I decided to press a computer I have into service as a multimedia machine. It has a decent video card (256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS) and a competent processor (1.8 GHz AMD Athlon 2500+). I figured the onboard audio would be adequate.

Boy was I wrong about the audio. I don't know if it is the combination of the VIA chipset with the Realtek AC97 audio, or the EPoX 8VTAI motherboard implementation, but the sound was just awful. Dropped samples, clicks, pops, burbles, dropouts -- you name it. Not only that, but the "sound" itself was bad. Not obviously distorted, but not pretty to listen to. Clear, but not clean. Lacking bass, even though bass was present. I think the analog portion of the design -- the output ICs, layout, choice of capacitors, was very poor. No other onboard audio on any motherboard that I have owned sounds this bad.

So I dug through my bonepile and found an old Creative Sound Blaster PCI board that I had purchased for the MIDI I/O port several years ago, and retired when I found a USB MIDI adapter. The onboard sound on that computer was just fine, so I removed the Sound Blaster when it was no longer needed. Anyway, I decided to try the Sound Blaster with my EPoX motherboard. I was stunned! The sound quality is fantastic over my AKG K-501 headphones. It is crystal clear, and because the Creative Sound Blaster PCI has the ability to drive unpowered speakers, it can drive the relatively insensitive AKGs to more than adequate volume. The bass is back, and the highs are very clean and open. The fidelity through my AKGs is as good as anything I have ever heard, and I am an audiophile, so I have heard quite a lot.

High end enthusiasts like to cast aspersions on Sound Blaster gear, and it might be deserved for some of their products, but this sound card is a great little performer. It's only AC97, 16 bits, and not surround or anything, but for driving quality headphones, it works just great. I haven't tried recording audio with it, so I suppose it's possible that the ADC is not as good as today's technology, but the output section is certainly fine for playing back movies and music.

• WxMonitor ow4j090107
  • Changed wind vane cursor from dot to line
  • Improved logging when running WxService in process
  • Updated copyright notice to 2009
  • Added rate of change to barometer tooltip -- shows rate of rising or falling
  • Added column sorting to History Panel
  • Changed "Current" wind speed to "Recent Gust" -- displays peak wind speed over last ten minutes (default, configurable)
• WxService ow4j090107
  • Packaged Dallas Semiconductor 1-Wire API 1.11_PreRelease_20071108 with the product to support new Maxim 64-bit 1-Wire drivers
  • Updated copyright notice to 2009
  • Added hygrometer auto-ranging feature -- modifies internal slope settings when readings exceed 100%, and prints an entry in the log file
  • Changed gust timing interval for Wunderground Rapid Fire -- reports peak wind speed over last ten minutes (default, configurable)

(download ow4j090107)