It’s unusual to see Creative allows their competitor to use their chipset, but they just did that! My friend contacted me and informed a new product from Auzentech (Auzen), the X-Fi Prelude 7.1. Yes, it’s an Auzentech’s card but with X-Fi chipset.

Here’s the full release from Auzentech:

Auzen X-FIâ„¢ Prelude 7.1 Coming Soon

Santa Clara, CA -April 16, 2007: Auzentech, Inc. (www.auzentech.com), developer of the world’s first Dolby® Digital Live and DTS® Connect PCI sound card, announces today a new sound card series based on the Creative X-FIâ„¢ chipset.

The Auzen X-FI™ Prelude 7.1 is scheduled for release near the end of May 2007. It will fully support EAX 5.0 and have the same expandability as the Auzen X-Meridian™ 7.1. Support for Dolby® Digital Live real time encoding for Vista is scheduled for Q4 of this year.
The Auzen X-Fiâ„¢ Prelude marks the first time Creative has permitted a third-party soundcard vendor to use the Creative X-FIâ„¢ chipset in its own soundcard design.

“By building a soundcard based upon Creative’s high-quality X-Fiâ„¢ chipset, we are fulfilling one of the most common feature requests from our customers,” said Stephane Bae, President of Auzentech, Inc. “When you’re playing games, the Auzen X-Fi Prelude soundcard will output the best 3D audio and latest EAX® effects. And when you’re listening to music or watching movies, you’ll enjoy an audiophile-quality experience.”

“We’re excited to provide Auzentech with our award-winning X-Fi audio chipset and technology to provide an outstanding audio experience for Auzentech’s customers,” said Steve Erickson, VP of audio for Creative.

I have used their X-Mystique card (Dolby Digital Encoding enabled card). Not bad, but also not very special. Auzentech used to use DIP socket for their op-amp (easy to mod). They also have released their DTS Encoding enabled card, but I no longer interested (anyway, I can’t get them in my country). But this time, the X-Fi Prelude 7.1 should be very exciting. EAX 5.0 and DD Encoding enabled card? What else? Just expect they will use the finest D/A and op-amp.