Sound card. Upgradeing from an audigy

[jvd]

What do you guys think . Audigy zs or another card ? Or do you feel its not worth it atall ?

 

[Helevitia]

What is your goal? Music? Games? Creating Music?

 

[Dr. Ffreeze]

jvd,

I went from a Live 5.1 to a Audigy 2 ZS and loved the upgrade!

I just bought (2) 3-way Yamaha speakers (8" woofer) shipped for $50. I got the 2 in, then I bought 4 more for my 'puter sound system (5.1 Dobly) with my new Audigy 2 ZS ($93 BAH $86 now). The sound card can handle 7.1 but my receiver can only handle 5.1 and those speakers are not well suited for side channels anywho. The Audigy spead up my 3D games WAY more than I thought possible. I always enable 3D sound, but I didn't know that the Sound Blaster Live 5.1! took such a large performance hit in frame rate.

I went from about 17 FPS in 3DMark 2003 Audio test to around 22~24 FPS.

Dr. Ffreeze

 

[jvd]

What is your goal? Music? Games? Creating Music?

games and music .

I have a klipsh (sp?) thx 2.1 speaker set up.

I mostly use head phones (the family tends to sleep during my late night mmorpg sessions )

Also to rip high quality mp3s for my mp3 player .

 

[Quitch]

I suspect the Audigy 2 is probably best value for money. It's the best gaming card, since it's the most well known, and later EAX versions aren't open for others. I've read around on various audiophile sites and there's a grudging admitance that this is a good card.

 

[PiNkY]

What's the difference between an Audigy and an Audigy II when using its digital out for games. I thought it was just about thx home certification (which pretty much means nothing to me) and 7.1 out. Aren't both using the same dsp?

 

[Bludd]

The Audigy 2 is pretty much regarded as a much better card than the original Audigy.

 

[elroy]

Audigy 2 for games (as much as I hate to say it!!) or an M-Audio Revo for music (I love mine!!) You could always wait a bit and see if someone comes out with a discrete card using Intel's High Def. standard?

 

[jvd]

Well i'm wining a bid for the audigy 2 zs for 40$ on ebay brand new in the box.

I think its a good deal.


If i win anyone need my old audigy ? will send it out for just shipping

 

[Dr. Ffreeze]

jvd,

If i win anyone need my old audigy ? will send it out for just shipping

My wife has only a Live 5.1! and it is getting long in the tooth. If you win, and if you want I would be gald to pay for shipping for her. =)

Dr. Ffreeze
www.drffreeze.net

 

[jvd]

sorry martox beat u to it in pm . Watching them go on ebay they are going for about 70ish. I can only spend 60 so i'm hopping to get lucky . I don't need the game pack(have most of the games anyway) so it doesn't matter what audigy 2 zs 7.1 i get as long as its the 7.1 so i'm hoping haha

 

[Guden Oden]

Audigy 2 for games (as much as I hate to say it!!) or an M-Audio Revo for music (I love mine!!) You could always wait a bit and see if someone comes out with a discrete card using Intel's High Def. standard?

One can think whatever one wants about Creative, but nothing beats the Audigy2 ZS today for consumer use. It's the best card out there bar none, and it offers the best gaming performance too, its CPU load figures beats out the competition by a sometimes rather substantial amount (by being lower, naturally).

As for Intel's HD-Audio, it is pretty much entirely CPU-driven today, so bad for gaming. Also, source audio isn't recorded in 24-bit/192kHz, which is good, because even 16-bit/44kHz can eat enough space as it is, and we aren't BATS anyway so it would just be a waste.

 

[elroy]

Audigy 2 for games (as much as I hate to say it!!) or an M-Audio Revo for music (I love mine!!) You could always wait a bit and see if someone comes out with a discrete card using Intel's High Def. standard?

One can think whatever one wants about Creative, but nothing beats the Audigy2 ZS today for consumer use. It's the best card out there bar none, and it offers the best gaming performance too, its CPU load figures beats out the competition by a sometimes rather substantial amount (by being lower, naturally).

As for Intel's HD-Audio, it is pretty much entirely CPU-driven today, so bad for gaming. Also, source audio isn't recorded in 24-bit/192kHz, which is good, because even 16-bit/44kHz can eat enough space as it is, and we aren't BATS anyway so it would just be a waste.

