TR Forums

JavaDog · Tue Mar 16, 2004 2:48 pm

Yay! Turtle Beach 7.1 Channel - The Catalina - with Digital I/O

Are we going to see a review by TR? <wink wink>

I'm glad I held off on getting a new card to replace my SB Live!...

Tue Mar 16, 2004 3:29 pm

Wow, I though that they gave up on new cards, now I have something to look foward to. Any linkage for the new card yet Javadog?

steelcity_ballin · Tue Mar 16, 2004 3:35 pm

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/product ... /catalina/

There ya go, seems like a decent deal i suppose. Not too expensive either, maybe i'll wait for newegg to get some, then compare prices.

Tue Mar 16, 2004 3:54 pm

Looks good, here is to hoping it is a decent card that will give creative a run for the money.

etilena · Tue Mar 16, 2004 9:49 pm

Heh, really waiting for TR to do an update to their sound card review. :wink:

LicketySplit · Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:09 pm

Not too many left in the sound card biz...nice to see this....hmmm..next boxen with this and a A64 939..sounds about rite.

Sargent Duck · Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:29 pm

I'm buying a new system this summer, and I was going to put an audigy 2zs in there (didn't really seem like any competiition was out there), but I hope this card gives the zs a run for it's money....only way to find out is a reveiw......

Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:41 pm

About time! The Santa Cruz is getting a bit long in the tooth. (And the name "Santa Cruz" is becoming a dirty word in the tech sector too, though through no fault of Turtle Beach! :lol:

)

If this thing gets good reviews, I will definitely put it at the top of the short list for my next soundcard purchase.

UberGerbil · Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:09 pm

just brew it! wrote:
About time! The Santa Cruz is getting a bit long in the tooth. (And the name "Santa Cruz" is becoming a dirty word in the tech sector too, though through no fault of Turtle Beach! )

Nah, they go by just SCO now. It's just a three letter word, not an acronym: they even pronounce it as a word, rather than ess-cee-oh. It's only us old-timers that remember what it used to stand for. Anyway, Santa Cruz is a lovely little town with a cool waterfront, great surfing, and a bitch of a commute into the Valley (and a university with a great mascot).

If this thing gets good reviews, I will definitely put it at the top of the short list for my next soundcard purchase.

Me too. Anything to keep some honest competition for Creative.

etilena · Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:21 pm

LicketySplit wrote:
Not too many left in the sound card biz...nice to see this....hmmm..next boxen with this and a A64 939..sounds about rite.

Sounds like what I'd upgrade to. :wink:

Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:32 am

It will just be nice not to have to buy an expensive bay insert just to get an optical out. It will be interesting to see if creative will try and come out with something new to trump this card.

Wed Mar 17, 2004 7:09 am

Starfalcon wrote:
It will just be nice not to have to buy an expensive bay insert just to get an optical out.

FWIW, back panel optical out isn't new; one of the Hercules cards had it a couple of years ago...

JavaDog · Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:31 pm

Yeah, looks to be a nice card.

I'm still torn between the new Catalina or one of the M-Audio cards... :wink:

But, I really like Turtle Beach...

AntecRep · Thu Mar 18, 2004 12:51 pm

Need reviews. Nice to see some competition for Creative too.

I wonder when it'll ship?

AntecRep

AntecRep · Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:23 pm

So I e-mailed them asking when it'll ship:

Thank you for your interest in our Products.
It is expected to ship sometime next week.

Best regards,
Sam,
Turtle Beach Sales Team

AntecRep

Thu Mar 18, 2004 2:48 pm

Good, now we just need to see some reviews on how well it performs.

Thu Mar 18, 2004 4:29 pm

If it is supposed to ship next week, you'd think some of the review sites would have them already.

Krogoth · Mon Mar 22, 2004 2:43 pm

Turtle Beach is also coming out with a successor to the Santa Cruz in the mid-range audio. With the Riveria which is basically a cut-down version of the new Catalina only supporting a single S/DIF output and 5.1 channels.

MikeyB · Thu Mar 25, 2004 9:10 pm

Anyone know if this is Envy based, or is it a in house chip?

JT · Thu Mar 25, 2004 9:50 pm

Don't give up (on) your venerable Santa Cruz's just yet...

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/product ... risons.asp

From this chart, the Catalina is lacking a number of features the Santa Cruz provides, such as:

Line-In Rear (ch 3 & 4)
Internal SPDIF digital CD input
4 ADC's (as opposed to Catalina's 2)
Joystick port (think about it - if your current joystick isn't USB, you're SOL)
VersaJack
DSP Hardware Acceleration
MIDI Synthesizer Header
Equalizer
4 Channel Pan
Sensaura Virtual Ear

That's quite a bit to toss-out on a supposedly "next generation" card. I won't be dumping my SC just to be able to plug in a 7.1 setup (which I don't have) and play music at 96kHz (which I can't hear).

EbolaV · Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:43 am

I was thinking about getting an Audigy 2 ZS this weekend. I used a Santa Cruz for like 3 years and a Montego Bay for a couple before that and I always was pleased with Turtle Beach cards.

It is true, the lack of feature from the Santa Cruz to the Catalina is puzzling to me. They are pitching the digital like mad, but I am not sure how many gamers really have this sort of set up. If they are going for the audiophile market, good luck to them. Most of these people spend unlimited sums of cash for the "perfect" sound. First and foremost is the source. If the Catalina has a very clean sound it might do well. Especially since audiophile cards are not that great for gaming as I understand. So people who do both would be pleased.

Since I only use headphones, I am not seeing too many reasons to buy the new card. Hopefully the reviews will rock and Turtle Beach can be a serious contender to Creative.

atidriverssuck · Fri Apr 30, 2004 4:47 pm

Turtle Beach reviewage?
Dunno if this is even relevant to what you guys are talking about, but I remember reading half of this review...
http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=512

I have never bought a TB card tho, so what do I know.

Sat May 01, 2004 12:20 am

Looks like their chances of a comeback are not too good with their new cards. I read the article and was very underwhelmed by the serious lack of features and the high prices.

LicketySplit · Sat May 01, 2004 7:04 am

Philips has come out with a new card....the Ultimate Edge...cant find anything on it yet..but will link to it when i do :wink:

Sat May 01, 2004 11:24 am

If it is as good as their last cards, then there is a chance for something besides creative out there. I just hope that they try to advertise the cards this time.

atidriverssuck · Sat May 01, 2004 3:31 pm

LicketySplit wrote:
Philips has come out with a new card....the Ultimate Edge...cant find anything on it yet..but will link to it when i do

yeh I read about this. Expensive tho...
And I dunno if their drivers are up to snuff. I wish they would get more serious about competing in the sound card biz.

drsauced · Sat May 01, 2004 3:50 pm

Its the same design as the Mad Dog Entertainer. It also uses the same stock VIA driver. So, in essence, TR did review it some time ago. Personally, I find the design limited. You can do much better for a little more dough.

I do believe the M-Audio Revo is closest to the Santa Cruz.

Cheers,
DrSauced

LicketySplit · Sat May 01, 2004 5:30 pm

Ive got the Acostic Edge...and its a great card...if the new one is any where near it in performance and with decent drivers...it will blow the creative and turtle beach away :wink:

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