Audigy SB1394 - anyone use it?

[Rob100]

Okay. I want to upgrade the sound card on a couple of systems I have here. I was gonna get a couple more Santa Cruz's, but notice the OEM Audigy can be obtained for the same price.

It would be an advantage to me to have a FireWire port on one of the machines so I was thinking about getting one on these instead and still get a SC for the other PC.

So is the SB1394 "standard"? What I mean is does the port work in Premiere, MSP etc? Do you need to install "special" Creative drivers?

The PC I'm thinking of putting it in also has a WinTV, so I could occasionaly want to do an analogue cap with it. Do the Audigy's hog the PCI bus and cause loads of drops?

Thanks,

Rob.

[Dr Mordrid]

I'd hesitate for a couple of reasons;

1. the Audigy drivers have repeated the mistakes made with the SBLives: they allocate system resources they don't need even when not playing audio. The SBLive/Audigy support sites are full of reports that this is indeed the case, as is the online petition to Creative for REAL driver support.

In short: they're still bus hogs. They did fix the defective ACPI header that plagued the SBLive though....

2. I NEVER, EVER...AS IN NEVER....use combo cards if I can at all get away with it. Been there, got cured and ain't goin' back.

In the past this kind of PCB sharing has been responsible for incompatability issues and I see no reason why Creative, with their record of hardware & driver fiascos, should suceed where others have failed in the past.

One problem is what happens if one of the "sides" of the card fails. Often there is a jumper to disable the bad side so you can install a generic replacement. Problem is that in my experience many of these fail to toally disable the device, which can cause problems with its replacement.

No thanks.

Gimme my Santa Cruz and a nice Pyro or ATI DVWonder!!

Dr. Mordrid

[Rob100]

Thanks Doc. Since posting I've been scouring forums etc and have already come to my own conclusion that the Audigy is more trouble than it's worth...

This is just one example of what I've found:

http://uk.europe.creative.com/support/forums/thread.asp?thre=14267&foru=51&page=1

I know the SC works in all my systems, so I guess "better the devil you know".... ;-) For the sake of a few quid, I'll get a seperate firewire card for that PC when I need it.

Rob.

[Dr Mordrid]

What's a shame is the low level of Creative input (3 posts) in a 9 page thread that was highly negative about their latest product. This on their own forum!

That should tell you something....

Dr. Mordrid

[KeiFront]

Seems they still got problems like the with the live sigh

http://www.americas.creative.com/support/kbase/article.asp?ID=959&Centric=207

[Dr Mordrid]

Gee....which is it?

1. everything else on their fix list is screwed

or

2. Creatives cards are screwed

The odds say #2.

Dr. Mordrid

[Duty]

Odd I have a Audigy MP3+ and so far have had no problems. Gaming, video and dinking around with a sound editor has been a really good experience. I did get a little frustrated with setting up the mike until I realized I missed a little checkbox.

I realize I am not as picky about the sound quality as some of you , but it all seems to work correctly with no real problems.

I have never had a problem with creative sound cards, just their other hadrware. That is when they have a driver for the sound card in the OS I am using .

Pretty simple use what you know or what you can get support for.


Jeff

[Dr Mordrid]

No ones denying that there are systems that work, it's just that there is a very high percentage of systems that do not...and that the problem list is very consistant (perhaps even persistant ).

Dr. Mordrid

[Rob100]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid

Gimme my Santa Cruz and a nice Pyro or ATI DVWonder!!

Well I decided not to risk the Audigy and got the SC's. I've been looking about on the net, trying to find someone who actually stocks (or even sells) the ATI DV Wonder in the UK. Insight say that they have 1 (yes one!) due on 15/02/02. Someone must sell it surely!?

Any ideas?

Rob

[PETERLEE]

slightly off topic ....
for a few years been making cd`s from old vinyl albums.
since changing to santa cruz from sb live, ive found it better quality... apart from less pci bus problems