Are you happy with your soundcard?

[CrystalMethod]

Figured we did it with Vid cards, might as well do it for sound as well!

[{PMS}fishy]

Yes. SB live 5.1 circa 1983. Works great. I fail to see the need for anything better to power headphones/computer speakers.

[kukyfrope]

I have a SoundBlaster Audigy 1 Platinum. It fits my needs well with a volume knob, among many other plugs I use for various media on the front 5 1/4" panel. Although when I OC the FSB too far on my RAM, the sound sometimes glitches in games. My PCI bus is locked at 33Mhz so I'm not sure what the problem is... probably too much speed :) If it continues to do it in my A64 rig I'll probably look towards an Audigy2.

[Jacobman]

I am completely satisfied and happy with my audigy2 zs modded to an audigy4 pro. :)

[kukyfrope]

Care to explain why Jacobman?

[Blackmage]

onboard sound, does the job as my speakers arnt to great but i want to save up for an audigy2 zs.

[9mmCensor]

av710, rocks my socks.

[pby5cat]

I love my NF1 SoundStorm

[consumer9000]

I've been very happy with the last 5 Creative Labs Soundblaster cards I've owned. Aside from the KT133A Southbridge chip glitch a few years ago things have been great. (PCI512/Live!5.1/Audigy/Audigy Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum) :thup: :thup:

Combined with Klipsch ProMedia's and Monster Cable wiring and power filtering, you can't ask for much more when it comes to PC Audio! :)

[Avg]

I don't love my sounstorm but I don't hate it either, I guess my speakers are not good enough to experience the soundstorm goodness. Eitherway I never spent money on a soundcard, to me any onboard is fine since I usually turn the volume down when playing games.

[stang8118]

Onboard sound and loving it! Never really cared about sound that much. As long as it has good bass + highs i am a happy camper. $30 sub/highs and happy! :D

[Statik]

got an audigy ls 5.1 (the "gamer" one, haha)... works fine

[JigPu]

It's not love, but I certianly very much like my Fortissimo III.

Awesome piece of hardware, though it does have a few quirks (like the ouput voltage [and thus max volume] being lower than most cards). Great sound quality though, which is what mainly matters to me :D

JigPu

[Special7]

Yes, my SoundStorm has been serving me well. :)

[alphasl]

My Revo 7.1 has served me well.

[Vrykyl]

Hercules Fortissimo3 7.1 - sounds lurvly :)

[Nandro]

I am pretty happy with my SB extigy external and have used it on my last 3 rigs. I have a hercules game theater here but have yet to try it.

[Crana]

I love my 5.1 Creative SBlive sound! :drool:

If only the volume worked properly :bang head

But the sub makes up for that :drool:

[EvilCloudStrife]

only onboard 7.1 soundcard will do for me... heheh.. just kidding, but really.. it is treating me well.. but i wouldnt say love

[Voodoo Rufus]

I dislike my NF2 Soundstorm a great deal. The analog outputs are very noisy unless the onboard volume control is set to maximum and only outboard volume controls arse used. I know this isn't entirely the fault of the SS chip but more of the ALC650.

I regret selling my Philips Acoustic Edge. It didn't have the gaming processing ability of the SS, but the analog outs were darn good.

[stratcatprowlin]

My Usb Soundblaster sounds way better than the onboard sound that my K8T Neo has.
What A soundblaster actually sounds good? This one does lol.

[sean478]

Im not that impressed with my audigy2 zs.
Y NOT I LOVE MINE IT SOUNDS LIKE THE REAL THING HECK EVEN BETTER

[Spyd3r]

Im not that impressed with my audigy2 zs.


Same here. Going to be looking at the AV710 now for its 2-channel output. Missed out on the $20 Cdn sale at NCIX.

Mine gives out this crackling noise every once in a while. I'm running the latest drivers too so the only thing I could think of is overheating? Planning on moving it onto the 3rd PCI slot instead of the one at the bottom.

[sean478]

Same here. Going to be looking at the AV710 now for its 2-channel output. Missed out on the $20 Cdn sale at NCIX.

Mine gives out this crackling noise every once in a while. I'm running the latest drivers too so the only thing I could think of is overheating? Planning on moving it onto the 3rd PCI slot instead of the one at the bottom.
the latest drivers are the problem well not the drivers the app updates uninstall everything program / drivers and unplug ur internet and reinstall fron origanal cd

[Smokey21]

Audigy, and yes, ive had it before the Audigy 2 came out, so ive had it a long time and never upgraded it.

[funnyperson1]

I am using my onboard sound with the ALC650 6 channel. Its ok but at times I do scour the classifieds for a good deal on a better card.

[JCLW]

A1 using A2-ZS drivers on dual i440BX: 6/10 - The original A1 drivers had problems in SMP systems but it works fine with the A2-ZS drivers.

A2-ZS on an i815 system: 7/10 - Good, but I don't think it's worth the $$$ I paid.

Azalia HDA (Dolby Digital Live!) ICH6/CMI9880 on i915: 9/10 - Excelent. Using digital out to Yamaha receiver. Would be 10/10 except for the slightly higher CPU usage.

[TheGreySpectre]

mmmmmmmm integrated sound, i like the sound on my a7n8xedeluxe, spdif and everything

[kill me2]

My audigy 2 broke when I disconnected a firewire cable from it so I have to resort to soundstorm, which for some reason crackles.
I LOVE NON-SHIELDED speakers.

