Just a short time ago Hoontech wasn't very popular with PC users. But with narrow means and in search of optimal price/quality solutions this company managed to provide their products, in particular, their sound cards with quite attractive characteristics. But Hoontech offers a wide range of other products for PC.

In my opinion, all its hardware stuff can be divided into three categories:

• accessories for SoundBlaster Live! sound cards (including Live!5.1 and Audigy);
• home and professional sound cards;
• internal and external modules for home recording and project studios (meant for Creative and Hoontech sound cards).

You can look at the full range of the Hoontech's products at its site.

Hoontech is not at the top in the sphere of professional audio equipment, and its cards are interesting for PC users because of three aspects:

1. low price (for example, SoundTrack Audio DSP24 Value costs a tad over $100);
2. rich functionality (impressive multi-client support, MME/ASIO/GSIF);
3. the same high-quality components as installed in more expensive cards.

A lower price and a high-quality codec (AKM AK4524) allows using the DSP24 Value card as an internal DAC for high-quality playback of music on a computer. And all other possibilities can be left for home experiments with music and modern program samplers/sequencers. This is how I recommend to use this model from Hoontech. And now I'm starting examination of the card so that you can see why I've made such a conclusion.

The SoundTrack Audio DSP24 Value ships in two versions: a usual one and with an additional card with digital and MIDI inputs/outputs. The second package costs $40 more.

And today we will deal with the second version.

Accessories:

• ST Audio DSP24 Value card;
• Additional interface DSP24 Value Bracket card;
• Flat cable to connect them;
• Cable for connection of a CD drive in an analog mode;
• Cable for connection of a CD drive in a digital mode;
• 2 stereo minijack-to-DIN-5 (standard for MIDI devices) adapters;
• Detailed printed manual in English;
• CD with drivers and utilities;
• CD with Emagic Logic SoundTrack 24 (a light version of the Logic Audio sequencer designed only for Hoontech cards).

ST (SoundTrack) and Audio in the ST Audio DSP24 Value card mean that this product belongs to the currently promoted by Hoontech line of its products for the professional market. They have created a special support site www.staudio.com.

A black PCB with gold-plated connectors has the following elements:

• DSP chip - a multichannel PCI controller ENVY24 from IC Ensemble;
• I2S stereo codec AKM AK4524VF with a DAC and an ADC 24 bit 96 kHz;
• AC'97 stereo codec SigmaTel STAC9721T.

4 gold-plated RCA connectors are 2 inputs and 2 outputs. They serve for the professional-quality AK4524.

The fifth connector is a stereo minijack Line Out. A signal from an AC'97 codec is applied to it. An additional codec is designed to operate as a DirectSound device of the Windows so that users can have all advantages of a standard PCI sound card.

The daughter card contains coax and optical inputs/outputs. There are also stereo minijack MIDI connectors (adapters for DIN-5 are provided) and an internal CD S/PDIF in.

Look at the circuit of the DSP card, ENVY24 from IC Ensemble:

This chip provides management of the PCI bus in the DMA mode and an independent support of operations with channels coming from the bus to I2S and AC'97. The professional interfaces' part contains 20 channels of up to 24bit with hardware mixing in 36-bit capacity. It allows realizing multi-client drivers for 5 stereo inputs and 5 stereo outputs. The resulting signal can be monitored on a digital-out without any conversions or S/PDIF out can be used without a hardware mixing (pass-through mode).

The DirectSound is provided with hardware SRC and digital mixing of 16 streams with parameters not higher than 16bit 48kHz. Both mixers are separate devices. A professional mixer in all Hoontech cards is called Output Mixer, and the one which works under the Windows is named as an Internal Mixer.

The MIDI is supported at the level of integrated controllers of the MPU-401 ports.

The ENVY24 is an advanced chip which is popular with professional equipment manufacturers. But keep in mind that whether all its possibilities will be enabled depends on a soundcard maker. If drivers do not support something the hardware part wouldn't help. Besides, the number of inputs/outputs on the card also matters.

The AKM AK4524VF codec is the same as in the EGOSYS Waveterminal 2496 reference card. The codec's documentation is obscure. It has high characteristics of studio equipment level. But the SoundBlaster Audigy has also specified fantastic 100 dB of SNR. Luckily, theRightMark Audio Analyzer puts all cards in equal test conditions, and now no magic specifications will help. :)

Drivers and utilities

Unfortunately, we couldn't get the provided drivers and utilities work correctly on our test platform: AMD Athlon 1333 / 512 PC 133/ VIA KT133A. The situation was improved by the drivers from the manufacturer's site. However, the drivers supplied with the card had a virtual studio support when you can realize intuitive commutation of the devices with virtual cables (in the style of Reason and other similar programs). The new drivers offer a completely different interface: it is simpler but it works flawlessly.