Meh. I won't buy another Creative product unless they are the only sound card manufacturer left, after the fiasco with the SB Live! and KT133A chipset.

 

[T2k]

Audigy 2 for games (as much as I hate to say it!!) or an M-Audio Revo for music (I love mine!!) You could always wait a bit and see if someone comes out with a discrete card using Intel's High Def. standard?

One can think whatever one wants about Creative, but nothing beats the Audigy2 ZS today for consumer use. It's the best card out there bar none, and it offers the best gaming performance too, its CPU load figures beats out the competition by a sometimes rather substantial amount (by being lower, naturally).

I don't see this as a big question - but Creative is pretty famous about A) bad drivers B) mediocre quality.
I wouldn't buy any Creative ever again.

 

[jvd]

what else is there to buy. I don't want to use craptastic onboard sound. I had a soundstorm on my nforce 2 board . I put in the audigy 1 and my game benchmarks went up 6 fps . So did my 3dmark sound test scores . If the audigy 2 is better than the audigy 1 i can't complain at all .

 

[digitalwanderer]

what else is there to buy.

Gainward just sent me their "Hollywood@Home SoundXtreme" combo of their USB "Music2GO" 7.1 sound card and their 5.1 headphones to review, I thought they'd make a neato Doom3 upgrade for those who ain't gonna upgrade anything else and from all reports D3 is gonna be a great game for the combo with.

If they're any good it looks like a sweet deal. $80us for the pair.

I haven't even had time to pull 'em out and play with 'em yet, I'll let ya know as soon as I form an opinion if'n you'd like.

 

[jvd]

what else is there to buy.

Gainward just sent me their "Hollywood@Home SoundXtreme" combo of their USB "Music2GO" 7.1 sound card and their 5.1 headphones to review, I thought they'd make a neato Doom3 upgrade for those who ain't gonna upgrade anything else and from all reports D3 is gonna be a great game for the combo with.

If they're any good it looks like a sweet deal. $80us for the pair.

I haven't even had time to pull 'em out and play with 'em yet, I'll let ya know as soon as I form an opinion if'n you'd like.

gotta let me know real soon haha.

 

[digitalwanderer]

gotta let me know real soon haha.

Soon as I can, the kids have got me hopping and I'm on the tail end of a hellrun and so is my wife when she gets home in about a half-hour so I ain't gonna totally geek out on her right away. (It tends to stress her when I'm all geeked out on her when she walks in from work, she's weird that way but I still love her oodles. )

I'm excited, headphones always seem better for gaming and this is a nice looking headphone set-up!

 

[jvd]

Well there is an audigy 2 gamer pack going for 64$ with 7 hours left. I might try to hit that one so let me know !!!!! Also if u have the free head phones from unreal 2k4 let me know how they compare. ALso a product link darn it !!!

 

[digitalwanderer]

I couldn't find a product link yet, it's a pretty fresh bundle...now after not being able to find it on Google I'm in a rush to get a review up!!!!

Here's the back of the box typed in, it's a USB soundcard & 5.1 set of headphones:

Hollywood@Home(tm)SoundXtreme(tm)

"Get ready for an awesome 5.1 surround sound delivering unprecedented realism to your favourite games. Now you can take advantage of an enemy approaching in close quarter combat, knowing when to dodge those incoming missiles and even "feel" the beat of the battle with the instant vibration feedback. The Hollywood@Home SoundXtreme(tm) is perfect for LAN parties and gaming centres and is the ultimate portable surround sound system

PRODUCT FEATURES

- Feel the resonance with the strong subwoofer of your SoundXtreme(tm) sound system
-The SoundXtreme(tm) sound system supports up to 5.1 channel audio
-Set the virtual speaker location using the Speaker Shift software
-Supports 5 different analog output modes, 2 channel stereo to 5.1 channel surround sound
-Chose from 27 different environments audio modes
-Supports Dolby Digital and DTS Surround Sound
-Enrich your sound experience with 5.1 Home Theater Surround sound
-Positional Surround Sound makes your gaming experience even more realistic
-"Feel" the sound of the battle with vbration feed back on your headset

THANK YOU GAINWARD!!!!!