In the market for a new sound card

Golbeze · Jun 3, 2006, 05:19 AM

I currently have a Soundblaster Live! 24-bit, and am thinking of upgrading. Now, I'm not exactly an audiophile, so I'm not looking to spend a ton of cash. My limit is $50, maybe 60 or 70, but no higher. I'm looking at the Audigy's, and was wondering if there was any benefits other than increased sound clarity, like better performance in games or taking more load off the cpu when running media player. Any help will be appreciated.

Tipstaff · Jun 3, 2006, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golbeze

I currently have a Soundblaster Live! 24-bit, and am thinking of upgrading. Now, I'm not exactly an audiophile, so I'm not looking to spend a ton of cash. My limit is $50, maybe 60 or 70, but no higher. I'm looking at the Audigy's, and was wondering if there was any benefits other than increased sound clarity, like better performance in games or taking more load off the cpu when running media player. Any help will be appreciated.

I'd say go with the Audigy 2 ZS. You can usually find the OEM cards for around the price point you're looking for. There is an improvement in CPU load (how much over the Live card I can't remember), and in games that use EAX there is a significant improvment in performance in quite a lot of games. If you do grab this card be sure to update the drivers to the latest version. Reason being is that this card, along with all the Audigy cards actually, have gotten better with newer drivers.

Golbeze · Jun 3, 2006, 07:30 AM

Alright, thanks. I was thinking of going with the Audigy2 ZS. I'll shop around and see what kind of deal I can get on the OEM version. And yeah, I already plan on downloading the latest drivers for whatever card I get. I prefer to do that with any new hardware I install.

Shakey_Jake33 · Jun 3, 2006, 09:52 AM

Do remember the Audigy4 OEM is only slightly more expensive than the Audigy2ZS these days.
There's not a huge difference, the Audigy4 is basically the 2ZS with better DAC's, but it's worth a mention.

riles9262 · Jun 3, 2006, 04:07 PM

If you have surround speakers, I'd do the audigy 2 zs. If you have a 2.0/2.1 system, take a look at the chaintech av710. I have it, and it works wonderfully with my logitech z2300's.

Tipstaff · Jun 3, 2006, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riles9262

If you have surround speakers, I'd do the audigy 2 zs. If you have a 2.0/2.1 system, take a look at the chaintech av710. I have it, and it works wonderfully with my logitech z2300's.

It's not a bad card, actually. Definatly the best of all the Envy 24 boards that are out there, and it'll run you about $30 or so.

Only real drawback is that it only supports up to EAX2.0. Not a big issue though.

Golbeze · Jun 3, 2006, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riles9262

If you have surround speakers, I'd do the audigy 2 zs. If you have a 2.0/2.1 system, take a look at the chaintech av710. I have it, and it works wonderfully with my logitech z2300's.

Yeah, I have a 5.1 surround system. I shop almost exclusively at Newegg, and the 2 ZS was on sale, so I ordered it.

As for the Audigy 4, even if only a little more expensive, it's still too expensive, as $70 is an absolute limit, including even shipping, and the Audigy 2 ZS was just under that.

riles9262 · Jun 3, 2006, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

It's not a bad card, actually. Definatly the best of all the Envy 24 boards that are out there, and it'll run you about $30 or so.

Only real drawback is that it only supports up to EAX2.0. Not a big issue though.

Ya, I got mine for 24 cad$, and have it setup through the rears in order to activate the 2 channel hi sample rate. It really sounds great...to me, eax is overrated anyway and in some games, you gain decent performance by keeping it off.

The zs is a good deal, and should sound great with your 5.1 setup golbeze.

Tipstaff · Jun 3, 2006, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riles9262

Y.... have it setup through the rears in order to activate the 2 channel hi sample rate. It really sounds great..

VIA still hasn't fixed that glitch in the VIA Vinyl control panel?

riles9262 · Jun 3, 2006, 09:44 PM

haha no of course not. But at least with the older driver i'm using (4.37 i think) your settings stick after rebooting the computer.

ROBSCIX · Jun 4, 2006, 01:55 AM

MOst guys consider the AV710 to be a good card if using it in STEREO only. The card is supposed to choke in suround mode. If you get a Audigy 2 then atleast you'll be able to use KX drivers...

Golbeze · Jun 7, 2006, 07:26 AM

Well, I got the new card, uninstalled and cleaned out the drivers for the old one, and installed the new one with the drivers from the Creative Website. Working great, and when I tried it out in Ubuntu, it sounded better than my old Live! card. I play on the zsnes emu, and the Live! card had sound crackling under Linux, where this one doesn't, so I'm happy.

Jun 3, 2006, 05:19 AM	#1
Golbeze HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 276 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	In the market for a new sound card I currently have a Soundblaster Live! 24-bit, and am thinking of upgrading. Now, I'm not exactly an audiophile, so I'm not looking to spend a ton of cash. My limit is $50, maybe 60 or 70, but no higher. I'm looking at the Audigy's, and was wondering if there was any benefits other than increased sound clarity, like better performance in games or taking more load off the cpu when running media player. Any help will be appreciated.

Jun 3, 2006, 09:52 AM	#4
Shakey_Jake33 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Bristol, UK Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	Do remember the Audigy4 OEM is only slightly more expensive than the Audigy2ZS these days. There's not a huge difference, the Audigy4 is basically the 2ZS with better DAC's, but it's worth a mention. __________________ CPU: Intel Core2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz RAM: 2GB (2X1) GEiL DDR2 800MHz CAS4 GPU: OCUK GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512Meg Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe Sound Card: Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Case: Antec P180 Black PSU: Seasonic S12 600W

Jun 3, 2006, 04:07 PM	#5
riles9262 Driverheaven brewmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: British Columbia, Canada Posts: 4,842 Rep Power: 70 System Specs	If you have surround speakers, I'd do the audigy 2 zs. If you have a 2.0/2.1 system, take a look at the chaintech av710. I have it, and it works wonderfully with my logitech z2300's. __________________ A beer a day keeps the doctor away.

Jun 3, 2006, 09:44 PM	#10
riles9262 Driverheaven brewmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: British Columbia, Canada Posts: 4,842 Rep Power: 70 System Specs	haha no of course not. But at least with the older driver i'm using (4.37 i think) your settings stick after rebooting the computer. __________________ A beer a day keeps the doctor away.

Jun 3, 2006, 07:30 AM	Thread Starter #3
Golbeze HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 276 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Alright, thanks. I was thinking of going with the Audigy2 ZS. I'll shop around and see what kind of deal I can get on the OEM version. And yeah, I already plan on downloading the latest drivers for whatever card I get. I prefer to do that with any new hardware I install.

Jun 4, 2006, 01:55 AM	#11
ROBSCIX DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 1,732 Rep Power: 0	MOst guys consider the AV710 to be a good card if using it in STEREO only. The card is supposed to choke in suround mode. If you get a Audigy 2 then atleast you'll be able to use KX drivers...

Jun 7, 2006, 07:26 AM	Thread Starter #12
Golbeze HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 276 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Well, I got the new card, uninstalled and cleaned out the drivers for the old one, and installed the new one with the drivers from the Creative Website. Working great, and when I tried it out in Ubuntu, it sounded better than my old Live! card. I play on the zsnes emu, and the Live! card had sound crackling under Linux, where this one doesn't, so I'm happy.