When 3D sound made its debut in games, Creative had already set up its EAX standard without any difficulty. It might have been expected that the EAX would not have lasted the course and that only Direct Sound 3D would survive. Today's games for the most part use Direct Sound 3D, but also support EAX, some in version 2.0. It has to be made clear that Creative has also made EAX accessible to other soundcard manufacturers. In a way, it's the EAX 3, renamed Advanced HD. EAX Advanced HD Up to now, 3D sound has limited itself mostly to positioning a sound in three dimensions (Direct Sound and EAX 1)....

One of the best features of the SBLP is native EAX support. Like many other users, when comparing the EAX technology to the A3D technology, I still prefer the richer and more full A3D technology. I feel, in most cases, that EAX lacks the 3D sound positional depth that A3D provides. I look for the new EAX HD standard to be included with the Audigy to improve upon the original EAX technology and should provide better sound and performance. Overall, I would rate the EAX technology to be good, but not as good as A3D....

Like the Audigy 1, the Audigy 2 is compatible with the DirectSound 3D, EAX 1.0, 2.0 and EAX Advanced HD 3D sound standards. Here, in detail, are the strong points of EAX Advanced HD: Multi Environment: In EAX 1.0 and 2.0, the environment effect depended on a given geometrical zone. Environment Morphing: This is one of the most significant developments in the EAX Advanced HD, formerly known as Dynamic Morphing. In the EAX 2.0, each environment was assigned a given place in a game and there was no mixing in particular when changing from, say, indoors to out. DirectX 9 is going to make 5.1 games the norm, and it is more than likely that 6.1 3D sound managed by EAX will soon be part of games. ...

The Audigy Platinum not only has 32 bit processing but also includes an IEEE-1394 port and a new version of the EAX - the EAX Advanced HD. But be warned, the Audigy's ability to support 24 bit/ 96 kHz sound is very relative. This not only manages DirectSound 3D, A3D 1.0x, EAX 1.0 and 2.0, but also EAX Advanced HD (High Definition)....

• -Terratec DMX 6Fire 24/96 vs. Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum

We should point out though that this game is compatible with EAX 2.0 and EAX Advanced HD, so in theory, if you activate EAX with these cards Hercules should run the game in EAX 2.0. Yet, while the bench tests show a significant drop in performance, the quality results are rather odd: when EAX is active, 3D positioning is practically non-existent and sound effects not very marked, whereas when it is deactivated, positioning is excellent and you are totally enveloped in sound....