Virtual-Hideout.Net | Reviews | Directron.com Sound Card Controlled CCFL Review

Directron.com Sound Card Controlled CCFL Kit Review
Date : Sunday, 06 October 2002
Author : Ript
Provided by : Directron.Com

Sound sensitivity in neons and cold cathodes has been around in the modding scene since they were first introduced to us modders a couple years ago. However, now sound activated cold cathodes are taking a turn from before responding to ambient sound to now with this product from Directron responding to the sound output of your sound card! This is not your every day cold cathode light kit...

"This new product is different from all those other cold cathode lamp kits in several major ways:

(1) It has a patent-pending design for the sound activation through the sound card. In other words, the light emission can be controlled by the sound output from the sound card, a very unique feature for gamers. (2) The driver is designed as an expansion hanger to save space and make the installation very easy. (3) A dual-socket driver is provided to power two tubes from one driver. (4) Double-film retail box design to avoid shipping damage. (5) Glass enclosure for the cold cathode tubes for extra stability." -Directron.com

Contents include a 10" CCFL, the "Driver" (or inverter with the sound activation, etc..), power cord (with pass through wiring), audio cord, and some mounting tape. The retail-like packaging has some instructions with a wiring diagram on the back.

The tube's wires are covered by heatshrink tubing, creating a very professional and clean look

The tubes glass enclosure is simply poorly thought out, or not thought out at all. First of all the enclosure is too big, just about the size of a standard neon, which defeats the advantage of size with a normal CCLF compared to a normal neon. Second of all the enclosure is glass, I don't know what they were thinking. If hit hard enough, the glass will shatter, creating a hazard (learned this the hard way a couple of months ago, thanks to my bud Acidwrz). It will also probably shatter the tube as well, completely defeating the purpose of even having the enclosure there in the first place.

Check out the image above and you can see (you may have to look hard, which is even better :p) the small wire, which connects to the opposite side of the tube. This solves the problem of having wires coming out of both ends of the tube. It's nothing new, but still nice to have.

The driver, unlike most inverters installs to one of your card slots. This eliminates mounting problems you may have with regular inverters, most are mounted by using mounting tape making it somewhat difficult to move it from one case to another. On the other hand it does take up one of your card slots... however if you don't have a single free card slot than you probably have bigger issues, heh.

Another nice feature is the insulated back to prevent people from severely injuring themselves. o_0

The backside of the driver consists of an "IN" and "OUT" plug for audio, and a sensitivity knob to adjust the sensitivity of the light to the audio. I really couldn't tell much of a change in the light when adjusting the sensitivity knob. It also features a switch that turns the light on or turns it to the sound activation mode. No simple off switch to be found, which turned into somewhat of an annoyance.

Installation was rather painless, although I can't remember having a hard time installing any cold cathode... There are basically two parts, wiring the inside and wiring the outside. Wiring the inside basically consists of connecting together whatever fits. If you can't figure it out, you probably shouldn't have opened up your computer in the first place. On the outside you'll need to connect one side of the small audio cable that's provided to the output of your sound card, and the other side to the input of the driver (labeled "IN"), pictured above.

Small video of it in action (in quicktime .mov format)

This is a small video if it in sound activation mode. The sound activation isn't as great as I thought it would be, sometimes inconsistent, but for the most part it's very fun to play with. It's pretty accurate in games; most inconsistencies come when playing music.

I did discover a couple of additional problems while using this unit, nothing is perfect, but these problems are noteworthy. First, the driver switches the right and left channels around (meaning if there's an enemy to your left making noise, you hear the noise in the right channel). For people who play games and rely on sound to target your enemies, this will be a very big annoyance. Since I almost never use speakers and my headphones don't feel all that weird when switched around, it wasn't a big deal for me, but otherwise it's nearly unbearable. Second, I could notice a small loss in sound quality, not big enough to notice right off, but when compared to without the driver, it's definitely there. Again, not a big deal, but still worth mentioning.

I'm not gonna say this is a great product, it has some major flaws. It also has a lot of really great features. Its biggest feature, the sound activation, is somewhat innovative and has many advantages over traditional sound activation. You can use this as a regular CCFL, or as a way to show off, chicks dig the sound activation!

All in all, for $20 you get what you pay for. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoys these types of things.

I'd like to thank Directron for providing this kit for review, to purchase it, go here! :D