[Emon]

Y NOT I LOVE MINE IT SOUNDS LIKE THE REAL THING HECK EVEN BETTER
Compared to other sound cards of the same and even lower price, it sounds terrible. I'm going to be buying an E-MU 0404 to compliment my Audigy 2. The only reason I'm keeping the Audigy 2 around is so I can feed the optical out into the 0404 and get EAX without the Audigy 2 screwing it up with its bad DAC and bad op ampness that it..has.

[@md0Cer]

I am not really the type of person who listens to something and can really tell the quality, so yes, I am happy with the onboard sound that came with my Via KT400 motherboard.

At one point in time I really wanted to have a nicer one like soundstorm and I was kinda sad that they didn't include soundstorm in their motherboards anymore, but to be honest, I realized I really don't care about it that much.

[Chunkylover763]

I got a plain audigy and it goes quite well with my Logitch Z-5300s, 100db of SNR and 5.1 channel output does fine since my speakers are 5.1 and 85db of Signal to Noise ratio. My only frustration is that the audigy drivers are incomplete in that they dont have nearly the amount of controls the audigy 2 has even though they have all the proper hardware.

[SolidxSnake]

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2
+
Creative Labs Inspire 5.1 T5400 5.1 Surround-Sound speakers

=

Crazy Sound

[dead_man311]

Sound card rock , Sound blasters are the best

and with my new speakers i got a week ago is sounds sweet

[Shuzzy]

audigy 2 zs. i use headphones almost exclusively and the sound is great. :)

[sean4231]

i like my Philipls sound agent 2

[_l4st_chanC3__]

audigy 2 . . . love the dsp console panel for music and movies. works really awesome for games too.

[XvDarkyvX]

haven't really been a sound guy. got a decent sound card a long time ago lol.. sound blaster live 5.1. so i don't really even know the quality and stuff. speakers are okay, but i usually use my headset.

[JoT]

Audigy 2; good card, sounds great, but crappy driver support and very flaky. New option, #4.

[XvDarkyvX]

how much do the audigy 2 go for these days?

[JoT]

I strongly advise you to stay away from Audigy and Creative sound cards in general. The driver support is almost totally nil. Oftentimes, BECAUSE of the drivers, people complain of the sound crackling or popping.

[_l4st_chanC3__]

err . . . dude my sound is crystal clear in everything. running a set of analog 5.1 altec lansings. running the latest drivers. this card has served me very well since the past year and I doubt I will have to upgrade for a very long while. well, the speaks will probably get upgraded(lookin at a set of logitech z-550's) but the card . . . the card is golden, heh. to me it doesn't seem like the driver support is all that bad. I mean they're not releasing a new driver like every few months or even weeks like the video card manufacturers are, but really what is there to improve? every one of my games works well with EAX, music sounds top-notch, and movies are off the hizzay(sp). no complaints here. if you're interested on what specs i'm runnin on, look below in my sig.

As for the price . . well my card is probably gonna only run ya 40 or 50 bucks at the most. the ZS will run you a little higher probably almost $100. the Audigy 4 is gonna run a little over $200, but the only difference between it and the Audigy 2 is nil if you're a gamer and casual music listener. if you do a lot of audio editing and the like, then it may be your best bet but other then that go with an Audigy 2.

[gvblake22]

I'm likin' my Turtle Beach Santa Cruz so far:D

[cetoole]

Not yet, but I should get an EMU soon, probably the 1212, but maybe the 0404.

[Ironsave]

Phillips Aurelium psc805. It really makes my Klipsch promedias shine. It obviously is no Audigy ZS, but I am VERY impressed with my music...... :)

[Terminat.]

As you can see in my sig - I have the wonderful SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit 7.1 Surround Sound Card from Creative Labs.

Coupled with my Altec Lansing 2.1 Surround Sound speakers, it has been absolutely incredible! :) And it was a great refurb buy at only £30, half that of the Audigy, so yes it is great.

[pwnt by pat]

Sometimes sound screaches with the audigy 2 non-zs but overall I'm verry happy with it.

[HousERaT]

Here's another vote for the Onboard Soundstorm...... does all I want it to do and them some. Now all I have to do is test out the sound on my DFI ULtra-D......

[Spyd3r]

I strongly advise you to stay away from Audigy and Creative sound cards in general. The driver support is almost totally nil. Oftentimes, BECAUSE of the drivers, people complain of the sound crackling or popping.

Yo Jot, is it really true that it's the drivers? Where can I get some good ones then?

I just got AV710 and everything seems fine 'cept I didn't uninstall the Audigy 2 Zs drivers and for some reason I got some crackling with the AV710. I gotta say though that the AV710 is really incredible for its sound quality and value for money. :cool:

[schismspeak]

Not love not hate. My onboard sound is fine, I got one of the better onboard soundchips. C-Media MX, The reviews on cards with this same chip are usually pretty good, most people say it sounds just as good or better than the soundblaster 5.1. It works well. Definately better than the onboard sound on my dad's pc.

[bobmanfoo]

my audigy 2zs sounds and performs great, no problems what so ever, but i wish i can say the same for my logi z680s, i didn't realize they had 10%TDH till i got them, will be getting the klipsh's next time around, or when i have the itch

[Jsmooth65]

yeah, my audigy2 zs is overclocked to 200khz and has a specially made waterblock on the main chip. it sounds like God is speaking to me personally.