The manufacturer's site offers drivers for Windows 9x, ME, NT4, W2K and XP.

Examination of the drivers and utilities can take a lot of time even for an advanced user.

When the drivers are installed under the W98SE the audio properties get a lot of devices for sound recording and reproduction.

Int. WaveOut is a device compatible with the DirectSound; it implements playback through the AC'97 codec. For this device there is a standard mixer of the Windows.

Ext. WaveOut 1/2...7/8 are 4 virtual devices which realize multi-client support in professional audio applications.

S/PDIF Out is a digital S/PDIF output when a daughter card is provided.

Multiple PCM Out is something mysterious :)

The recording devices have quite clear names, except Digital Mixer. It is a virtual device for organization of an internal digital loopback. It can be useful, for example, for transferring of MIDI tracks to Audio tracks (for example, from GIGAStudio into Cubase.

The system tray incorporates a convenient manager of the card's settings.

With it you can enable two mixers: internal and external. The first one is not very interesting as it focuses on management of the AC'97 codec.

The second one - Output Mixer - is much handier: a volume level is shown in dB; signal level sensors of the channels have a peak indicator. Positions of overloading in a digital mode are lacking - the upper value is 0 dB. Traditional Solo and Mute are here, and unnecessary channels are easy to remove.

All necessary parameters can be adjusted in the Hardware Settings:

The second tab allows professional audio interfaces to be supported independently by each of virtual outputs.

The minimal delay for the ASIO is 5 ms. It provides a flawless operation with 16bit/44.1kHz samples used, for example, in Cubase and Reason. In this mode the card can work in a relatively weak computer. Thus, a P3-550 based get-up with 128 MB memory and with this card easily coped with 10 stereo 16/44 tracks in the Cubase with one or two VST plugins on each track. With the Athlon 1333 and 512 MB memory you can process the same number of tracks but now in 24/96 mode (though you have to provide 2-3 GB on your hard drive for each composition).

The card was tested in a real-life when I was working on my CD "4 years of iXBT" and passed the test as a secondary card on a MIDI station. The simultaneously started GIGAStudio 2.20.42 (GSIF), Cubase (ASIO), Reason (ASIO) and Winamp (MME) worked flawlessly. A MIDI port on the daughter card operated correctly with a MIDI keyboard Yamaha CBX-K1.

DSP24 Value and W2K

At present a situation with new operating systems such as W2K/XP is not favorable for many professional soundcards. A WDM driver doesn't have some required functions very often; besides, it is permanently in a beta status. The Hoontech DSP24 Value faces the same troubles. Its driver v7.1.0928 Beta5 (11/07/01) for W2K SP2 has neither multi-client support nor GSIF one (the GigaStudio v 2.5 sampler can not find a GSIF-compatible sound device and informs about ERROR 60000).

Therefore, the card hardly suits for professional operation in W2K, but will be a good choice for listening to music. By the way, as one can read in the readme file for the W2K driver, Hoontech programmers are currently working on this problem and they promise to solve it in the near future. Unlike the tested card, my EGOSYS Waveterminal with the EWDM driver v.3.0 feels well in the W2K/XP. Multi-client and GigaStudio support is provided, and it has no bugs.

Tests of RCA outputs

In the tests we used the RMAA 3.1 program (the official site of the project is audio.rightmark.org). The measurements were carried out in the Windows 98 SE, DX8.0a, IE5.5 SP1. It turned out to be difficult to measure input-to-output characteristics because with such connection and without applying a signal the ST Audio DSP24 Value card entered the mode very similar to self-excitation. That is why we used the time-proved Waveterminal 2496 with 2.41 drivers as a generator and receiver of a signal. For measurements we used TRS-to-RCA cable made of a short-cut microphone low noise OFC cable with metallic gold-plated connectors.

Testing chain: DSP24 Value RCA Out - WT2496 Line In

Operating mode: 44100 Hz, 16 bit

General performance: Very good (in detail)

In the 16bit 44100 Hz mode the card showed excellent results. The level of THD and intermodulation distortions is the lowest. It indicates high quality of reproduction and lack of resampling which is peculiar to all multimedia cards. On the other hand, a noise level and a dynamic range for the professional AKM codec is less than expected. The further tests will show that it is caused by internal algorithms. Probably, it is resulted from hardware mixing of those 20 channels with unavoidable reduction of the dynamic range and anti-aliasing by dithering.

Testing chain: DSP24 Value RCA Out - WT2496 Line In

Operating mode: 48000 Hz, 16 bit

General performance: Very good (in detail)

In the 16bit/48,000 Hz mode the card has very similar results: the performance is cool, especially considering its price.

