
Aimless
Congratulations on a review that seemed somwhat aimless.
You see, you start by saying that this card might stack up against the Creative X-Fi... but then you (subjective only) compare it to an Audigy 2 ZS. Heck, even my Audigy 4 is marginally better than a card several years old. You also close by stateing that the card has taken the fight to creative and the X-Fi.
Please get your review straight. Are you comparing the X-Fi to the X-Meridian or the Audigy 2 ZS to the X-Meridian? Some might see this as a minor thing... but the X-Fi blows the Audigy 2 ZS out of the water.
Your review also did not mention other very important facts. For example, with the digital out do you still get EAX? Previous C-Media chips did NOT do this.
What was the quality of the recorded sound like? What was the CPU usage like with this card?
You make this card sound like the best thing since sliced bread. And it does look quite good. It's just a pity that your review was a little flawed and only scratched the surface.
Regards
Steve Jackson