[tenchi86]

My speakers are so crapper I dont notice my sounds card. Then again they are still good enough for me to have music playing in them all day when I am home so I geuss they cant be to bad.

[bobmanfoo]

yeah, my audigy2 zs is overclocked to 200khz and has a specially made waterblock on the main chip. it sounds like God is speaking to me personally.
??? you can OC the sound card? how? link?

[cetoole]

??? you can OC the sound card? how? link?
No, you can't OC, but you can mod them.

[pigwalkarg]

I went from onboard C-Media sound to a M-Audio revo and the change was even apparent through crappy 10 dollar speakers, if you can believe that. The sound difference when playing through a stereo through the SP/DIF outs was just unbelievable, night and day.

I stay away from the Audigy line. While the hardware acceleration and EAX support is nice, the music quality is just plain nasty, soemthing to with their upsampling I believe.

I´m waiting to pick up a Mystique HDA, real time dolby digital out, kinda like the Nforce2 Soundstorm (I´ll never understand why they discontinued that). Hopefully the sound quality will be good.

-wil

[Jsmooth65]

??? you can OC the sound card? how? link?

Thank you for my daily chuckle.

[Slimmy]

My soundstorm work like a dream on my asus board!

[Steven4563]

ive got a Audigy 2 ZS i think its great i love the sound and the nice clear music it plays so my vote goes to Yes! I love it!

[Radical]

I love my AV710 with Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's. I want to upgrade my speakers soon, though.

[madcow235]

I love my Av710 but I'm really interested into the Emu-0404 or 1212m becasue they are just that much better. I've used a Av710 a TBSC a Audigy and Soundstorm. The only nice sounding one was the Av710 as far as music goes.

[rabidchicken]

Im running an Audigy Gamer. It sounds great, but as an audiophile id really like like something better. Plus I would really like to have something that has its own "processor" (or whatever they are called on soundcards) so i could sqeeze a little more out of the rig.

[Sjaak]

Soundblaster Live! PCI

Works great but some say i need better...but i don't really think it's worth it.

[SavageBasher]

Love my AV710 paired up with my CMoy and HD-280s. :cool:

[Camacho111]

Having Soundstorm is enough for me on rigs 2 and 3. But this AC 97 is crap, got a M-Audio revo 7.1. WOW. I'm using sennhisers hd 212 pro headphones and Boston Acustic 2.1.- definitly cleaned-up some noise. seperation is unbelievible!

[FalconBlade]

yea...what about us deaf people?!?! ;)

[Superjed]

Cant complain with my audigy2.

[redwraith94]

I got a 'mad dog' somethin or other, but it plays 5.1 surround very well (enough for games at least) and my speakers are in the sig, but I prefer good speakers to a good sound card. I find w/ my $20 sound card it works just fine.

[stereo555]

Old faithful ..... TB Santa Cruz still kicking and NEVER a problem .

I may upgrade when my new PCI-E rig is built at the end of this year ; but as to "what" for an upgrade is still undecided .

[Athlonight]

Onboard sound and loving it! Never really cared about sound that much. As long as it has good bass + highs i am a happy camper. $30 sub/highs and happy! :D

Sir, I couldn't have said it better.

[breez]

Yes, I like my EMU 0404. Great sound, a decent parametric EQ (patchmix is a nice application in any case) and usable ADC for diagnosing diy audio stuff. Well worth the 99€ I put into it.

[Contra]

well...i have the Chaintech 710 and i use it for music and games for both it preforms great much, much better than my old Creative 5.1 x gammer (crap)
i listen to music in 2 channel with my fronts and rears(and sub)

it saound awesome i use an external reciever Yamaha it is 6 channel upgardable and i use polk audio speakers all around with a Velodine sub

it was my livingroom setup

it rocks!!
so am i happy HeLL ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ludeboy12]

mine sux....im not even sure what came with this old gateway.....

thank god im building a new rig this summer....

[troutbumoh]

I love my Audigy 2

[Ven0m]

I <3 my Audigy 2 ZS :)

Onboard C-Media did suck a lot.

[[AK]Zip]

Im running 2 cards.

A modded Audigy 2 ZS and a maxed out EMU 0404.

Audigy 2 ZS > Y splitter
> Custom mini to RCA cable > 2 Amps > front Quart Speakers & tweeters + rear MB Quart Speakers + 2 JL Audio 12in subs
> Custom mini to RCA cable > Maxed out Pimeta amp > Custom headphone cable > Audio-Technica ATH-A900

EMU 0404 > Custom DB9 to RCA cable > Maxed out PPA amp with Glassman Diamond Buffers and STEPS PSU > Custom headphone cable > Sennheiser HD-650 headphones

All in all the Audigy 2 CS is pretty good sounding once modded and I get to play all games and movies with awesome sound. The EMU 0404 is unbelievable audio quality, but I only use it for music and I love it!

-Alex-

[Kill_A._Byte]

I had an Audigy 2ZS before I switched to this MB. It has 8 channel onbord sound. I thought it was funny when I opened the MB box and there was a slip of paper inside that told me to not load the sound drivers from the setup disk but install the new ones from the web site. I like the fact that I don't need to have anything in the PCI slots. Old board was full of resource eating cards. The Audig came with all sorts of extra programs that just boggd down the OS fighting with other apps to play a cd.

