Just bought an audigy 2

Zardon · Nov 27, 2002, 09:58 PM

and my impressions are that its a pretty fine soundcard. output is very clear and clean through my marantz amplifier and dali speakers........ certainly MP3 playback with my ogg and 320k MP3s is exceptional.

I went against my better judgement as I never liked creative drivers, but atm its not been too bad, apart from one hard lock all day. time will tell I guess.

RIV@NVX · Nov 27, 2002, 10:03 PM

They did some work around drivers for Audigy2, so quotes like: "These drvrs are crap." are not expected

Necrosis · Nov 28, 2002, 06:24 AM

Did you install the Media Source Go Launcher? If so are you having any problems? I've heard of it working at first for a few days and then it just dies.

RIV@NVX · Nov 28, 2002, 10:32 AM

How much you paid for it, Zardon?
In CRO, Platinum costs around $240, and Player is not available.

I will maybe be buying one when kX make it supported by their driver (so they need to buy one first).

Zardon · Nov 29, 2002, 06:51 PM

I didnt pay anything for it, which was nice.

As for the card, after quite extensive testing im generally very happy with the card, and the sound quality is superb, without a doubt. now I just need to hook myself up with a new set of 6.1 speakers in the new year.

Only downside IMO would be the drivers, while not being the worst ive ever used they are by far certainly not the best. Alot better than my SB live experiences though, then again that wouldnt be hard, as I threw that card in the bin, and reinstalled my old SB PCI 128. Creative are not a company high on my driver quality list thats for sure.

ive had 3 hardlocks (and my PC never hardlocks), and 30 percent of the time when I press the volume key on my microsoft natural keyboard pro it hard locks the whole pc.

ill test it more at the weekend when ive time.

Necrosis · Nov 29, 2002, 07:46 PM

Hey Zardon our systems are so similar it's not even funny...

BTW, I've had one hardlock up with the Audigy 2 since building this thing.

I rebooted and found out I had no EAX at all, even when I enabled it. The only thing that worked to correct it was reinstalling the card other than that it's been fine.

RIV@NVX · Nov 29, 2002, 08:37 PM

I wait for kX before buying it.
Zardon, how have you got it for free?

Zardon · Dec 1, 2002, 12:14 PM

well I think I may have solved the problem with the natural keyboard pro volume button lock out by visiting the microsoft site and finding out they have a new driver for the keyboard. V2_21, since installing ive yet to have the hard lock. this appeared to be the only problem ive had with the creative audigy 2 drivers to this date, and looks like it just needed an update.

as for getting the audigy 2 for nothing, well sometimes I get free hardware, one of the perks of owning a site like this I guess.

Zardon · Dec 6, 2002, 02:26 PM

ok, after a week of testing with this card and the creative software/drivers I can say im VERY dissapointed with stability. I get hard locks hitting volume keys and even using the creative software volume functions.

Now without sounding big headed I class myself as being good with software/hardware configurations and ive altered every setting I can to increase stability. nothing has worked to this date. nothing im surprised with considering the horrendeous driver support that creative have (and always have had), from my days with the SBlive (urghh.).

Another interesting and quite amusing point id like to make is upon entering the creative site and going to the european site for driver support, entering audigy 2, drivers, windows XP, NOTHING shows, no drivers, no updates, NADDA. which certainly brought a bemused smile to my face last night. yet the americian side has updates. (which incidentally do nothing to solve this particular issue).

Having spoken to as many audigy 2 owners I can, there are so many problems with the creative software its not even funny, from applications vanishing, instability problems, hard locks, blue screens of death, and even hosed systems.

yesterday, as I normally do due to the fact im always testing drivers, applications, programs, beta games etc, I performed my monthly clean install of windows XP professional, and have in a last attempt (recommended by another audigy 2 owner). just installed the audigy 2 drivers, and NOTHING else, no additional software supplied by creative etc. just the drivers.

its too early to say if this will solve the hard locks ive been experiencing, but rest assured in a weeks time if I continue to get them, the card is coming out and im going back to onboard 5.1 digital sound on my MSI raid mobo.

RIV@NVX · Dec 6, 2002, 02:38 PM

Yeah, sell it to me

Or send it to Eugene Gavrilov, he would really like to have one so he can implement support for it in kX.

Necrosis · Dec 6, 2002, 04:55 PM

Sorry to hear you've had so many problems with it. I've only had two lockups so far with the new system. Once I did the latest bios (beta) update for my board and the 4.40 driver things seem to be peachy keen.

(Knock on anti-static mat)

RIV@NVX · Dec 6, 2002, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Necrosis
Sorry to hear you've had so many problems with it. I've only had two lockups so far with the new system. Once I did the latest bios (beta) update for my board and the 4.40 driver things seem to be peachy keen.

(Knock on anti-static mat)

Pardon my ignorance, do you have Player or Platinum?

