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Thread: Sound Cards

  1. #1
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    Sound Cards

    I am finalising bits for my PC and had decided on everything, but i am now re-considering the sound card:

    I was looking at
    http://www.creative.com/products/pro...sp?prodid=4915 for £81.66
    but
    http://www.creative.com/products/pro...sp?prodid=9476 for £51.11 doesn't look like much less except 5.1 support instead of 7.1 ( i will only have 2.1 so this doesn't matter), it doesn't have any firewire ports (i have plenty on my pc), and then a few tweaks that will probably not add much such as extra volume and a few fancy features...

    The url's of the cards at the shop are here:

    7.1 support (ZS):
    http://web6.scan.co.uk/Products/Info.asp?WPID=79511

    5.1 support (LS):
    http://web6.scan.co.uk/Products/Info.asp?WPID=84817

    I will be using the PC for games and uni work most of the time. will it be worth paying the extra £30 for the ZS - what apart from 7.1 support and 1 firewire port will i gain?

    Has anyone tried both of these cards?

  2. #2
    Put him in the curry! Rythmic's Avatar
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    Yup, LS is based on the 10k1 chip, ZS on 10k2.

    So differences are:

    ZS does true 24 bit/ 96kHz recording & playback. LS is a 48kHz/16bit card only (24/96 DACs but a 16/48 core).

    ZS has support for EAX4 in hardware. LS only supports up to EAX 3 in hardware (4 in software).

    ZS gets DTS support in the drivers, probably won't make much difference to you.

    ZS has better DACs, lower noise.

    It's up to you if thats worth 30 quid more. Either will sound much better than onboard.
    Now go away before I taunt you a second time.

  3. #3
    MurphmanL
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    I got a Soundblaster Audigy 2 24bit Sounds wonderful especially with EAX.. definately worth the £70 i paid, and with two good games and a large software suite i dont see myself complaining

  4. #4
    Drop it like it's hot Howard's Avatar
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    You can get a standard Audigy2 for less than £70 I'm sure? It's not worth the extra for all that other crap that you won't use
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  5. #5
    MurphmanL
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    I havent seen an Audigy 2 for much less than around £65 - £70, either way its a lovely card and I wont need to upgrade it for ages now

  6. #6
    Drop it like it's hot Howard's Avatar
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  7. #7
    HEXUS.timelord. Zak33's Avatar
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    REVOLUTION 7.1 from M-AUDIO.

    It is HEAVEN

    I kid you not one jot...so long as you have a quick ish PC (2 gig kinda speed) then the fact that it uses CPU cycles for effects is not relevent..it SOUNDS heavenly, does awesome Sensaura as well as EAX (not 3) and is SO ADJUSTABLE with such easy software...and BEST....

    DOESNT FILL YOUR PC WITH JUNK unlike CREATIVE ...who insist on a million registry additions.

    But mainly....the sound.....its just fantastic.

    Quote Originally Posted by Advice Trinity by Knoxville
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  8. #8
    Drop it like it's hot Howard's Avatar
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    Yes I agree Zak. But some people seem to have their heart set on Creative stuff. Nowt I can do really Creative's cards are alright, their software is just apalling.
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  9. #9
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    Hey,

    Still a bit confused about which Creative Cards are available

    Their site supports the following:

    Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro - about £160
    Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum - no idea of price
    Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS - about £80
    Sound Blaster Audigy LS
    - about £50


    But some sites (and u guys have mentioned above) have the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 - about £50 - Is this any of the above?

    If not then why do they not support it on their site anymore?

    Some sites have Sound Blaster Audigy ZS, i assume this is the same as Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS?

    With my PC i will have 1* DVD/RW and 1* CD/RW. Which of the above cards will allow me to have sound output from both drives onto the Sound Card? (I think there needs to be some kind of header input port)

    Oh, and i want it to be an internal PCI card.
    Last edited by matt_hobson; 23-03-2004 at 10:25 AM.

  10. #10
    MurphmanL
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    I got the Sound Blaster Audigy 2, brilliant card. Wont have to upgrade it for a long time! Go for it!

  11. #11
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    Audigy 2 is great, I use it for pro music production. A lot of serious musicians laugh it off as a 'toy', citing poor latency and no true 24/96 but:

    a) There's a wierd culture of equipment snobbery and ignorance (eg. music shops STILL only sell P4 systems, claiming AMD are unstable)

    b) They don't know about the Kx project drivers I get 2.3ms latency out of mine

  12. #12
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    aha. If i go to the european Creative site:

    Creative Europe

    then i have more choices. I am now trying to choose between the:

    Sound Blaster® Audigy™ 2 (£50.82)
    and
    Sound Blaster® Audigy™ 2 ZS (£83.9)

    Everywhere that i have seen the top one only has it as an OEM product with the card and drivers only. Whereas the ZS is much more widely available, and as retail. - Should i be concerned about this? Again my question to multiple optical sound support stands...

    Matt
    Last edited by matt_hobson; 23-03-2004 at 11:05 AM.

  13. #13
    Drop it like it's hot Howard's Avatar
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    • Howard's system
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    Quote Originally Posted by matt_hobson
    Hey,

    Still a bit confused about which Creative Cards are available

    Their site supports the following:

    Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro - about £160
    Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum - no idea of price
    Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS - about £80
    Sound Blaster Audigy LS
    - about £50


    But some sites (and u guys have mentioned above) have the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 - about £50 - Is this any of the above?

    If not then why do they not support it on their site anymore?

    Some sites have Sound Blaster Audigy ZS, i assume this is the same as Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS?

    With my PC i will have 1* DVD/RW and 1* CD/RW. Which of the above cards will allow me to have sound output from both drives onto the Sound Card? (I think there needs to be some kind of header input port)

    Oh, and i want it to be an internal PCI card.
    You don't need to use the audio outputs of drives using Windows XP
    Home cinema: Toshiba 42XV555DB Full HD LCD | Onkyo TX-SR705 | NAD C352 | Monitor Audio Bronze B2 | Monitor Audio Bronze C | Monitor Audio Bronze BFX | Yamaha NSC120 | BK Monolith sub | Toshiba HD-EP35 HD-DVD | Samsung BD-P1400 BluRay Player | Pioneer DV-575 | Squeezebox3 | Virgin Media V+ Box
    PC: Asus P5B | Core2duo 2.13GHz | 2GB DDR2 PC6400 | Inno3d iChill 7900GS | Auzentech X-Plosion 7.1 | 250GB | 500GB | NEC DVDRW | Dual AG Neovo 19"
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    Laptop: 1.5GHz Centrino | 512MB | 60GB | 15" Wide TFT | Wifi | DVDRW


  14. #14
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    can u hear any diffrence between live 5.1 and these audigy cards

  15. #15
    MurphmanL
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    Yes Nen u can definately hear a difference, how much of a difference tho depends on the content you are listening to, in games, EAX in 24bit is crystal clear and lovely. Prob with the card is i cannot seem to get my mic to work with it

  16. #16
    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Creative cards are overrated, and their software is shoddy.

    However, that doesn't mean it's bad to have one. My Live 5.1 is much better than my onboard 6-channel.

    Unfortunately, making sense of all the blooming types is a problem.

    Also, I believe Audigy 1 cards, with special (unauthorised) drivers can run as an Augigy 2 (but probably only with the stuff implemented in 10k1.)
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