[Contra]

Zip']Im running 2 cards.

A modded Audigy 2 ZS and a maxed out EMU 0404.

Audigy 2 ZS > Y splitter
> Custom mini to RCA cable > 2 Amps > front Quart Speakers & tweeters + rear MB Quart Speakers + 2 JL Audio 12in subs
> Custom mini to RCA cable > Maxed out Pimeta amp > Custom headphone cable > Audio-Technica ATH-A900

EMU 0404 > Custom DB9 to RCA cable > Maxed out PPA amp with Glassman Diamond Buffers and STEPS PSU > Custom headphone cable > Sennheiser HD-650 headphones

All in all the Audigy 2 CS is pretty good sounding once modded and I get to play all games and movies with awesome sound. The EMU 0404 is unbelievable audio quality, but I only use it for music and I love it!

-Alex-


what is custome about your mini to rca cables?

i just bought some a Radio Shack

[cetoole]

what is custome about your mini to rca cables?

i just bought some a Radio Shack
He probably built them.
Zip']Im running 2 cards.

A modded Audigy 2 ZS and a maxed out EMU 0404.

Audigy 2 ZS > Y splitter
> Custom mini to RCA cable > 2 Amps > front Quart Speakers & tweeters + rear MB Quart Speakers + 2 JL Audio 12in subs
> Custom mini to RCA cable > Maxed out Pimeta amp > Custom headphone cable > Audio-Technica ATH-A900

EMU 0404 > Custom DB9 to RCA cable > Maxed out PPA amp with Glassman Diamond Buffers and STEPS PSU > Custom headphone cable > Sennheiser HD-650 headphones

All in all the Audigy 2 CS is pretty good sounding once modded and I get to play all games and movies with awesome sound. The EMU 0404 is unbelievable audio quality, but I only use it for music and I love it!

-Alex-
Alex, that setup is sweet. I would love to see some pictures if you have any links.

[makshim]

SB 128 PCI. I have no problem with it. Taken from a 300MHz K6-2 rig... :santa:

[XiaO8]

im happy with my gamesurround by hercules, still works awesome, 7.1 for $80

[[AK]Zip]

what is custome about your mini to rca cables?

i just bought some a Radio Shack

All wires are shielded. The wires are copper plated silver covered in teflon and then in sleeving. All connectors are silver plated except for the mini. The cables from radio shack are like a joke compaired to what I have.

-Alex-

[[AK]Zip]

He probably built them.

Alex, that setup is sweet. I would love to see some pictures if you have any links.

Let me see if I can't find some of my custom cables / amps.

[[AK]Zip]

Zip']All wires are shielded. The wires are copper plated silver covered in teflon and then in sleeving. All connectors are silver plated or gold plated. The cables from radio shack are like a joke compaired to what I have.

-Alex-

EDIT: sorry I can't find any recient pics of some of my stuff and my camera is no where to be found. Here is what is already online though:

http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/01.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/02.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/03.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/04.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/05.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/06.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/07.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/08.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/09.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/10.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/11.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/12.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/13.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~zip1385/wire/14.jpg

If I find my camera I will take some pics of the rest of the cables/the amps/and headphones.

[Ven0m]

That looks really nice. "Audiophile" word gets new meaning.

[fuzzba11]

I dig my audigy 2's environmental shifting effects

[TZH]

creative sound blaster 5.1 or ........ :rolleyes:

[ghettocomp]

I just want better, POS card died......

[lennytiger]

I enjoy my Soundblaster Audigy 1 - its softmodded to the Audigy 2 which takes away the remote control feature the audigy 1 original drivers had. But that is fine because when my house got broken into the damn idiots took the SB control and not the cd player control!

It has superb bass and highs, and i actually use it for mixing recording and basic 2 -track recording work in my studio. Many people dislike this card for "power" use, but i find it extremely comptent even when compared to the best of the best!

[MrSeanKon]

Cos of running Maths and scientific applications and I do not play games my sound card is enough! :santa:

[tLove]

i love my Audigy 2zs, never gave me any problems once I figured out how to use it. And my logitech speakers work like a charm :)

[Calidan]

Onboard sound, i live with it....what else can i say lol

[Quest For Speed]

I am only a casual gamer so the onboard sound is all I need. I invested in good speakers (Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1) which IMO make the largest difference.

[Ven0m]

Some onboard are good, some bad. I used to hate mine - it was terrible.
Sound chip on my ASUS A7V333 sucked a lot - I could hear mouse, hdd, NIC, graphics card - everything. Noise was terrible, sound effects poor.

Then I got myself Audigy 2 ZS - it's even impossile to compare it to on-board I had.

[cetoole]

I am happy now with my EMU 1212m (doesnt mean I am not gonna mod it anyway), and now it is my amp that I wanna upgrade.

[NsOmNiA91130]

I did the Audigy - Audigy 4 softmod, so I'm a happy camper. Even though Halo doesn't work, it tells me that the game ended 3 or so minutes after I join, when it actually didn't :eh?:

[David]

Moved to Sound Systems

[zabomb4163]

Love my AV710 paired up with my CMoy and HD-280s. :cool:

i am also using AV710 and HD-280's. wow. they sound so incredibly good. one question, do the cups losen up over time? 6 hours of battlefield hurt my ears.

