PC audio technologies in transition

PC audio subsystems have stagnated with little or no innovation for 10 years or more. While graphics got faster and faster and eventually transitioned rapidly to 3D, audio stayed shackled to the ISA bus and continued to drag down the entire system performance. Recent announcements have triggered a shift in PC audio subsystem design, moving the connection point of the audio subsystem from the ISA bus to the PCI bus. These announcements include audio-quality initiatives, PC ´98 requirements announced at WinHEC 97 in April, new Microsoft APIs such as DirectMusic, DirectSound3D and new Intel initiatives. A properly implemented PCI-based audio design will also allow for legacy audio hardware compatibility. Psychoacoustic studies have shown that 3D graphics are perceived to look better with high-fidelity audio than if no sound or audio cues are available, or worse yet if the acoustic quality is very poor. By properly re-architecting the audio subsystem, it is possible to improve system resource allocation, bus bandwidth and CPU cycles while reducing implementation cost, and also improving the total audio experience. It is possible to off-load the audio “burden” with proper use of hardware accelerators. The reduction in system overhead can benefit the 3D rendering performance and the overall system behavior for an even better experience