Featuritis
Ah, the features. Cut'n Paste, Cut'n Paste. Most of the Hurricane's spec's are standard fare, 64 DirectSound3D streams, four channel outputs, and lots of API compatibility for games and such, meets or beats PC99 and PC2001 audio standards, and a decent 92dB SNR. Of note is the S/PDIF digital output so you can connect your machine to an outboard AC3 converter. I don't know how useful it is at this stage of the computer-audio game yet, but it's there and it add great value to the card. You'll also find A3D, EAX 1.0 and 2.0, I3DL2 (that's IA-SIG Interactive 3D Audio Rendering Guideline Level 2, basically an open EAX 2.0), and, lest it be forgotten, DirectSound 8. All of these modes do work, but some may affect performance a bit, like the A3D mode. The Hurricane does have a few features that are not found in any Creative product, namely Sensaura HRTF and 3D EnvironmentalFX stuff as well as a 5-band based-in-hardware equalizer. I do wish Creative had a hardware-based equalizer.

Hardware Features

• Based on the ES1992

• Hardware based equalizer

• Front and surround analog outputs

• 64 DirectSound3D™ hardware accelerated streams

• S/PDIF digital output for Dolby digital AC-3 content

Software features

• Millennium, Win2000, Win98 SE driver (WDM primary) support

• Sensaura MultiDrive multi-channel 3D positional audio Sensaura MacroFX, EnvironmentalFX, and ZoomFX technologies for increased game play intensity

• A3d 1.0, EAX 1.0, EAX 2.0, I3DL2, and DirectSound 8 compatibility

• 5 Band Equalizer

• Software bundle: Rune, ClickRadio, PCDJ, Atomixmp3

• Multi-channel system sounds

Package Contents

• Hurricane Extreme 4 Speaker PCI Audio Accelerator

• Driver CD

• Installation Guide

• Warranty Card

• CD Audio Cable

• PowerDVD Software CD

• Rune Game CD

• Terra Game CD