[RedDragonXXX]

I'm more then happy with my X-Fi :clap:

[Stocki]

i´m very happy with my audigy 2 zs
it does very fine with my teufel concept E Magnum in games, movies and just music
a good offer for that price i think

[Doomer87]

I recently got a pair of Senn. HD-280 Pros... and wow what an upgrade from my 2.1 altec lansings. Eventhough it still works, it now seems as though my audigy 1 is insufficient, so im actually considering buying a new soundcard... possibly a emu 1212m. Im also planning on building a cmoy amp for my computer listening pleasure.

[Apokalipse]

I don't have superhuman ears, so my Audigy LS is just great for me

[Celeron_Phreak]

I'm basically 99.999% happy with my HDA X-Mystique Gold 7.1, as I've been watching a few movies lately that I've encoded to DivX to fit on my hard drive, but their audio is only 2.1. The X-Mystique encodes it to a DDL 5.1 signal and I can watch the movie in a pretty enjoyable way without having to pull out my original discs.

My only complain with it is the lack of EAX 3+ (it does support EAX 2 though) cause I've had my hopes up to play Quake 4 and Call of Duty 2 in all their audible glory. It's not THAT big of a deal though. After I hear how well it performs in those games, I'll make my final decision on this card. :)


I wouldn't mind getting another Audigy 2 ZS for my LAN PC though, as it worked great for headphones. That and I really want to toss the SB Live! 5.1 24-bit card in there. =\

[johan851]

Quite happy with my AV710 and Harman Kardon bookshelves, at least as far as music goes.

[frenzy20]

I'm very happy with my Soundblaster X-Fi.:)

[Emon]

Audigy 2 to E-MU 1212m combo which outputs to either my ER-6 or HD600 driven by my Millet Hybrid. Those cans are at home so I have the ER-6 for college right now.

[Slack]

Love my Audigy 2 ZS, amazing card for games.

Love my M-Audio 1010lt, amazing card for multi track audio production

HATE my on board karakjan Audio Module (comes with DFI Lanparty MoBo) Biggest pile of w**k I have ever heard. Worse than an ancient SB16 card in fact. LAME.

[BigDan3131]

I had SB Live 5.1 but I found that it couldnt keep up with the sounds in BF2. I switched to Audigy2 ZS Gamer and love it just as much.

[C38368]

Happy enough with my Revo 5.1: it does what I expected it to do.

But that's not good enough anymore, and I expect that I'll be acquiring an ESI Juli@ soon for everything other than gaming.

[scott d]

Got on board audio that is supposed to be pretty nice, but my speakers suck, so i wouldn't really know.

[MoreGooder]

I strongly advise you to stay away from Audigy and Creative sound cards in general. The driver support is almost totally nil. Oftentimes, BECAUSE of the drivers, people complain of the sound crackling or popping.

I second that. I've had SB Live Value, Creative Audigy Gamer, Audigy 2 Value, and ALL of them.... I mean ALL of them are now expensive paperweights. I have had nothing but trouble with Creative products. Just visit the forums on the Creative website and you will find people referring to the Squeel of Death and Popping, BSOD and such. Horrible support, flaky products and a croud of people threatening class action lawsuits.

Never, ever EVER again will I buy a Creative product. Done done done.

M-Audio Revolution 5.1 has NEVER caused a game to crash, or popping, or horrible ear-piercing squeels.

If you're happy with your Creative product, you are either lucky or in denial.

[C38368]

M-Audio Revolution 5.1 has NEVER caused a game to crash, or popping, or horrible ear-piercing squeels.

If you're happy with your Creative product, you are either lucky or in denial.
While I'm no fan of Creative, I have an Audigy2 that has never given me overt problems.
Also, I have a very strong reason to believe that Source is unstable run running down through M-Audio's Revo 5.1 (I suspect that it doesn't like the Envy24GT) and I know for certain that Battlefield 1942 crashes as soon as a sound effect attempts to play back (this includes mousing over buttons) with the Revo.

[stereo555]

Ive had no problems with two Audigy2 ZS that recently replaced my two TBSC cards . (both in Intel P4 rigs w/ ZS base drivers only) . BF2 has taken on a new life with the ZS . :)
I haven't used Creative cards for many years (for good reason imo) , but have been pleasantly surprised with the ZS models .

Both the ZS cards will soon be in a couple of AMD DC/165 rigs , so we shall see what happens , but I really don't foresee any problems .

[Ven0m]

I had some issues with Creative software for my Audigy 2 ZS, when I installed it on Windows 2003 Server Enterprise - resulted in BSOD on windows startup. Now when I learnt how to install these drivers, there are no problems - it works just as it should and software is cool.

[MrClean]

dunno till my speakers come!!

[Ascii2]

"Yes! I love it! "

I have a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS and a Creative Sound Blaster 16.

[Jsmooth65]

I have owned Creative cards all the way from the original SoundBlaster to my new X-Fi. Zero, count them, zero problems. Sucks to be you guys hatin' on Creative, because they honestly have a better product than anyone out there. Just face it.

[MoreGooder]

Like I said. To camps: Lucky or in denial. Glad to see so many lucky people. Wish I were one of them. I have spent many many hours scouring the net, forums and such trying to solve the problems with my latest Audigy POS, to no avail. If you don't have problems with your audiigy card, hold onto it for dear life because if you ever have to replace it you may be joining the Squeel of Death club too.