Zardon · Dec 6, 2002, 05:38 PM

having just installed the driver and none of creatives software package, the problem issues arent showing today at all. so perhaps its the software they supply and not specifically the driver causing the problems, certainly in my case this appears to be the problem.

its only been a day or so, ill be able to confirm this after some more usage.

zabaria · Dec 6, 2002, 06:41 PM

Zardon, how many speakers do you have? because I'm also thinking about buying an audigy 2, but I don't know if it's a MAJOR improvement on my 2 speakers and my sounblaster AWE 64 soundcard, especially with the 2 speakers

Zardon · Dec 6, 2002, 07:12 PM

well I run my soundcard through a marantz KI signature amplifier with dali coupe speakers. around £10,000............ I suppose I should look into a set of 6.1 or 5.1 speakers for my computer but they all sound so hideous , so I guess ill have to spend alot more for the sound I wish on the 5.1 side. (im more into high quality stereo sound.)

the audigy 2 sound quality is exceptionally high, 106db and is THX certified, very high, pure sound through the setup I have.

im liking the way its handling now without any of the creative software installed, stable today.

DallasStar · Dec 7, 2002, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zardon
well I run my soundcard through a marantz KI signature amplifier with dali coupe speakers. around £10,000............ I suppose I should look into a set of 6.1 or 5.1 speakers for my computer but they all sound so hideous , so I guess ill have to spend alot more for the sound I wish on the 5.1 side. (im more into high quality stereo sound.)

the audigy 2 sound quality is exceptionally high, 106db and is THX certified, very high, pure sound through the setup I have.

im liking the way its handling now without any of the creative software installed, stable today.

i have experimented with creative software a lot cuz there was once a time when the audigy was my only soundcard and i had to live with it etc. The drivers are actually surprisingly stable. It is the software that causes the problems. (at least that's how it is for me). I decided a long time ago that the software is really pretty useless with the exception of surroundmixer, audiohq and the bare drivers; so that's all i install now, and my drivers work great.

Necrosis also said something about one app that's included in the drivers (i can't remember which) that causes problems with the drivers.... something like "media source go".... you may want to look into that (that is, if you ever install it

)

Zardon · Dec 7, 2002, 09:04 AM

yes dallastar I agree 100%, having performed the clean install of WIN XP pro and installed just the audigy 2 drivers, the rig is running exceptionally stable. havent had a hard lock since. so its almost sure that the creative software is the problem, not the drivers.........

RIV@NVX · Dec 7, 2002, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DallasStar
i have experimented with creative software a lot cuz there was once a time when the audigy was my only soundcard and i had to live with it etc. The drivers are actually surprisingly stable. It is the software that causes the problems. (at least that's how it is for me). I decided a long time ago that the software is really pretty useless with the exception of surroundmixer, audiohq and the bare drivers; so that's all i install now, and my drivers work great.

Necrosis also said something about one app that's included in the drivers (i can't remember which) that causes problems with the drivers.... something like "media source go".... you may want to look into that (that is, if you ever install it )

But MediaSource Go! (I think it is that way) has some patch on CL site, not sure what for exactly, but it is a patch.

Zardon · Dec 7, 2002, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RIV@NVX
But MediaSource Go! (I think it is that way) has some patch on CL site, not sure what for exactly, but it is a patch.

yes it has a patch but with any of the creative software installed I get hardlocks, even with the recent "updates" and I think that specific update is to fix it mysteriously vanishing

Necrosis · Dec 7, 2002, 07:21 PM

No I don't install the Media Source Go Launcher tool bar.

I don't need it since I can access what I need through the system volume icon in the taskbar. The thread I started about this problem explains it a little bit.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/showthre...&threadid=6506

Many users were experiencing a completely dead launcher.

Nov 27, 2002, 09:58 PM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	Just bought an audigy 2 and my impressions are that its a pretty fine soundcard. output is very clear and clean through my marantz amplifier and dali speakers........ certainly MP3 playback with my ogg and 320k MP3s is exceptional. I went against my better judgement as I never liked creative drivers, but atm its not been too bad, apart from one hard lock all day. time will tell I guess.

Nov 27, 2002, 10:03 PM	#2
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	They did some work around drivers for Audigy2, so quotes like: "These drvrs are crap." are not expected __________________ -- Vedran

Nov 28, 2002, 10:32 AM	#4
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	How much you paid for it, Zardon? In CRO, Platinum costs around $240, and Player is not available. I will maybe be buying one when kX make it supported by their driver (so they need to buy one first). __________________ -- Vedran

Nov 29, 2002, 07:46 PM	#6
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Hey Zardon our systems are so similar it's not even funny... BTW, I've had one hardlock up with the Audigy 2 since building this thing. I rebooted and found out I had no EAX at all, even when I enabled it. The only thing that worked to correct it was reinstalling the card other than that it's been fine. Last edited by Necrosis; Nov 29, 2002 at 10:42 PM.

Nov 29, 2002, 08:37 PM	#7
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	I wait for kX before buying it. Zardon, how have you got it for free? __________________ -- Vedran

Nov 28, 2002, 06:24 AM	#3
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Did you install the Media Source Go Launcher? If so are you having any problems? I've heard of it working at first for a few days and then it just dies.

