The OC Forums HDA Mystique 7.1 Gold Thread

Hmm, i see.
Still can't be encoded by the Mystique on it's own though...
Which is a pain in the rear end.

Great review man, im going to order this on the 31st, since i got my Logitech Z-5500 seems it needs optical to play Dolby Digital 5.1.

or should i wait for the Creative X-FI ?

Fook, I hadn't heard anything about the X-FI. Looks very interesting indeed.

Hmm, it seems to offer a revolutionary listening experience, I very much doubt it will sound that much different, you can only do so much with a sound card.
And seeing as the HDA Mystique offers argueably the best sound quality this side of $500, as well as Dolby Digital encoding, i'd say the quality gap is pretty slim between the two cards.

I'd join the Mystique club.

sorry to bump an old thread, but I was wondering just how marked the difference in sound quality is between an audigy2 ZS and the x-mystique? iv only just recently bought an a2 ZS, as for some reason overclockers now want £50 before p&p (tho 'this week only' its £46 i see atm) for the xmystique, and I only paid £35 (inc p&p) for an OEM audigy2 ZS on a deal of the day from aria.co.uk - which came with full driver disk and everything, and is identical to my mates full retail zs, all its missing is the two games and boxes.
I intend to install the hacked audigy4 software/drivers for the ZS as iv heard this improves sound quality....but im wondering if id be better selling the ZS (not a problem as i got it so cheap) and getting the mystique..? ATM im using my altec lansing ada885's in 2.1 (i normally use them in 4.1 but iv no room currently)...for an equal mix of music listening, gaming and movies......I know theyre not the latest speakers, and I do intend at some point to go 5.1 (hence why I want to get the right soundcard now), iv just yet to find any sub £200 speakers sets that match the sound quality of the altec lansings.....
Is the mystique's lack some of the audigy2 zs's audio features a problem? like eax3 etc? or is eax2 just fine and 3 just a creative marketing hype? also I gather a lot of good 5.1 setups like a digital cable connection? im currently using a coax spdif output for my speakers from the audigy (which sounds ok), and I notice it doesnt have digital out.....am I right in understanding I could buy the add on bracket from the x-mystique manufacturers and use it on my audigy2zs and add digital out?? also, would DDlive have any practical use in my current 2.1/4.1 setup? can the audigy2zs not mix stereo into 5.1 and sound good? im somewhat confused...... i got the zs cos thats what all the games Iv played seem to have plastered all over the box...
basically would the mystique be a worthwhile upgrade from what I already have? or would I better staying with the audigy and getting the expansion bracket to get some of the missing output features?

if you dont have an av amp and a proper speaker setup then IMO it's not worth it.

Since the opamps are socketed, would that make this card a prime candidate for hardware upgrades?

Voodoo Rufus said:

Since the opamps are socketed, would that make this card a prime candidate for hardware upgrades?

Click to expand...

yes

Nothing but in-depth replies on this forum, eh? lol

omg!!! I just bought the XMystique and it blows my Audigy out of the water Im using the Creative Inspire 5.7 decoder with the Mystique I can believe how the quality of sound went up.......Audigy getting filed......

Is it the Inspire 5700 decoder/amplifier you mean?

I have the same one (essentially identical, the DTT3500 amplifier) and the Mystique works really well with it. Are you using the optical or coaxial input?

Woops Sorry yes 5700 5.1 thanks oh and im using optical....

[OT] why is your s/n RJ? It just seems odd... My nickname is RJ and I barely ever hear of anyone else with the same name. [/OT]

Cyrix_2k said:

[OT] why is your s/n RJ? It just seems odd... My nickname is RJ and I barely ever hear of anyone else with the same name. [/OT]

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LOL ITS ACTUALLY MY 1ST AND LAST INITIALS WHEN I SIGNED UP AT THE TIME ALL S/N I WANTED SEEMED TO BE TAKEN LOL OBTW SORRY FOR CAPS IM AT WORK LOL

btw In Bf2 running 5.1 doesnt seem to be very bassy dunno if i have something set wrong .... but music just blows me away sound great!!!!

RJ said:

btw In Bf2 running 5.1 doesnt seem to be very bassy dunno if i have something set wrong .... but music just blows me away sound great!!!!

Click to expand...

I found the exact same thing, not suprising as we had/have the same setup.
Pity there's no bass and treble settings in the software.

Try the driver update, it improved the bass output a bit i thought.

voodoomelon said:

I found the exact same thing, not suprising as we had/have the same setup.
Pity there's no bass and treble settings in the software.

Try the driver update, it improved the bass output a bit i thought.

Click to expand...

You think this may be driver related? I will get around to buying this soundcard soon, I just want to make sure it's not going to be a joke when it comes to gaming. So far it sounds awesome for my Z-5500's

I'm not sure. it could have been in my head, but I had the card about 2 days and learnt of the driver update.

I installed it and thought the bass was louder. I'm not entirely sure. Someone in the house could well have hit me bass control on my sub...

YES!!, mines came to day and HOLEY ****!! all the speakers work in DDL 5.1 All the time, this thing sounds amazing the treble, mids and bass are more clear and deep now when i turn the Z-5500's up they dont hiss at all, i just tried halo, guild wars, Need for Speed UG, Far cry and EAX works, now when i lisin to music the rear and the center is on, compared to my Abit NF7-S Sound storm on my other comp this kicks *** (im using the newest drivers)

Well bottom line is this card is Great!!! ....I'll mess around with it later tonight see if I can find A good setting to get more bass in BF2.......But Im not sorry for buying it was a good choice......And maybe z-5500 in the future....

Awesome to hear! Yeah I am going to pick this up as soon as I can, did you pick it up from Newegg or is there another place that has a better deal?

I bought it from newegg and it arrived in 2 days , ebay is selling it for more