Auzentech to release new sound card based on Creative X-Fi chipset

Auzentech has announced the release of a new sound card the will be based on the Creative X-Fi chipset. This will be the first time that Creative has licensed the technology to another company for creation of a sound card. The new Auzentech card is dubbed the Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1 and it is being released in May 2007. It will fully support EAX up through 5.0. From the press release it sounds like strides will be made by the end of the year to merge capabilities from the existing Auzentech cards with the new X-Fi line of cards. Hmmm…Dolby Digital Encoding and Decoding in hardware…not bad. This makes me curious about the future of Creative sound cards. Is Creative going to begin licensing more heavily and step out of the sound card game? Makes you wonder why the sudden shift in corporate policy….