Nov 29, 2002, 06:51 PM	Thread Starter #5
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	I didnt pay anything for it, which was nice. As for the card, after quite extensive testing im generally very happy with the card, and the sound quality is superb, without a doubt. now I just need to hook myself up with a new set of 6.1 speakers in the new year. Only downside IMO would be the drivers, while not being the worst ive ever used they are by far certainly not the best. Alot better than my SB live experiences though, then again that wouldnt be hard, as I threw that card in the bin, and reinstalled my old SB PCI 128. Creative are not a company high on my driver quality list thats for sure. ive had 3 hardlocks (and my PC never hardlocks), and 30 percent of the time when I press the volume key on my microsoft natural keyboard pro it hard locks the whole pc. ill test it more at the weekend when ive time.

Dec 1, 2002, 12:14 PM	Thread Starter #8
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	well I think I may have solved the problem with the natural keyboard pro volume button lock out by visiting the microsoft site and finding out they have a new driver for the keyboard. V2_21, since installing ive yet to have the hard lock. this appeared to be the only problem ive had with the creative audigy 2 drivers to this date, and looks like it just needed an update. as for getting the audigy 2 for nothing, well sometimes I get free hardware, one of the perks of owning a site like this I guess.

Dec 6, 2002, 02:26 PM	Thread Starter #9
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	seems my other post might be wrong..... ok, after a week of testing with this card and the creative software/drivers I can say im VERY dissapointed with stability. I get hard locks hitting volume keys and even using the creative software volume functions. Now without sounding big headed I class myself as being good with software/hardware configurations and ive altered every setting I can to increase stability. nothing has worked to this date. nothing im surprised with considering the horrendeous driver support that creative have (and always have had), from my days with the SBlive (urghh.). Another interesting and quite amusing point id like to make is upon entering the creative site and going to the european site for driver support, entering audigy 2, drivers, windows XP, NOTHING shows, no drivers, no updates, NADDA. which certainly brought a bemused smile to my face last night. yet the americian side has updates. (which incidentally do nothing to solve this particular issue). Having spoken to as many audigy 2 owners I can, there are so many problems with the creative software its not even funny, from applications vanishing, instability problems, hard locks, blue screens of death, and even hosed systems. yesterday, as I normally do due to the fact im always testing drivers, applications, programs, beta games etc, I performed my monthly clean install of windows XP professional, and have in a last attempt (recommended by another audigy 2 owner). just installed the audigy 2 drivers, and NOTHING else, no additional software supplied by creative etc. just the drivers. its too early to say if this will solve the hard locks ive been experiencing, but rest assured in a weeks time if I continue to get them, the card is coming out and im going back to onboard 5.1 digital sound on my MSI raid mobo.

Dec 6, 2002, 02:38 PM	#10
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Yeah, sell it to me Or send it to Eugene Gavrilov, he would really like to have one so he can implement support for it in kX. __________________ -- Vedran

Dec 6, 2002, 04:55 PM	#11
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Sorry to hear you've had so many problems with it. I've only had two lockups so far with the new system. Once I did the latest bios (beta) update for my board and the 4.40 driver things seem to be peachy keen. (Knock on anti-static mat)

Dec 6, 2002, 05:38 PM	Thread Starter #13
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	having just installed the driver and none of creatives software package, the problem issues arent showing today at all. so perhaps its the software they supply and not specifically the driver causing the problems, certainly in my case this appears to be the problem. its only been a day or so, ill be able to confirm this after some more usage.

Dec 6, 2002, 06:41 PM	#14
zabaria DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 29 Rep Power: 0	Zardon, how many speakers do you have? because I'm also thinking about buying an audigy 2, but I don't know if it's a MAJOR improvement on my 2 speakers and my sounblaster AWE 64 soundcard, especially with the 2 speakers

Dec 6, 2002, 07:12 PM	Thread Starter #15
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	well I run my soundcard through a marantz KI signature amplifier with dali coupe speakers. around £10,000............ I suppose I should look into a set of 6.1 or 5.1 speakers for my computer but they all sound so hideous , so I guess ill have to spend alot more for the sound I wish on the 5.1 side. (im more into high quality stereo sound.) the audigy 2 sound quality is exceptionally high, 106db and is THX certified, very high, pure sound through the setup I have. im liking the way its handling now without any of the creative software installed, stable today.

Dec 7, 2002, 09:04 AM	Thread Starter #17
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	yes dallastar I agree 100%, having performed the clean install of WIN XP pro and installed just the audigy 2 drivers, the rig is running exceptionally stable. havent had a hard lock since. so its almost sure that the creative software is the problem, not the drivers.........

Dec 7, 2002, 07:21 PM	#20
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	No I don't install the Media Source Go Launcher tool bar. I don't need it since I can access what I need through the system volume icon in the taskbar. The thread I started about this problem explains it a little bit. http://www.hardwareheaven.com/showthre...&threadid=6506 Many users were experiencing a completely dead launcher.