Bluegears b-Enspirer

Verdict: A Dolby Digital rival to the X-Fi

Given that many motherboards now sport 8-channel surround sound and S/PDIF outputs, sound cards are something of a frivolous purchase when it comes to assembling and building a PC. They're hardware for perfectionists who want their PCs to be all-singing as well as all-dancing.

Trumping the abilities of motherboard audio is crucial for a sound card to attract attention and, with its long list of features and hardcore technical specs, Bluegears' b-Enspirer appears to be such a card.

The first and most compelling reason to be impressed by the b-Enspirer is the jewel in its crown - the Oxygen HD CMI8788 chip, which is made by C-Media. This chip is an improved version of the CMI8768 that we saw on sound cards from HDA and Terratec last year. Like the CMI8768, the Oxygen HD chip's foremost ability is its provision of Dolby Digital Live and DTS encoding. Any sound source can be encoded as true 7.1 audio, and output via the card's optical S/PDIF port. This provides the b-Enspirer with its key advantage over Creative's X-Fis and motherboard audio - true surround sound via a digital connection. Creative's X-Fi cards can only output AC3 (for DVDs) or PCM stereo through their digital outputs, effectively forcing you to use analogue connections for games. This feature of the Oxygen HD chip also means that you get true surround sound over a high-quality link without the need for a pre-encoded surround audio stream, so games, videos and MP3s can all be played in surround sound. Of course, to benefit from this, you'll need surround-sound speakers with a Dolby Digital or DTS decoder, such as Logitech's Z-5500.

Let's back that up, though, before your ears start drooling. Obviously, a media file not created with a surround-sound track won't offer the bona fide surround sound that may have been intended. So if you're starting with a stereo rip of a movie, don't expect an exact replica of the DVD audio track - after all, the Oxygen HD chip isn't some sort of Mark Kermode-style movie encyclopaedia that knows which sounds should go where at what point. However, the Oxygen HD can have a pretty good guess and the effect is nothing short of fantastic. This is a real boon for media PC builders who like to watch TV and downloaded media, rather than DVDs, on their PCs. With MP3s, the surround effect is agreeable too, although the b-Enspirer's 24-bit, 192kHz sound output helps as much as the surround-sound encoding. X-Fi cards have the Crystalizer feature, which we've found to be hugely beneficial to the sound of MP3s, so overall, for playing music, the b-Enspirer doesn't trounce its Creative rival.

While true surround sound in games should be cause for celebration and the burning of X-Fi cards in the street, sadly, all isn't well with the b-Enspirer as a gaming sound card.

The main reason for this is that its EAX support still tops out at EAX 2.0, so you miss out on the 128 concurrent voices and 3D positional audio present in EAX 4.0 and EAX HD.

With the b-Enspirer installed, the audio in games such as Medieval II: Total War and ArmA: Armed Assault seemed less precise, and it was harder to distinguish where sounds were coming from. The reason for this is that it only has EAX 2.0 or DirectSound 3D to rely on for positional information. That said, you benefit from the clarity of the signal that the b-Enspirer gives out, with loud sounds coming through clearly. In our opinion, however, this isn't enough to compensate for the loss of the effects that you experience with EAX 4.0 and HD.

The software for the b-Enspirer is unobtrusive and comprehensive, and there's also a BETA driver available for Vista. The driver has all the usual tinkering options, from effects to make your speakers sound as though they're situated in a hall or a padded cell, to the more useful graphic equaliser. Dolby Headphone support is welcome, as it attempts to provide multichannel sound via the two speakers in your headset, and the ability to tailor the sound according to the size and positioning of your orbital speakers is handy too, although this is par for the course these days.

In terms of connections, as well as the optical S/PDIF out, there's also an optical S/PDIF input, plus six mini-jack connections - four for 8-channel surround sound, plus a microphone jack and line in.

Conclusion

If your PC is intended to be part of a home cinema system then the b-Enspirer definitely leads the field. While you lose the X-Fi's Crystalizer technology, the quality of the b-Enspirer's outputs and surround upmixing is decent compensation, and for video and TV, the upmixing is stellar.

However, for gaming, the b-Enspirer doesn't measure up to an equivalently priced X-Fi, and the lack of cutting-edge EAX support is a weakness. You'll also need to make sure you have the speakers and surround sound decoder to match.