Testing chain: DSP24 Value RCA Out - WT2496 Line In

Operating mode: 96000 Hz, 24 bit

General performance: Very good (in detail)

In the 24bit/96000 Hz mode the card behaved uncertain. Despite a high-fidelity testing signal the AFC breaks after 20 kHz. You can notice that the graph drops out because of superposition of harmonics and mistiming of the testing and resulting signals in course of operation of the measuring program. Despite its professional codecs the ST Audio DSP24 Value card suits only for playback of 24bit 96000 Hz records.

Tests of RCA inputs

Testing chain: WT2496 Line Out - DSP24 Value Line In

Operating mode: 44100 Hz, 16 bit

General performance: Very good (in detail)

Quite attractive sampling characteristics in the 16bit 44100 Hz mode lacking for numerous harmonics make this card an excellent purchase for operation in this mode.

Testing chain: WT2496 Line Out - DSP24 Value Line In

Operating mode: 96000 Hz, 24 bit

General performance: Good (in detail)

Take a closer look at the IMD graph. Mirroring of the signal spectrum at 24 kHz indicates at resampling into 48 kHz at a certain stage of signal sampling.

The characteristics at 24bit 96kHz are worse than at 16bit 44.1kHz, that is why I don't recommend to use the ST Audio DSP24 Value card (at least, with current drivers) in this mode. Moreover, when we applied a sinusoid with a frequency over 24 kHz quite noticeable harmonics appeared in the audible spectrum; they reached half of the level of the original amplitude.

Test of the S/PDIF OUT

Testing chain: DSP24 Value Digital Out - WT2496 Digital In

Operating mode: 44100 Hz, 16 bit

General performance: Very good (in detail)

Testing chain: DSP24 Value Digital Out - WT2496 Digital In

Operating mode: 48000 Hz, 16 bit

The results are rather acceptable for a card of this price range.

At 24bit 96kHz the testing in a digital mode failed because of breakup of the synchronization in some tests. Here we can see again mirroring of the spectrum at the half of the resampling frequency, 48 kHz.

Comparison with characteristics of Creative Audigy and Egosys Waveterminal

Let's compare the Hoontech card with other popular cards to determine its positioning.

Operating mode: 44100 Hz, 16 bit

The DSP24 Value performs much better than the cheaper Audigy, but its noise level prevents it from reaching the more expensive Waveterminal (though it is based on the same codec!)

Operating mode: 48000 Hz, 16 bit

The Audigy Rear has caught up with the DSP24 Value and even outscored it as far as a noise level is concerned. But with such a thicken of harmonics the Audigy has a long way to go.

Operating mode: 96000 Hz, 24 bit

The situation is the same. The Audigy and DSP24 Value fall far behind the Waveterminal. The Audigy demonstrates mirroring of the signal at a half of the resampling frequency:

Digital output: 44100 Hz, 16 bit

* Output device - S/PDIF Out
** Output device - Ext.WaveOut

As far as digital output is concerned the DSP24 Value offers to output a signal from an internal digital mixer or from a separate device S/PDIF Out. The advantages of the latter are well seen from the measurement results. Here the DSP24 Value caught up with the Waveterminal in quality of operation. The identity of the results is accounted for by the fact that both cards use the same chips of digital transmitter and receiver.

DSP24 Value and games

For compatibility with games and Windows applications Hoontech provided the card with a separate AC'97 codec. What for? The matter is that requirements for a DirectSound-compatible device are opposite to those for a professional ASIO device. When we tried to set WaveOut 1/2 with the sound device in a game the sound was jerky and tardy. Video clips which use ActiveX components of IE run 20 times faster. Voices of heroes in the games are played 2-4 times faster at a frequency different from the sampling one.

Developers solve this problem differently; sometimes they enable a special operating mode partially compatible with DirectSound. Let's see what Hoontech offers.

Diagnostics of the Minerva v1.08 program:
Device Selected: Audio DSP24 DirectSound Driv
DirectSound reports...
1 Primary buffer available
12 Total 2D hardware mixing buffers available
12 Static 2D hardware mixing buffers available
12 Streaming 2D hardware mixing buffers available
0 Total 3D hardware buffers available
0 Static 3D hardware buffers available
0 Streaming 3D hardware buffers available
0 Total bytes sound card memory static buffer storage
0 KB/sec Data transfer rate to hardware static buffers
48000 KB/sec Max sample rate supported by secondary buffers
100 KB/sec Min sample rate supported by secondary buffers

Minerva is testing:

According to the program the card must work in DirectSound applications with the number of 2D streams not more than 12. 3D games are poor as the Hoontech card has no DirectSound3D hardware acceleration. The sound either disappears or cracks.

