Hardware Unlimited has dedicated good time to explore Analog's SoundMAX Cadenza onboard audio solution. With some wizardry, the folks incorporated hot new features such as 5.1 surround (AKA Dolby Digital or AC-3) and stereo array microphone support.

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Their research and testing showed that the stereo array Superbeam microphone outperformed the Plantronics in Office XP speech recognition by up to 9% in some cases. The 9% benefit over the Plantronics came in areas of low ambient noise, but dropped to a 2% gain over the Plantronics in noisy environments. Keep in mind that the Superbeam is a monitor-top or desktop microphone, and that the Plantronics DSP-300 is a headset. Having a desktop Superbeam microphone is surely more comfortable that having to wear a headset for extended periods of time. Andrea’s research also shows that Cadenza users with even the typical mono microphone can benefit from their Pure Audio filters. However, the Pure Audio filter and Superbeam combination provides the best accuracy for those needing the ultimate in speech recognition and dictation.

In my testing, the Superbeam with PureAudio filters yielded better results than the cheap boom-mic’s bundled with many soundcards. A very useful and entertaining use for the voice control was for Windows Media player. With the Superbeam sitting on top of the monitor, most commands were picked up the first time. I should also note that three systems were running nearby, and my music was playing simultaneously. Thus, there was a significant amount of ambient noise, but the Superbeam wasn’t adversely affected by this thanks to the PureAudio filters.