Audigy or Live?

[rivercom9]

What are the major differences between the Audigy and Live? I currently have a Live, but should I switch to Audigy for my next system. Live is doing great, but will I get anymore performance gains from Audigy?

[Despotes]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. The Audigy is a great card, but you won't get that much more in performance compared to the Live. Then again, if you have the money to toss around, go for it.
On the other hand...:) Here's a little info on the Audigy:

http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/reviews/AudigyEI/Audigy.html

[spazzkid]

Originally posted by rivercom9
What are the major differences between the Audigy and Live? I currently have a Live, but should I switch to Audigy for my next system. Live is doing great, but will I get anymore performance gains from Audigy?

Live is still a great card. The minimal increase u get from Audigy is really not worth it. Stick with the Live for the meantime. Unless somebody realeases a card that is THX enabled :)

[rivercom9]

How useful is the firewire port on the Audify?

[Malakai]

i never had a live card, but the audigy kicks ass. I have the audigy with the inspire 5.1 rig, and it sounds better than the home stereo system. 2 thumbs up!!!(if your mobo has a VIA chipset, be careful many probs)

[rivercom9]

I'm guessing that would include the KT266A? What types of problems are we talking about here? Severe?

[Malakai]

well i figure if ur a member of o/c.com, then u know what ur doing.
if u want to be safe, DONT INSTALL THE PLAYCENTER! or any other apps off of the cd. it tries to put in its own usb drivers that are optomized for using the nomad mp3 player.these DESTROY winXP. youll be reinstalling windows if u do. Also, the install program crashes the computer if u run it off of the cd. copy the cd to the hard drive 1st. i would only install the drivers. i also have the playcenter, but it took some careful tweaking and a few reinstalls of winXP to get it working. it also only works in PCI slot 4 in my system. otherwise, once all of the kinks are worked out, its a badass card with almost no cpu overhead.

[MrOOBiLL]

Just get a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, they the shiznit ;)

[Wicked Klown]

Originally posted by rivercom9
I'm guessing that would include the KT266A? What types of problems are we talking about here? Severe?



I have the Soyo Dragon+ which uses the KT266A chipset and I have not yet had a problem with my Audigy Gamer.

[Malakai]

i got the same board and mine was a pain to get working. does the gamer come with the playcenter? i got the mp3 version

[Wa11y]

I have the Audigy X-Gamer and a KT133 chipset running Windows XP. I was able to install from the CD just fine. I did have some problems with Windows not recognizing the soundcard for a while, but I finally got it able to recognize, and it seems to work just fine.

[Torch]

The main thing about the Audigy is it can reproduce 24 bit audio from DVD or other sources. The Live! doesn't do this. Most people can't distinguish the difference between 16 and 24 bit audio, so for most of you it won't matter.

However, if you're an audiophile like me (I own a recording studio) that kind of thing matters. I want the best possible audio quality with whatever I'm doing, so Audigy is a gawd-send.

Malakai, the sound of your system is determined much more by your amplification and speakers than by your soundcard. If your PC speaker system sounds better than your home stereo, it would probably still sound better even if you were using a soundblaster16.

[OC-Master]

In fall of 2002, Creative is supposed to introduce 'Creative Audigy 7.1' which has 7.1 AC3-ES surround sound. It too is 24bit sound.

But according to my friend who is a really big creative fan, he says that there gonna have 32-bit sound cards in 2003/2004 which allow you to record intrue 32-bit sound. Finally, recording levels higher than what humans can hear. Its a really sweet feature.

But, I'd wait at least till Audigy 7.1 comes out, Sound Blaster Live! will do the job just fine for now.

[rivercom9]

Thanks for all of your replies. I just saved myself a Benjamin. I wonder how much the "Creative Audigy" is gonna be.

[scoobydoo]

If you are going to slap some money down for a new card skip Creative and get an M-Audio Delta DIO 2496 or a Audiophile 2496

http://www.zzounds.com/g/l/THKMIMDD2.jpg

[rivercom9]

Hmm.....Interesting. Never heard of that one. Any good info on it? (Features and such)

[rivercom9]

How much it cost? And where can I get it?

[rivercom9]

Any compatability issues with motherboards, especially the Abit KR7A?

[scoobydoo]

Unfortunately I don't have one, but most of the Home Theater computer people are switching to these cards.

I haven't looked around much, but this place has the best prices I have seen

http://www.zzounds.com/love.music?p=b.MDO&z=1258613747116

[Sklathill]

Those lower end MAudio cards straddle the line between prosumer and professional. I use the MAudio Delta Audiophile 2496, recording my gear via Cubase, including my Gigasampler computer, which also has an Audiophile 2496. 24/96 playback and recording, ASIO and GSIF drivers, a very good card for people interested in music and recording. The thing that keeps them from really being pro-spec is the lack of balanced ins and outs, which the higher-end Delta 44, 66, and 1010 have. Eventually going to replace the Gigasampler sound card with a Delta 410 (4 ins, 10 outs). No compatibility issues that I've seen, using them on both Intel and VIA chipsets...

And yes, it sounds great in Q3A, UT, Max Payne, and whatever other gaming I like to do. :)