Razer Barracuda AC-1

Zitat: Coming from a company whose forte is input technology rather than sound, the Razer Barracuda AC-1 is a very decent and professionaly packaged to say the least. Though our tests proved its competence where games were concerned, the fact that it did not have native multi-channel audio support programmed specifically by game developers meant it was always going to be hard recommending the Razer Barracuda AC-1 to hardcore gamers. Razer still has a lot of catching up to do in an area that´s still dominated by Creative Technology. It´s a different story altogether for those looking for great surround sound for movies and music. Having proven its surround technologies, the US$199.99 Razer Barracuda AC-1 is an ideal (but expensive) audio solution for HTPCs. Our one gripe is that it doesn´t have a coaxial connection directly on the soundcard for interfacing with newer graphics cards which feature a coaxial audio pass-through to output digital audio (and video) via the graphics card´s HDMI connection. Also, the Barracuda AC-1 has no OpenAL support, further limiting its ability to impress.

Zitat: Sicherlich möchte sich Razer die Entwicklung der Software entlohnen lassen, aber ob eine derartige Preisdifferenz jenseits von 100 Euro dafür gerechtfertigt ist, muss jeder Kunde für sich selbst entscheiden. Vergleicht man die gemessenen Werte bei Verwendung der verschiedenen Treiber und Karten, ist festzustellen, dass hier kein eindeutiger Trend der Ent- oder auch Belastung des Systems zu erkennen ist. Denn teilweise konnte die Razer höhere Werte verbuchen, andererseits hatte die Theatron die Nase recht deutlich vorn. Dennoch haben wir durch den Praxis-Test einen eindeutigen Gewinner gefunden. Dieser ist nun wirklich in jeder Hinsicht seinen bescheidenen Preis wert. Wenn es um den generellen Surround-Bereich von 5.1 im Spiel geht, kann es die Theatron sicherlich auch ohne Weiteres mit anderen Soundkarten aufnehmen.

Zitat: With its price tag of around £130, it’s not really worth it in my opinion. A superior X-Fi card goes for £100 direct from Creative. The lack of EAX is a major downfall, and the poor bass capabilities can completely ruin a music track. The quiet max volume will also be a bad sign to any serious gamer or music lover. I’m far from a Creative fan boy, but this card simply isn’t as good. The card seems to only be designed for the Barracuda headset, rather than the majority of computer user’s hardware

Zitat: Ups - Excellent sound reproduction. - 96k/24-bit Analog - 192k/24-bit S/PDIF - Value added gaming performance Downs - Overpriced - Too much hype, not enough substance Razer has done a lot right with the Barracuda AC-1 sound card. The hardware is obviously top notch scoring very well in our testing. The music and movie playback is right up there with the best mainstream cards. The output to a home speaker systems is far superior to that of the X-Fi. And when paired with the HP-1 headset, the gaming performance is truly one of the best card/headset combo´s you´re likely to put together. And Razer has put it all together in an attractive package that will look g