[lowfat]

I have owned Creative cards all the way from the original SoundBlaster to my new X-Fi. Zero, count them, zero problems. Sucks to be you guys hatin' on Creative, because they honestly have a better product than anyone out there. Just face it.


have you owned other soundcards besides creative? You can't say they have better products unless you have tried a variety of other cards.


I myself am very happy with my AV-710. Sound Quality is superb.

[Rattle]

I love my audigy 2 zs, bought it new for $70 a year ago.
Had it in 4 motherboards never had a problem at all.
Awesome in games and for music.

[CalsonicGTR]

Im meh on the AV710. Sounds pretty good, but I am really dissapointed with its terrible recording capabilities. Recorded tracks sound so bad that I am forced to use onboard for recordings until I get an EMU 0404 (and a Pimeta and HD595....I need to stop upgrading :) )

[Maxvla]

i love my av710. great for music and games. as calsonic pointed out though its purely a listening card.

[R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3]

my AV-710 sounds better than my Audigy2

[Celeron_Phreak]

starting to loose intrest in my X-Mystique Gold now. I really want that DTS card from Bluegears now, too. :D

[Vipasnipa]

When you consider that it only costs $25 shipped from most major online retailers, the AV-710 is the best audio card, ever. However, it can get a little harsh on the highs if your monitors or headphones are already bright themselves.

[Sjaak]

Soundblaster Live!

Could be better, but it works fine and has wayy better quality then my onboard + it uses less CPU.

[Sir. BOBSONATOR]

man, ive been punked by dell. like 3 years ago when i had my dimension 4550 it came with a soundblaster Live! SD0200 and i just found out ive been punked by dell after browsing on some of the dell forums about this card...

[rseven]

I have 2 sound cards. My first is a run of the mill Audigy 2 ZS, which is good for gaming and normal sound applications. My second card is a Gina by Echo. This is an old gem of a card that still serves me in my recording studio. It's now 7 years old and the company still supports it with new and improved drivers with new features. While I know I will need to replace it, it just works so damn well that I keep holding off as a new one would run me another $400. If anyone needs a professional recording sound card these things are the best.

[Archer36]

I love my Audigy 2 ZS coupled with the kX Project drivers, the audio is so clear and that is what I value most.

[Intrepid]

I am totaly in love with my E-MU 1212M.

[Kevin007]

I will be when my x-fi comes :)

[grumperfish]

I'm alot happier now that I finally killed that awful squeal o' death (knock on wood)... I'm still probably going to sell this thing and get an x-fi soon though.

[hainer36]

i love my turtle beach santa cruz...greatest 20 bucks i ever spent

[ratts]

turtle beach montego is the captain of my sound ship

[Roofles]

Audigy Gamer! Had it for 3 years? I think and it still sounds great in games. I'm not the most sensitive audiophile and it does the job great for me.

[Kevin007]

Does borrowing a sound card count, because its a pretty nice one :D

[Chrome-]

Yeah, I'm fine with my onboard sound.

[steel102]

sucks. i did the audigy -> audigy 2 softmod. worked fine for about a year, then seemingly randomly stopped working. windows said "no sound device." now it only works about a 1/3rd of the time. if i want to play games i have to keep on restarting until windows recognizes it :(

apparently this is a fairly common problem w/ creative cards. the only way to fix it is formatting, apparently. i tried driver cleaner, reinstalling just the openAL drivers, etc. but no luck. when i get the chance to format i will.

[mdameron]

I wish I could unvote and re-vote... I went from my onboard sound (voted the last option, happy but could be better) to my x-fi and want to vote 'Yes! I love it!'

[stereo555]

*my update*

Went from old TBSC to a Audigy2 ZS (nice upgrade) , and now replaced my ZS with an X-Fi Music . Pretty happy with the X-Fi , but it wasn't as a dramatic upgrade as I thought it would be from my ZS , but was still worth it for the $89 price I paid .

[sulretal]

I really don't like my Audigy 1 LS 24-bit card.

I am trying to find ways to reinstall my intergrated sound card - Realtek ALC 880 codec - without reformatting to factory settings.

[JCLW]

You shouldn't have to reformat, just uninstall the Audigy, physically remove it, make sure your ALC880 is enabled in both BIOS and the Windows device manager, and then install the lastest driver: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/dlhd-2.aspx?lineid=2004052&famid=2004052&series=2004061&Software=True

[Evil_Eye]

My sound card is basically a PCI version of your typical onboard sound (the soundcard is a Fortemedia FM801). It tends to crackle, but in the end I decided that it's good enough for now.

[steel102]

I really don't like my Audigy 1 LS 24-bit card.

I am trying to find ways to reinstall my intergrated sound card - Realtek ALC 880 codec - without reformatting to factory settings.

yeah most likely you disabled it in the BIOS

[Feydd]

Yea my A2 ZS has been pretty good to me. I would like it even more if I could find the old software that came with it so I can change the volume on each individual speaker.

[Nexus Realized]

Before my 2 ZS I always used onboard sound, I really have nothing to compare it to other than onboard sound and it's a heck of alot better. :):thup:

[RattlerGUNZ]

Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo III + Altec Lansing ATP4 = :attn:

[dfonda]

Its onboard but its not too bad. Going to try an xfi to improve frame rates. :)

[y2jed_2000]

went from audigy to x-fi fatality....all i can say is holy ****

[voodoomelon]

HDA Mystique 7.1 Gold PCI.

