Sound Blaster X-Fi TM Titanium HD Testing Methodology & Results For RMAA v6.2.3 Music Movies Gaming THE AUDIOPHILE S CHOICE - FEATURING THX TRUSTUDIO PC TECHNOLOGY
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Testing Methodology using RMAA v6.2.3 In this section, we will guide you through setting up your Sound Blaster X-Fi, for RMAA measurement in real-time 24-bit/96kHz Playback and Recording using the Analog Inputs and Outputs. Comparison charts for the 24-bit/48kHz, Audio Precision test results are also included. These Analog I/O tests prove that superb quality analog audio inputs and outputs are achieved from very high quality DAC, ADC and board design. Setting up Sound Blaster X-Fi for Analog Measurement Your Sound Blaster X-Fi has the unique property of using hardware digital signal processing to improve audio quality and listening experience. However, to a tool designed to test for audio precision, such processing would be considered distortion. So, in order to properly measure the Sound Blaster X-Fi s analog precision, you must first turn off all such processing. The recommended procedure for doing this is as follows. Goto Start Control Panel Sound Or from the Taskbar right click on the speaker volume control icon to bring up a dialog box, and select Playback Devices or Recording Devices. From the Sound panel window, select Playback Devices tab. Select and highlight Speakers, then click on Properties on the bottom right button. 2
This will bring up Speakers Properties dialog window, as shown below. Select Levels tab, and mute all others as follows. 3
Next, click on Sound Blaster tab, and ensure Disable Sound Blaster enhancements is selected or clicked. Then, click on the Settings button. This action will bring up a new dialog window Audio Control Panel, as shown here: 4
From the Sound panel window, select Playback Devices tab. Select and highlight Click on the Mode tab to select Audio Creation Mode. Click on the EAX Effects tab to unselect Enable EAX Effects. 5
Click on the Encoder tab to select Off. Click on the Bit-Matched tab to select Enable Bit-Matched Recording and Enable Bit- Matched Playback. 6
Now click CLOSE for these settings to take effect. And returning to Speakers Properties dialog window: Click on the Advanced tab, then click on option box to select the desired sample rate and bit depth, e.g. 24 bit, 96000Hz (Studio Quality), etc. 7
Now click OK or APPLY button for these settings to take effect. This will return you back to the Sound panel window. 8
Then click on the Recording tab as following. Select and highlight Auxiliary, then click on Properties on the bottom right button. This will bring up Auxiliary Properties dialog window, as shown below. Select Advanced tab, then click on option box to select the desired sample rate and bit depth, e.g. 24 bit, 96000Hz (Studio Quality), etc. (Note: Playback and Recording sample rate and bit depth should be the same.) Now click OK or APPLY button for these settings to take effect. This will return you back to the Sound panel window. 9
Switch to Audio Creation Mode Audio Creation Mode is the mode of operation we designed specifically for precision recording applications. As a result, it is already configured to turn much of this signal processing off. So, it is the ideal place to start. Sound Blaster X-Fi Mode Switcher Configure Creation Mode Mixer At this point, you should see the Audio Creation Mode Mixer. The first thing you should do is pull down the Snapshot combo box and select Default, just to be sure all previous settings are reset. 10
Sound Blaster X-Fi Audio Creation Mode Mixer Click on the Snapshot pull down option to reveal the different RMAA settings, and select the correct option. Then, click on the Settings button. This action will bring up a new dialog box, as shown here: 11
Sound Blaster X-Fi Audio Creation Mode Mixer Settings First, ensure Master Sampling Rate is to match the test performed by setting to the desired rating for testing, e.g. 96kHz, 48kHz, 44kHz, etc. Then enable Bit Matched Playback from the Bit-Matched tab option. Next step is to disable most of the remaining effects in the Encoder tab option, including CMSS-3D, EAX, 24-Bit Crystalizer, Graphic Equalizer, THX Setup. It also guarantees that no digital sample rate conversion happens in the playback path or recording path. Now click CLOSE for these settings to take effect. Verify or Adjust Creation Mode Mixer Settings: Now, in the Creation Mode Mixer, confirm that all the following settings are in effect, or adjust them as necessary: - Master Sampling Rate: Matched to the test performed e.g. 96kHz - Speaker Mode is 2/2.1 Speakers - Wave: 100% - All Line Inputs: 0% and Muted or -144dB level - Record Source: Line-In/Mic-In @ 50% (no record gain, i.e. 0dB) - All visible Effects Returns: Muted 12
Sound Blaster X-Fi Audio Creation Mode Mixer Your Sound Blaster X-Fi is now properly set up for Analog measurement. Now, we move to RMAA Setup. Setting Up RMAA for Analog Measurement: Launch RMAA v6.2.3 This latest version of the RMAA can be downloaded from the following web site: http://audio.rightmark.org/download.shtml Select the bit depth and sampling rate you which to test. Note that Sound Blaster X-Fi max playback sampling rate is 192kHz, but the max recording sampling rate is 96kHz. Therefore the resolution must be set to 24-bit, 96kHz (or lower) for the test to work. 13
- Click on Click on Test Options, Display and select Display full frequency range (up to Fs/2). 14
An audio loopback cable connection: Connect a RCA cable from RCA Line Out to RCA Line In located at the soundcard back panel. Establishing playback and recording levels: Click Adjust I/O Levels, 15
Now you can begin your tests by clicking on the Run tests panel. Click on Results are presented in plots and are also tabulated. 16
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Results from RMAA v6.2.3 Tests Summary results for Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD (Model Number SB1270) Testing chain: External loopback (line-out - line-in) Sampling mode: 24-bit, 96 khz Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 khz), db: +0.02, -0.12 Excellent Noise level, db (A): -117.4 Excellent Dynamic range, db (A): 117.5 Excellent THD, %: 0.0012 Excellent THD + Noise, db (A) -96.3 Excellent IMD + Noise, %: 0.0016 Excellent Stereo crosstalk, db: -114.6 Excellent IMD at 10 khz, %: 0.0015 Excellent General performance: Very Good Full results (Sampling mode: 24-bit, 96 khz) Frequency response Frequency range Response From 20 Hz to 20 khz, db -0.22, +0.02 From 40 Hz to 15 khz, db -0.12, +0.02 18
Noise level Parameter Left Right RMS power, db: -116.6-116.0 RMS power (A-weighted), db: -117.7 117.0 Peak level, db FS: -89.1-89.3 DC offset, %: +0.0 +0.0 Dynamic range Parameter Left Right 19
Dynamic range, db: +116.8 +116.1 Dynamic range (A-weighted), db: +117.8 +117.1 DC offset, %: +0.0 +0.0 THD + Noise (at -3 db FS) Parameter Left Right THD, %: +0.0014 +0.0010 THD + Noise, %: +0.0014 +0.0011 THD + Noise (A-weighted), %: +0.0018 +0.0013 20
Intermodulation distortion Parameter Left Right IMD + Noise, %: +0.0019 +0.0014 IMD + Noise (A-weighted), %: +0.0012 +0.0010 Stereo crosstalk Parameter L <- R L -> R 21
Crosstalk at 100 Hz, db: -109-108 Crosstalk at 1 khz, db: -114-113 Crosstalk at 10 khz, db: -113-113 IMD (swept tones) Parameter Left Right IMD + Noise at 5 khz, %: 0.0021 0.0016 IMD + Noise at 10 khz, %: 0.0015 0.0012 IMD + Noise at 15 khz, %: 0.0015 0.0012 22
Comparison of: SB1270 @ 16-bit/44.1kHz, 16-bit/48kHz, 24-bit/48kHz and 24-bit/96 khz Test Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 khz), db: Titanium HD [24/96] Titanium HD [24/48] Titanium HD [16/48] Titanium HD [16/44.1] +0.02, -0.12 +0.02, -0.13 +0.02, -0.13 +0.02, -0.14 Noise level, db (A): -117.4-117.3-93.2-93.0 Dynamic range, db (A): 117.5 117.4 93.1 92.6 THD, %: 0.0012 0.0011 0.0015 0.0012 IMD + Noise, %: 0.0016 0.0017 0.0063 0.0066 Stereo crosstalk, db: -114.6-115.3-92.2-93.0 Frequency response 23
Noise level Dynamic range 24
THD + Noise (at -3 db FS) Intermodulation distortion 25
Stereo crosstalk Graphs were generated by RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.0 26
ANNEX - Audio Precision AP2700 results FTT @ 1kHz 27
Audio Precision FFT22 AMP1(dBV) vs FREQ(Hz) 12/30/09 13:43:20 +10 +5.844 +0 dx=-1.0000 khz dy=+98.394 db +10 +0-10 -10-20 -20-30 -30-40 -40-50 -50 d B V -60-70 -60-70 d B V -80-80 -90-92.55-100 -90-100 -110-110 -120-120 -130-130 -140 0 1k 2k 4k 6k 8k 10k 12k 14k 16k 18k 20k 22k Hz -140 28
FTT @ Silent 29
Audio Precision FFT22 AMP1(dBV) vs FREQ(Hz) 12/30/09 13:46:39 +10 dx=-7.3200 khz dy=-3.064 db +10 +0 +0-10 -10-20 -20-30 -30-40 -40-50 -50-60 -60 d B V -70-80 -70-80 d B V -90-90 -100-100 -110-110 -120-120 -130-134.551-137.616-140 -130-140 -150-150 -160 0 2k 3.92k 4k 6k 8k 10k 11.24k 12k 14k 16k 18k 20k 22k Hz -160 30
Frequency Response 31
Audio Precision A-A FREQUENCY RESPONSE 12/30/09 15:58:53 +5 dx=-3.7250 khz dy=+1.154 db +4 +3 +2 d B r A +1 +0-1 -1.016-2 -2.17-3 -4-5 10 20 50 100 200 500 1k 2k 5k 10k 20k 42.275k 40k 46k Hz 32
Phase vs Input Freq Sweep 33
Audio Precision A-A RELATIVE (Interchannel) PHASE vs 12/30/09 13:41:03 FREQUENCY +1 dx=-.90963 khz dy=-0.02 deg +0.8 +0.6 +0.4 +0.2 d e g +0.01 +0-0.01-0.2-0.4-0.6-0.8-1 20 50 100.125 200 500 1.00975k 1k 2k 5k 10k 20k Hz THD vs Input Freq Sweep 34
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Audio Precision 12/30/09 13:31:25 60 20 10 5 2 1 0.5 dx=-16.421 khz dy=0.00099 % T % 0.2 0.1 0.05 0.02 0.01 0.005 0.002 0.0012 0.0005 0.00021 0.0001 20 50 100 200 500 1.02324k 1k 2k 5k 10k 17.4441k 20k Hz THD vs Input Voltage Sweep 36
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Audio Precision 12/30/09 13:48:57 60 dx=-426.6 mvrms dy=-0.00134 % 20 10 5 2 1 0.5 % 0.2 0.1 0.05 0.02 0.01 0.005 0.00244 0.0011 0.0007 10m 20m 50m 100m 200m 324.7m 500m 751.2m 1 2 5 Vrms THD vs Output Voltage Sweep 38
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Audio Precision 12/30/09 13:53:56 60 dx=-450.0 mv dy=-0.00147 % 20 10 5 2 1 0.5 % 0.2 0.1 0.05 0.02 0.01 0.005 0.00246 0.00098 0.0008 10m 20m 50m 100m 200m 310.2m 500m 760.2m 1 2 5 V 40