Subjective Listening Tests - Music

Music Testing

Disclaimer: Sound/music is very hard to describe in words and peoples tastes and gear vary considerably.  What we hear when testing this card may vary from what you hear and your description of that sound.  All tested audio tracks were in lossless FLAC or in CD format.

• Artist: Eric Mongrain
• Album: Fates
• Track: Air Tap!

This is a solo guitar piece played with the both hands tapping the strings and is a great piece to

Test how much of the textures and character of the strings can come through without being distorted or washed out. This song was spectacular on this card, crank up the volume and enjoy the textures and articulation of the notes in this great guitar piece.  The HTHD 7.1 did an exceptional job of reproducing this song without mashing the notes together or washing it out.

• Artist: Kiss
• Album: Creatures of the Night
• Track: I love it loud.

 This track is one of the top for testing bass as the bass drum is the driving for behind this song.

There is a great deal of character to the kick drum also.  Not just a boom, there is more recorded which give the kick drum in this song a great driving bass line.  This song sounded excellent through this card with a bit of volume and a subwoofer.  The Electric guitars have excellent tone allowing you to hear the tube amplifiers and not just distortion and overdrive.

• Artist: Billy Talent
• Album: Billy Talent III
• Track: Devil on my Shoulder, Rusted from the rain.

The soundstage is clean without any blurring of instruments.  The Bass tracks are nice and tight, mids are more prominent in this style but they sound natural without the gritty-ness or harshness.

The vocals came through perfectly in the forward soundstage with no blending or mashing.

• Artist: Robert Johnson
• Album: The Complete Recordings
• Tracks: All

 Yes, once we started listening to this player we had to leave him jamming and doing his thing.  If you have ever heard these tracks, they are very old and very rough although restored and re-mastered there is still a noticeable hiss and roughness in the tracks.  We were interested in how this card would handle tracks that were less then high studio grade.  The HTHD allowed the subtleties of the tracks and the artist to come through easily.  Again, it was hard to keep the leg from moving and jamming along.

The HTHD 7.1 allowed us to hear what was there for better or worse.

• Artist: John Lee Hooker
• Album: 20 Greatest Hits
• Tracks: Boom, Boom, Whiskey and Wimmen

We found this album had put the drums forward more than the other blues album which is difference in style.  Although the drums are more prevalent the card still balanced them out and didn't wash out the rest of the music.  The soundstage was clear and different instruments could be located easily in the mix.  The card reproduced the music with balance and great tone.

Music Summary:All tested music on this card had our foot tapping and heads a bobbin'.  This card showed its audio muscle with all the various genres we tested.  The Home Theater HD had no issue producing great bass without being overdone or becoming flabby.  The midrange range is crisp without being harsh and the highs have great extension without being too "glassy or overly bright. 

In comparison we found the Home Theater HD had a similar sound to the Forte 7.1 and considering the component choices it it makes perfect sense.  We tested music in various configurations, 5.1 with CMSS, 2.0, 2.1 and headphones.

The card was tested using no effects and tested again with such effect as crystalizer and EQ, to gauge what is available to the user.