Very impressed, like it a lot.
Way better than the Audigy I had for years on end, I hate Creative drivers.

[Archer36]

Way better than the Audigy I had for years on end, I hate Creative drivers.Aye, so did I that is why I use the Kx Project drivers and now love my Audigy 2 ZS

[marscay]

i've never had the kind of problems with creative drivers that some ppl keep complaining about.

and my x-fi elite pro is rather nice .....miles ahead in terms of quality of my audigy2 and 7.1 HDA Mystique for gaming/music/everything.

[Jsmooth65]

I've never experienced problems with any of the Creative drivers I've ever used, and I've owned everything from the original SoundBlaster in my old 486dx to the original AWE32, even to the X-fi that I have now. In my experience, these problems people are experiencing are typically caused by something else, like oh I don't know, MOTHERBOARDS? I remember complaining from hell to high water about my ATI 9800 Pro having "bad drivers" because of some issues I was experiencing, turns out it was a hidden motherboard AGP setting. So please, we all know that Creative is the premier when it comes to commercial sound cards, and if you're happy with your crappy onboard sound, then I feel sorry for you. Just my 2 cents.

[voodoomelon]

I went through 2 motherboards with my Audigy, no change.
Constant crashes and they increased my Windows boot time by half.

And no, onboard won't do the job for me, hence my HDA card.

:)

[sulretal]

Using AV-710 and I love it; though it does not perform well in games.

[gigabit]

Well i just got my logitech Z5300e's and i must say im in love so far .I havent heard one pop or any hissing since i hooked them up.I thought my Z640's sounded great..lol Well for $69 shipped they were awesome but my Z5300e's are awesome.And they totally blow away the Z640's

[grumperfish]

I went through 2 motherboards with my Audigy, no change.
Constant crashes and they increased my Windows boot time by half.

And no, onboard won't do the job for me, hence my HDA card.

:)


I was having this problem with my Audigy until recently when I installed modified Audigy 4 drivers. Now I'm not getting any hissing or random squeals. It was a pain to get it properly configured, however, and I'm still going to toss it soon out of spite.

Edit: bought an Audigy 2ZS from Rattle and it is fantastic. No more squeal of death, and it accepted the A4 drivers and software. So yes, I'm happy with it now.

[Randyman...]

I have a miriad of Soundcards and AD/DA converters. My RME stuff is used in my recording rigs, and all of it works flawlessly (upto 26 inputs and 28 oputputs AT ONCE for discrete recording). S/N is well below -110dBfs, and THD also remains insanely low...

I use a M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 in my main home PC. I like the sound, and the mixer panel is cool (like a tiny-weeny version of my RME's panel ;) ) - BUT the ONE THING that annoys the crapola out of me is that any keyboard volume control is not able to control the volume or Mute of this card.

Is there any way around this? I actually went back to onboard sound briefely JUST to have Keyboard Volume Control - but a combination of inferior sound and bloated Real-Tek HD-Drivers (slowed boot times) swayed me back to my trusty Audiophile 24/96 - and hence no Keyboard Volume Control :( .

Thanks for any help on this frustrating Keyboard Volume Control issue...

:cool:

[gigabit]

My keyboard volume control works with my Audigy 2 ZS Plat.

[Evil_Eye]

I just switched out my old sound card for an X-Fi xtreme music that I got for a gift.

I think it sounds better then my replacement for games. However I'm not too keen on how it sounds with music.

[CRXican]

Isn't it true that you can use more than one soundcard at a time? I have an Audigy 2 (non-ZS I think). It is great for gaming but not that great for music as previously mentioned.

The AV-710 is crazy cheap but do you think I would notice a difference in music sound quality? Currently I'm using onboard only.

[johan851]

The AV-710 is crazy cheap but do you think I would notice a difference in music sound quality? Currently I'm using onboard only.
Between the 710 and onboard? It depends on your speakers, I guess. If they're absolutely terrible you won't notice a difference. If they're worth more than $25 or so, then yes, you will. :)

[CRXican]

Between the 710 and onboard? It depends on your speakers, I guess. If they're absolutely terrible you won't notice a difference. If they're worth more than $25 or so, then yes, you will. :)
Interesting and thanks for the reply. I have a set of the Altec Lansing MX5021 speakers. I like to think they're pretty nice.

[johan851]

Yeah, you should be able to hear a difference with speakers like those. The AV-710 is considered by a lot of enthusiasts and audiophiles as the best bang-for-your-buck soundcard out there, at least in terms of music quality. It's not much good for anything beyond stereo output in hi-res mode, since hi-res mode uses a certain DAC that the rest of the channels do not.

[CRXican]

Yeah, you should be able to hear a difference with speakers like those. The AV-710 is considered by a lot of enthusiasts and audiophiles as the best bang-for-your-buck soundcard out there, at least in terms of music quality. It's not much good for anything beyond stereo output in hi-res mode, since hi-res mode uses a certain DAC that the rest of the channels do not.
I think i'll be picking one up. I have an Audigy 2 I can use for gaming and such.

[TTP]

All my sound cards produce very good sounds from games. I prefer the x-fi when playing mp3 or 3d positional sound games.

[metloaf]

I do like my Audigy ZS 2 but if the X-FI is better, then I will probaby get one of those next. :cool:

[Terranova]

My audigy 2 ZS is starting to make me angry. I have to reinstall the stupid drivers every week or so and when i try to use the CD with the drivers that came with the card nothing works what so ever. i cant access any of the creative media source stuff. Creative :bang head

[rseven]

Terranova_D, it sounds as if your files are getting corrupted either by an unstable overclock or your ram timings.

