Audio Fidelity/Performance

Again, we did not have our professional recording card on hand and so these numbers should be taken as relative indicators of performance.

Analog Performance (16-bit/48 kHz)

The Audigy 2’s analog input appeared to roll off the high frequencies significantly and so we opted to use our DigiFire 7.1 to measure the frequency response. Note this graph measuring the Audigy 2 Output, as you can see the Audigy 2 Line-In rolls off the high end significantly:

Here are the results you should really be looking at:

Frequency Response

Noise Level

Dynamic Range

THD + Noise (-3 dB FS)

Intermodulation Distortion

Stereo Crosstalk

Digital Performance (16-bit/48 kHz)

There is a significant ripple at the upper frequencies when using the Audigy 2’s SPDIF input. This doesn’t occur when we use the SPDIF IN of the Philips Acoustic Edge. This shows that the digital input of the Audigy 2 is poor and thus our 16-bit/48-kHz SPDIF measurements are done with the Philips Acoustic Edge input.

We get equally interesting results when we compare the SPDIF output. We can see that the nForce2 rolls off its bass significantly. The Philips Acoustic Edge has the best digital output.

Test	Audigy 2 SPDIF 16/48	nForce2 SPDIF 16/48	Philips PSC706 SPDIF 16/48
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:	+0.00, -0.00	+0.01, -0.26	+0.00, -0.00
Noise level, dB (A):	-97.2	-98.1	-101.7
Dynamic range, dB (A):	93.5	95.8	91.7
THD, %:	0.0041	0.0021	0.0021
IMD, %:	0.0095	0.0068	0.0083
Stereo crosstalk, dB:	-88.9	-93.1	-96.2

Neither the Audigy 2 nor the nForce2 provides native 44.1 kHz digital output.

Audigy 2 Digital Performance (24-bit/96 kHz)

Test	TOSLINK 24/96	Coax 24/96
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB:	+0.00, -0.00	+0.00, -0.00
Noise level, dB (A):	-100.9	-101
Dynamic range, dB (A):	98.5	98.5
THD, %:	0.0003	0.0003
IMD, %:	0.0038	0.0039
Stereo crosstalk, dB:	-95.3	-93.2