fall into that 2nd group. That starts with the box, though I have to ask, does anyone in North America know who any of the people they feature? I actually am really starting to dislike the “famous gamer syndrome” that is popping up everywhere, but I guess someone figures it sells product.

Closer look

More features

Open

Inside it comes with the sound card itself, a driver CD, a Quick start guide, and an HD-DAI adapter.

For gamers by gamers

The goods!

Quick guide + card

The connectors are where it differs from every other sound card out there. Instead of the normal “Front, Rear, Center, Sub” etc etc connectors, there are only 3. SPDIF in and out (read: Optical in and out), and the unique HD-DAI connector that looks suspiciously like a DVI port.  (It comes with a warning, NOT to plug in a monitor, they have only just used the same connector, it is NOT meant for video at all). The adapter that plugs into the HD-DAI port allows you to use the AC-1 with the same speakers or headphones you've always had. Right up to 7.1 surround sound speakers, it also includes a microphone in jack, just make sure you don't lose it!

Anyway, before I get more into it, I will assault you with the obligatory statistics.

Stats:

• Razer Enhanced Sonic Perception™ (ESP) enhances positional audio in gaming to allow competitive gamers to take advantage of the expanded dynamic soundstage in-game

• Dolby® Pro-Logic IIx surround processor splits stereo audio into 7.1 channel surround sound

• Dolby® Headphone technology conveys 5.1 surround or 3D gaming sounds over stereo headphones

• Independent Dolby® Digital Live (AC-3) 5.1 real-time encoding bit-stream to facilitate connection with CE AV receiver

• Dolby® Virtual Speaker solution brings amazing virtual surround sound fields via general two speakers

• DTS® Interactive Real-time 5.1 encoder that takes any 2 or more channels and encodes it into DTS bit stream

• DTS® NeoPC An upmixing matrix that turns any 2 channel audio into 7.1 surround sound

• Supports 7.1 CH digital audio playback for WinXP 64, WinXP ,Win2000 (Microsoft® DirectX V.9.0 above is required) and most industrial standards of PC 3D sound for gaming, including EAX™ 1.0&2.0, A3D™ 1.0, and DirectSound™

• PCI 2.2 interface (Burst Modes and Bus Mastering)

• 4 synchronous I2S input/output pairs

• Integrated 192k/24-bit S/PDIF receiver/transmitter Multi-channel AC-link (supports up to 2 AC97 codecs)

• S/PDIF IN supports digital loop back path for transforming between optical and RCA connection

• Serial bus to communicate with micro control unit (MCU)lMPU-401 MIDI UART port support

• All I2S I/O pairs support 32-bit high-definition PCM data transfer and adjustable sample rate up to 192KHz