[Terranova]

I dont think it has anything to do with my pc itself its quiet stable. Ive run Prime for 2 days straight and not a problem was found. My P4 Northy is stock 2.4 ive got it at 3.0 load temp of 32C Max with corsair value select timings of 2.5-3-3-6. I didnt start having problems till my friend put the YouPax Audigy 4 Pro Software and drivers instead of the 2 ZS. I did a fresh reinstall of windows about 3 weeks ago and tried using the CD that came with my sound card it would work and stuff but i would get a error and then creative media source would not operate at all. I dunno im having lots of problems here lately quiet confuzed :shrug:

[rseven]

Then I would try uninstalling and using a driver remover to get rid of everything related to Creative and then a reinstall.

[gigabit]

I have the same problem just about every week i have to repair or reinstall my drivers to.what gives?Like today i went to open the equalizer and i got some error message. So i guess its that time again

[Atol]

I love my EMU-0404 :)

[johan851]

I love my EMU-0404
As well you should.

[Vipasnipa]

Recently got my E-MU 0404. Very pleased.

[ScottinIndy]

Just got the X-fi extreme, Had the Av710, So far have only played Fear with new soundcard, Big difference!

[Mr. Roboto]

loving my x-fi platnum

[loveryk]

Just love my Auzentech Xplosion sound card...I keep saying to all my friends to get this card. The encoding of DD and DTS is just amazing, and the sound quality, just awesome.

[yo4444]

Onboard sound.. X530's. Sounds Great to me..

[Robert]

I got Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultra speakers for over a year now. I love it. It provided a good clean detail bass and just perfect for all type of musics. I don't think I'm going to buy something else soon. Logitech will give you even a bigger bass but it is too much for me. I upgraded from Audigy 2 Zs to X-fi sound card about 3 months age. The Crystallization very help a lot with low quality mp3 musics. 3D music is a must to have. No more static noices during gaming like Audigy 2 Zs.

[einstein2]

im gonna buy the creative labs xtrememusic sound card :D

[blkdiamond]

I have been using on-board sound for many years, and I just recently purchased an X-fi and I love this card. Games and music are much clearer sounding.

[Vulcan]

I'm loving my X-Fi here.

[johan851]

I just upgraded to an external DAC, using my sound card for optical output. Sounds incredible. :D

[Enablingwolf]

I am using a crappy Live! 24bit and a crappy X530. Serves me for what I do. Beats having a stick in the eye. :D

[MNOB07]

I have an Audigy 2 ZS, it's a good thing I got it retail for pretty cheap ($40) because I'm not really impressed with it, and some things like the DVD-Audio sampler disk won't work no matter what I do. Creative's support gives me the cold shoulder so the card's just kind of there at least sort of doing its thing since I have no onboard for this comp. But I don't have very good speakers either though so maybe I shouldn't be talking...

[watchthisspace]

Using onboard, and slowly saving up for a X-Fi :)

[cruiza120]

Got a Sound Blaster Live at a hamfest in rochester for a buck because of the Dell resellers that were there. (selling used parts from dells, I'm assumed that were sent back for upgrades or some such) Fiddled around with the drivers for a day, gave up, picked it up a week later and figured out what I'd been doing wrong, now it runs perfectly for a buck sound card.

[cruiza120]

P.S. MUCH better than onboard.

[Drinkyoghurt]

my soundblaster live! 24bit got oxidated..they replaced it with a audigy se...sound is ok with me..sounds good on my cheap 5.1 logitech speakers :D

[Douken]

yes I love my X-Fi but Im waiting for my friend to bring his 5.1 to test the cards full potential, but I need a good game that can do a better sound work, so I'll wait till I buy my new rig

[Scorchsta]

Just love my Auzentech Xplosion sound card...I keep saying to all my friends to get this card. The encoding of DD and DTS is just amazing, and the sound quality, just awesome.

Agreed, best card I have ever owned. Love the DTS output to my receiver. I had a SB Audigy 2 ZS Plat and I really didn't like it. It was wayyy to expensive, the drivers were total crap, and it didn't sound all that nice. Much happier now that I have my Auzentech XPlosion.

P.S. You can check the card out at Newegg here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829156001)

[ddoggma]

Audigy2 Value...:beer: It does what it needs to do. And the $ was great. I think it was $38.00/del

[SeasonalEclipse]

A few years ago I bought htis preditor 5.1 mad dog sound card to upgrade from onboard on my P4 rig.. it was a big jump.. then I went to a SB 7.1 24 bit.. I didnt notice TOO MUCH of a difference but it was there. I need to upgrade my speakers really to get anymore change from it.

[Illyest]

Soundblaster Audigy2 Platinum...Is it adequate? Yes....I've had it since release and the white front panel messes up the karma of my black case!!! I was going to get an X'FI but all the bug reports scared me off. Gonna hold out for revision 2 or whatever Creative's next gen will be. I will probably open my self up to another brand as well around then. Xplosion maybe? Is it good for gaming?

[Dragonprince]

Audigy2....noticably better sound than even the "HiDef" onboard audio my 250 dollar Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard provides. I did back to back testing and there was a very clear difference, Audigy2 wins, no contest. :beer: