Worth to get the Audigy2 ZS for headphone?

[Cho]

I won't connect it to 5.1 system since I don't want to bother my family when I'm gaming at night. So, is it worth to get the Audigy2 ZS over the onboard sound if I always play game with a pretty high quality ($200) headphone?

 

[breez]

I think yes. With headphones you'll notice the sound quality difference better than with cheap speakers anyway

 

[Cho]

Yes, I know my headphone is better than most speakers. But should I purchase Audigy2? Since I cannot get the benefit from its 5.1 output. The thing I most concern is whether I can get any benefit from EAX when gaming if I use stereo output only.

 

[man_utd]

Just go for an audigy 2 oem if thats all. No zs needed.

 

[Buhammot]

Eax is justenvironment simulation. So the use of multi speaker setups is not needed to run EAX. It just gives the sound of a cooridor made of stone, for reverberations, or a living room with carpet. But it is still a nice feature to have and use if is doesnt sound too bad.

 

[breez]

Also CPU usage of the sound processing goes down with the Audigy2 if your onboard sound is one of those which use the CPU for most of the processing (exception: Soundstorm)