Sound card. Upgradeing from an audigy

[MuFu]

If you use SSRC (or similar) with KS/ASIO for 44.1k content, the SQ difference between the Revo and A2 isn't *that* great. Especially not through your average set of PC speakers. I noticed a bigger difference going from A1=>A2, to be honest. If you're a gamer, the A2 is an easy choice, IMHO; If you don't game much, the Chaintech AV-710 is a great buy and a good, budget alternative to the Revo.

I've had no major problems with Creative software (went from SBLive!=>A1P=>A2), but then I always just did the "drivers only" installation. Their application suite is pretty ass-tastic. The M-Audio software has a few bugs but is far more flexible if you use your PC with a decent AV rig and/or headphone setup.

I would say that the difference in SQ between the A2 and the Revo is not enough to offset the gaming performance and price gap unless you have higher-end speakers/cans. Personally, it was worth it (I use a modest B&W/NAD setup or Senn HD600s + amp), but I'm not a serious gamer. The Revo bests most <$500 receivers in terms of analogue output quality IMHO, but on the grand scale of things it is still not that great if you're really serious about music listening/production.

 

[Sage]

i must have a card with hardware mp3 decoding. tried upgrading from Santa Cruz to Revo and discovered it didnt have it, had to switch back, and was pissed. i REALLY want an Aureal card, but being swalloed by Creative THATS not gonna happen

 

[Florin]

I was recently in the market for a soundcard upgrade because my Live 5.1 was acting up and Creative seems to have stopped bringing out driver updates since early 2003 or so, and I was desperate to NOT get a Creative after all their nonsense (like getting install CDs with non-english drivers for one thing, and then discovering they only have updates available for download, no complete driver kits, so you always need that darn CD.. and the general sucky quality of the interface of any of their utilities as well) but they seem to have the market wrapped up pretty well. I checked like 10 stores here in the city and all of them only had Creative.

Anyway I brought home a 2 ZS and it's actually been a much better experience overall. CPU load is lower, I can actually install just the drivers without getting any of the other crud, and I'm very happy with the sound on my little 4.1 set.