I recommend to install into the system one more sound card with DirectSound3D, EAX2 support and apply a signal from it to the Hoontech DSP24 Value in a digital mode. Any multimedia card will suit. I'm currently using Audigy + Waveterminal. The first one excellently plays games, the second perfectly reproduces sound from both cards. By the way, the Waveterminal has a special S/PDIF IN which is called SoundBlaster Digital In.

Music listening

If I write that the music is played excellently it would hardly satisfy anyone. It is necessary to compare. By the way, a human being keeps in his memory sharp impressions just for several seconds; after that they become blurry, and then turn into emotional impressions. That is why in our tests we played music simultaneously on the comparable devices instantly switching from one to the other.

We compared the records first in the PCM stereo format 16bit 44.1 kHz, then at 24bit 96kHz. The signal was read from two cards simultaneously installed into the computer. The files were played by two copies of the Cool Edit Pro 1.2a program with forced indication of the reproduction device in each. A hardware audio mixer Behringer MX602A provided instant reswitching. This device was connected with cables to Event 20/20 bas studio monitors (~$950). Here we used professional Proel (Italy) OFC low noise microphone cables with gold-plated connectors.

DSP24 Value vs. Audigy

The cards sounded differently on the Event studio speakers. The Audigy had not bad but rather dim sound. It is also a bit blurry. I even tried to interchange an inputs on the mixer, but it didn't help. The DSP24 Value has a more distinct stereo picture. The correlation was equal for 16bit 44.1kHz and for 24bit 96kHz. The last format was played excellently by both cards. At least, we could hear no artifacts. The rear output of the Audigy plays with less distortions than the front one, but it still yields to the DSP24 Value. However, the Audigy is not meant for professional use. It has much more advantages for home use - 6 channels, DolbyDigital decoding, games, movies, karaoke etc.

DSP24 Value vs. Waveterminal

At first sight, the cards sounded equally. At the same time the sound differed a tad in tembre. But the difference was so slight that when we switched to another card we quickly adapted to its sound and couldn't find fault with it. The Waveterminal has a bit more detailed and transparent sound. The DSP24 Value sounds sharper, thus, making us think that the sound becomes brighter. But if you listen carefully you will notice that such impression is caused by distortions in the highest frequencies, and it seems that the highs are becoming more. When we switch back to the Waveterminal the sound become paler but our ears instantly adapt to it.

So, there are less difference in sounding of the cards than in playing the same composition in 16/44 vs. 24/96. The sound in 16/44 differs from that in 24/96. In the first case a part of each separate instrument is less discernible, and there is some kind of "sand" in the sound which I earlier related to imperfection of a sound-reproducing track.

I'm looking forward to the DVD-Audio format with its 24/96 PCM. The SACD is not that bad, but I have no desire to pay a great deal of money to Sony for some exotic drive and for some pulse-width modulation with a sound which allegedly doesn't yield to the good old PCM. Some time ago Sony gave us a present with 44.1 kHz for CD-DA which was purposely incompatible with the current 48 kHz standard for digital DAT recorders. Then they tried to impose the ATRAC for minidiscs on us instead of MP3. But this time the situation is not so successful for Sony. Many have a DVD drive, a sound card or a Hi-Fi receiver which can flawlessly play PCM 24/96. And it makes no sense to replace it with such a dear exotic product whose future depends on the mood of this giant. Besides, DVD keeps on going down in price, while SACD at $50 is not affordable for many. Moreover, a lot of experts do not think that its sound is better than that of even a CD-DA.

Conclusion

The Hoontech DSP24 Value sound card has made a positive impression on us. The card, however, is not revolutionary in affordability of the 24/96 format for mere mortals. It is quite a balanced solution for a music-lover tired of multimedia cards with cheap codecs. If you need a solution for operation in home or project studios you'd better add a couple of hundreds of dollars and buy a card with normal 24/96 support and higher-quality characteristics (but in this case you should have studio monitors to notice the difference :)

Highs:

• Thanks to the professional I2S codec from AKM the sound is better than in any multimedia sound card including the leading Creative SB Audigy;
• The quality of the digital-out is at the level of professional sound cards;
• A full set of digital interfaces on a daughter card;
• Multi-client support in 5 virtual devices;
• MME/ASIO/GSIF support assigned separately;
• RCA connectors would please music-lovers;
• Moderate price;

Lows:

• Not very "honest" support of the 24/96 format;
• Quite conditional support of the DirectSound which requires one more sound card in the system for all modern games;
• Digital-outs only on the daughter card;
• Difficult to find this card.

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