YES! A new "which soundcard should I buy" thread

[GNEP]

Audigy Player seems to work fine for me. Had no problems once I downloaded the latest drivers (and installed W2K SP2!)

gnep

[az]

*NOTE: I only have two speakers and am unlikely to own more than that in the near future - so any 3D sound gadget functions are of no value to me. If I get it right, EAX, A3D and all of their siblings ar only good for more than two speakers?

Can anyone confirm that the Audigy bulk IS the player?

AZ

[EDIT: spelling]

[Gurm]

Az,

It really depends on where you get it. Around here, bulk is going to be the "value" version. Which isn't bad, mind you - the only differences are usually the software bundle and maybe the digital output headers, and by the time you want to buy a digital addon Hoontech will make a better one than creative anyway (probably already do).

- Gurm

[Ribbit]

You mean like this? http://www.hoontech.com/english/prod...db3/index.html

[orangejulius]

Originally posted by Gurm
Ok, here's the deal.

1. Nothing based on the Crystal chipset works with Bioware games ... That means:

- Santa Cruz

BG2 is made by Bioware, and <a href="http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=56521&forum=10">this guy</a> got it to work with his Santa Cruz. Also, some OEMs, notably HP, have released new sound card drivers that fix the previous probs.

[VJ]

Thanks for correcting me on the firewire thing! (that actually is great news ).

How does the audigy perform on movie-audio ? (e.g. when using the computer's dvd drive, and then connecting the audio outputs to a home cinema amp) Is there lots of (annoying) noise ?

Any comments on how the audigy does with dual AMD mainboards (specifically the 760MPx chipset) ?

I personally feel that compatibility-wise, one can't go wrong with Creative (I really love my AWE32, dispite the rather low S/N ratio); when it comes to audio-quality however...

Jörg

[az]

How well/bad is the audio quality of the 6Fire and the Audigy?

I'll be using a stereo amp & speakers - nothing high-end, but better than pc sound stuff ("Brüllwürfel", as we say in germany ). I'm no audiophile, but I'm not deaf either (and neither do I want to go deaf)

AZ

[Indiana]

What Dogbert said: If you like high fidelity sound, take the 6Fire. If you want to play games with all those crazy pseudo 3Dsound gimmicks, take the Audigy.

I don't care about 3D gaming (in fact up to now I never even really tried it), but I want hassle-free Hifi stereo sound AND working/trouble free digital DolbyDigital 5.1 or DTS out for DVD-playback.

A freind of mine has the Audigy and has more than once experienced the "howl of death" and other Creative strangenesses. Cluttering the Registry and the Windows system folder with a whopping 30+ MB (driver files only) or even 300+MB driver archive included!

[Gurm]

BG2 is "mostly" fixable. The others in the series are hopeless (with Crystal cards).

The updated drivers ONLY address BG2. None of the others.

- Gurm

[Marshmallowman]

I can vouch for the hoontech addons.

have one on my sound balster live value, which gives me full 5.1 pass thru for movies...it has both in and out in both coax and optical.

3d sound "gimicks" do work with only 2 speakers(and are very good with headphones)

[Agent31]

be different, buy any new mobo with a shitty onboard sound-chip and use that

Chants:
<b>Save the PCI Slots... use on-board adapters...
Save the PCI Slots... use on-board adapters....
Save the PCI Slots... use on-board adapters....
</b>

OK, I'm just being silly, I'd never wish that upon anyone

<small>irate this post</small>

[Indiana]

Originally posted by Marshmallowman

3d sound "gimicks" do work with only 2 speakers(and are very good with headphones)

I only tried the Creative EAX demos at that time, but those didn't create anything nearly close to a 3D sound effect with only two speakers or with headphones. All they seemed to do was adding reverb and making the sounds sound hollow.
A3D2 on a real hw supporting card was IMO not really impressive with only two speakers but still you could at least see that it went in the right direction.

EAX and EAX2 just only really work with 4 speakers and even with such a setup I was not too impressed.

[Marshmallowman]

yeah A3d is a lot better...pity aureal went down