The Hercules Gamesound Fortissimo II
Big Sound, Small Price...

By Robert Maloney
April 17, 2002

Hercules website claims that whether you are looking at improving your 3D graphic gaming with impressive surround sound, creating unique compilations for your music collection, or trying to get the best sound out of your PC-based DVD, this audio card has what you need. Lets see if this is the case.

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MSI K7T266 Pro2-RU
AMD Athlon XP 1800+
256MB Micron PC2100 DDR
GeForce 3 Ti 500
Hercules Fortissimo II
IBM DeskStar 80Gb Hard Drive (RAID 0)
Pioneer 16x DVD DVD-105
Windows XP Professional
Cambridge Soundworks Speakers with Subwoofer

 

Performance
Did You Hear That?

GAMES: Eidos Soul Reaver 2, Lucasarts Starfighter, EA Sports FIFA 2002

After originally hearing a slight crackle and pop using a SB Live! card while playing Soul Reaver 2, I was pleasantly surprised to hear a much cleaner background with the Fortissimo II. The opening theme, with its Gothic intonations, resonated nicely, while the footsteps and other eerie noises kept me on the edge of my seat. From the familiar opening fanfare to the sounds of laser fire emanating from my starfighters cannons, I felt like I was in the theater watching the latest Star Wars movie. While playing Starfighter and in FIFA 2002, the stadium sounds were just like being there, with the shrill whistle from the referee almost sending me to the showers. I did not notice any hit in frame rates from the processing of the 3D audio although this again is a negligible gain with todays powerful processors. The sounds were clear, speech was perfectly audible, and I did not see any slowdown or stuttering on longer cut scenes. Overall, I was very impressed with the sound quality in each of these games.

WINAMP v2.79:

I tried listening to MP3s from such varied sources as Enya, Ja-Rule, Howard Shore, and Eric Johnson. The music came across with very clean highs and decent bass. I liken the effect to when I first switched from cassette tapes to Compact Discs. Enyas authentic Irish lilt came through my speakers crisp and clean, while Howard Shores symphonic Amon Hen from the movie The Lord of the Rings filled my living room with violins and bassoons. I found the bass to be a little soft, listening to Ja Rules Livin It Up, but a quick change of my mixer settings put that to rest. Finally, while listening to the guitar expertise of Eric Johnsons Cliffs of Dover, I swear I could hear each string being plucked. Yes, it actually sounds that good. Each of these recordings was sampled at 192-320 bitrate, and that may have an effect to some degree, but this sound card definitely delivered the goods for my ears. How this translated on a set of better speakers, such as the Klipsch ProMedia 4.1 is up for question and is subject to the listener.

DVD PLAYBACK:

Using PowerDVD XP 4, I sampled three scenes: the lobby gunfight scene from the Matrix, the Rave-fight scene from Blade and the unforgettable opening from Saving Private Ryan. I have to say that the quality was simply astounding, although there were a few times that the sound broke up a little after loud explosions. Hearing the individual shells drop from Neos gun and clink on the floor while explosions ripped around you was impressive, although it should be expected when watching a DVD. The sounds of war in Saving Private Ryan made the scene all the more gritty. I could swear I heard the explosions to the left and right of me, having bullets whiz by my head, and this completely immersed me into feeling that I was actually there on the battlefield. The 3D spatial effects are amazing, perhaps even better than what I had been accustomed to with the SB Audigy and Live!. Now, if I had only been able to watch these with a set of 5.1 speakers, this experience would have been golden.
 

The Hercules Fortissimo II definitely lives up to its hype; it is an all-around great audio card for casual listeners and hardcore gamers and the price is right. It is fully featured and should give Creative Labs a run for its money, especially in light of their recent problems with some of their cards in Windows 2000 and XP. The DIN cable was an interesting choice, making setup a relative breeze and allowing for the S/PDIF connections to remain on the bracket. In doing so, the user is not forced to pay for or use a breakout-box such as those found with the GameTheater XP or SB Audigy Platinum models.

Add in the nice blue PCB board, and Im sold (my PC is already a colorful match of red and blue components.) The only real detraction from the card is the lack of 5.1 speaker support. This may turn some buyers away, especially if they have already invested in a superior speaker system. For most users, this wont be a real issue and the quality heard in the games, music, and movies will justify the purchase. For all of this, I give the Hercules Fortissimo II a 9 on the Hot Hardware Heat Meter.

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