Neoseeker : Articles : Motherboards : Socket 478 : AOpen AX4B 533 Tube Motherboard Review
Hardware Newsletter:
Email:

News Headlines
New Articles

Compare Prices

Motherboards
Abit
ASUS
Gigabyte
MSI
eVGA
Intel
Tyan
More...

Processors
AMD
Intel
More...

Memory
DDR
DDR2
DDR3
More...

Video Cards
ATI
eVGA
XFX
BFG
Sapphire
More...

search for lowest prices

send article   hardware newsletter   article comments (9)
AOpen AX4B 533 Tube Motherboard Review - PAGE 1
Howard H, Peter Judson
- Thursday, November 14th, 2002

Today we have a unique product on our plate. The first ever consumer motherboard with a vacuum tube as a part of its onboard audio subsystem. This is not only an industry first, it’s one of the many industry firsts introduced by AOpen.

The AX4B-533 Tube is what AOpen terms as the fusion of current day P4 technology, with the century old Vacuum Tube, to create the world’s first true motherboard to claim more lifelike reproduction of music and gaming audio.

At the time of writing this article, the AX4B-533 Tube is no longer cutting edge because it uses the older Intel 845E chipset, but it’s still state of the art, as far as we’re concerned, because of the beautiful Vacuum Tube. Thus we head onwards with our tests and our discussion of just what the AX4B-533 Tube brings to the table.

Why a Vacuum Tube

Almost anyone is an audio enthusiast at some level, and a fair number of audio enthusiasts are well aware of the legendary audio quality attributed to Vacuum Tube amplifiers. Some chalk it up to nostalgic silliness on the part of audiophiles clinging to old technologies, and fearing improvement. And others swear by the richness, the depth, and the purity of audio from Tube amplifiers.

AOpen’s AX4B-533 Tube manual includes a very serious preamble which includes the reasons why they decided to create this P4 - Vacuum Tube fusion, as well as a detailed description of how they addressed various issues surrounding such a fusion design.

So really, why a Vacuum Tube? Aside from looking mighty cool, AOpen and many audiophiles believe that music is… well more musical, more breathtaking, and more soulful. Yes, the harmonic distortion is higher with a Tube system then with a solid state amplifier, but many many people will pick the higher distortion Tube amplifier because they feel the music just sounds BETTER.

In AOPen’s own words: “We love what we hear regardless of harmonic distortion as well as the limited frequency response compared to a solid state device.”

P4 - Vacuum Tube Fusion

I thought I would give you some information about AOpen’s vacuum tube, to curb the curious audiophiles and hardcore enthusiasts alike. AOpen didn’t just go and stuff a tube onto the motherboard and push it out the door, they wanted something that would stand up to some scrutiny.

In fact, they think they’ve succeeded in making the the AX4B a pretty good product:

“Yes, the AX4B-533 Tube is not quite a true “Stereophile” C-class recommended group of components. Yet, given its original fusion idea and meticulous journey to fruition, we believe it is Class-A for certain.”

AOpen’s “meticulous journey” to bring this fusion to fruition involved carefully choosing components. They use a 24K plated ceramic 9 pin socket for the tube, Cardas Audi cable, Vishay resistors, and a Maxim 668 DC-DC power supply for the tube.


Article Index

1.Introduction
2.Specs, Bios & OC Features
3.Performance and Testing
4.Gaming & Audio Performance
5.Conclusion

Submit our article to: diggDigg this! de.le.ciousdel.icio.us

Get updates when we publish new articles
Email Address:
(0.1423/d/nova)