Sound card test program

What is it for?

The goal of this experiment is to gather useful data about different sound cards. This will help further developing of this software, and also help everyone interested in real-time processing to get more clear picture of various sound cards before choosing to buy one.

As Guitar FX BOX is real-time processing application, among standard sound card features (s/n ratio, frequency responce, DirectX API support, etc.), special interest here is in sound card LATENCY. More closer, it is the recording latency that is critical. With PC's and software real-time processing, total latency consists of: input latency, CPU time needed for processing and output latency. Most sound cards do pretty fast DirectSound output thus achieving very low output latency. But, for recording, delays vary a lot ( from 5ms to 0.1s or even more!). This can be due to limitation of sound hardware - like minimal DMA sound buffer (amount of audio data) supported, or sound card driver fault. And it doesn't matter if the card is cheapy or expensive! Card can have superb audio quality and very "lazy" input ( e.g. SB Live! - see tests below).

About latency test

Program tests sound card in attempt to find initial delay and minimal audio buffer supported by the hardware/driver. Technically speaking, former is the time that passes from the moment of sending request for sound buffer to the moment of actually getting it. Later constant is rather obvious, it shows what is the minimal buffer supported by device. Also, program detects real sampling rate when using small buffers and shows difference in % from nominal sample rate. Of course, all these values are preferred to be as low as possible. About measurement accuracy, initial latency may vary 5ms, and other two should be quite accurate.

Click here to download sound card test program SCTEST.ZIP (72k)
(see included README.TXT file for instructions)

Send your test report to fxbox@yahoo.com Don't forget to fill out the little form at the top of the file . If you don't like sending all the data send only the table that looks like those below, it is located near the end of the generated text file.

 

Few examples of my so far tests

Input (recording) latency summary:

DIAMOND Monster Sound MX300 PCI

Rate mono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050 M

10.173654

5.834522

0.535944

22050 S

10.080625

5.795960

0.530099

44100 M

5.114903

5.020715

0.538617

44100 S

5.428351

5.076843

0.591024

48000 M

5.086408

5.038562

0.202665

48000 S

5.093112

5.088514

0.214610


YAMAHA DS-XG PCI

Rate mono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050 M

10.704168

5.767594

7.670460

22050 S

16.294273

5.819624

4.015965

44100 M

5.374713

5.334178

6.292837

44100 S

10.684054

5.334018

2.614148

48000 M

10.749426

5.334570

7.001617

48000 S

10.759483

5.333088

3.005940

 

Turtle Beach Montego II

Ratemono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

10.047101

5.796062

0.530967

22050S

10.480397

5.796152

0.529223

44100M

5.562447

5.021270

0.540063

44100S

5.308503

5.020909

0.535725

48000M

5.446789

5.021270

0.218848

48000S

5.191170

5.020729

0.212568

 

Creative SB Live! value (using standard drivers)

Rate mono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050 M

58.386833

58.040520

5.018651

22050 S

58.453880

58.038666

5.019370

44100 M

58.581272

58.042854

10.008042

44100 S

58.701958

58.041294

10.002841

48000 M

53.832615

53.329998

9.999127

48000 S

53.952465

53.326164

9.996603


Creative SB Live! value (using EMU APS drivers)

Rate mono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050 M

10.204663

5.917685

0.629428

22050 S

10.174492

5.777804

0.545180

44100 M

5.124122

5.126616

0.497758

44100 S

5.132503

5.046052

0.052207

48000 M

5.074675

5.025004

0.125501

48000 S

5.072160

5.070667

0.502492


Aureal Vortex2 Superquad

Rate mono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050 M

8.836052

5.818168

0.648911

22050 S

8.950032

5.786021

0.556446

44100 M

9.219900

5.039514

1.022407

44100 S

9.059823

5.040293

1.000040

48000 M

9.125195

5.040678

0.757067

48000 S

9.074909

5.040839

0.748898


Creative Sound Blaster PCI 128 Vibra

Ratemono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

20.192259

13.199827

0.331364

22050S

20.327192

19.952000

0.335552

44100M

20.260983

17.502947

0.119339

44100S

20.483917

19.993910

0.156880

48000M

0.004190

10.261654

-1.270555

48000S

0.004190

10.260859

-1.264262


Creative AWE 64

Rate mono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

62.730686

62.604580

2.941660

22050S

62.801086

62.604195

2.945348

44100M

62.831257

62.616711

2.957036

44100S

62.941048

62.620758

2.968012

48000M

62.941048

62.620758

-5.613048

48000S

62.941048

62.620758

-5.613048


Creative AWE 32

Ratemono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

62.731525

62.496468

3.110728

22050S

62.853046

67.708000

3.111377

44100M

62.842152

62.506779

3.133323

44100S

63.096096

62.503422

3.165660

48000M

63.096096

62.503422

-5.397921

48000S

63.096096

62.503422

-5.397921


Creative Sound Blaster 16

Ratemono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

62.750801

62.499760

3.108857

22050S

62.838802

62.502598

3.111094

44100M

62.890762

62.512218

3.130290

44100S

63.149734

62.516407

3.159314

48000M

63.149734

62.516407

-5.404828

48000S

63.149734

62.516407

-5.404828


VIA Audio (WAVE) (integrated on MB ga7zm)

Ratemono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

0.007543

9.999544

0.981415

22050S

0.006705

9.997021

0.967770

44100M

0.007543

9.991241

1.770132

44100S

0.006705

10.003949

1.858342

48000M

0.006705

10.003851

2.573323

48000S

0.006705

10.001161

2.578985


ESS AudioDrive integrated on MB Compaq 5190

Ratemono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

0.006705

9.929318

3.207669

22050S

0.009219

12.124680

5.049119

44100M

0.006705

9.849174

2.951263

44100S

0.006705

10.061009

2.912287

48000M

0.007543

10.070976

1.925894

48000S

0.006705

10.062143

1.738268


OPTI Sound System

Rate mono/stero

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

58.900585

49.848995

0.979826

22050S

59.104244

46.440090

3.785686

44100M

59.354832

49.358017

6.017507

44100S

59.550949

46.455875

4.080863

48000M

48.693409

43.880405

2.082562

48000S

25.484838

21.938480

2.004146


Ensoniq Audio PCI

Ratemono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

62.683754

62.413242

3.243481

22050S

62.803600

62.413948

3.248249

44100M

62.835449

62.431484

3.272935

44100S

64.510803

62.196682

3.353347

48000M

61.961315

61.496593

7.781361

48000S

62.416401

61.661831

7.562616


ESS AudioDrive

Ratemono/stereo

Init.Delay[ms]

MinBuff[ms]

RateDifference[%]

22050M

10.068892

5.785515

0.998087

22050S

10.092359

5.884282

0.768810

44100M

5.507970

4.972455

0.618301

44100S

5.125798

4.982908

0.431494

48000M

5.125798

4.982908

-8.373884

48000S

5.125798

4.982908

-8.373884

 

Thank you for your support!