Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sound Card
by Creative Labs
List Price:
Our Price: $49.00
You Save: $80.99 (62%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: CE
See more digital camera details and other models
Digital product summary information
Manufacturer: Creative LabsModel: SB0240P
Product features:
- The only PC solution to enable the Advanced Resolution era of 24-bit music fidelity with 192 kHz in stereo and 96 kHz in 5.1
- The best Sound Blaster clarity ever, rivaling home-theater audio quality for music, games, and movies
- Experience superior multi-channel audio from MP3s, CDs, 3-D games, and Dolby Digital EX movies with a rear center speaker
- The most exciting features yet with library search, automatic playlist volume matching, and hiss removal for MP3s
- Pure recording path captures the quality and subtle details of your audio creations
Digital camera reviews of Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sound Card
Digital camera Review: Hardware is exceptional; drivers are abysmal.
Summary: 3 Stars
I use a couple of Audigy 2ZS in my recording business. No other soundcard on the market, then or now, offers the flexibility and just great sound capturing capabilities of this card. Interestingly, all the later Creative products no longer support 192k/24 bit sampling, so this card is truly unique. The only other manufactured card supporting this brilliant sampling clarity costs US$250 more!
If you only get a hold of one of these cards to see how good audio CAN be on your computer, do it. It's jaw-droppingly good.
But I have to reinforce the driver problems described by others. I have dealt directly with the driver team at CL, and to say they are unhelpful is an understatement. Early drivers (e.g. those shipped on the CD) had some pretty bad flaws, but at least they allowed the card to work to its full potential (which is really astonishingly good!).
All the latest drivers (since late 2005) use the Creative "universal" driver model, which means they are designed to work correctly ONLY with the newer, low market level CL cards. All the new drivers have significant bugs and "showstopper" flaws, and completely prevent the card from being used properly (i.e. nowhere near it's actual technical specifications). Then there's a whole other discussion about CL supporting more than one card in any computer system. Old drivers worked beautifully with multiple cards, but new drivers just lock out inputs and confuse mixer settings and just don't work, full stop.
So if you want one of the clearest, most flexible, highest sample rate cards ever on the PC market up to this year, get one of these if you can (I've bought 3 spare cards in case any of my current ones die, as CL no longer support the product at all). Just don't expect the latest "mass market", "cloth-eared consumer" Creative labs drivers to work properly, and don't expect CL to help you with any technical problems. Ever.
To be honest, my next card will be anything BUT a Creative Labs product. But for me, the Audigy 2ZS is the BMW of the older audio card market. Have a drive, if you can. You just probably wouldn't want to own one.
Summary of Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sound Card
With the introduction of the Sound Blaster Audigy 2, Creative has once more raised the bar for PC audio, bringing to you the most definitive audio experience yet!Sound Blaster Audigy 2 delivers high-quality multi-channel recording and playback at up to 24-bit/96kHz and is the first PC product to offer playback of Advanced Resolution DVD-Audio at an astonishing 24-bit/192kHz with a stunning Signal-to-Noise ratio of 106dB, delivering spectacular audio quality that has now redefined PC audio standards. With EAX Advanced HD, 6.1 speaker support and Dolby Digital EX support, movies and games will be experienced with a breathtaking level of immersion and intensity, while SB1394 allows super-fast transfer of audio to external players.For the highest-quality audio experience, 16-bit is just not good enough. Step up to Sound Blaster Audigy 2 to hear the amazing difference that 24-bit Advanced HD makes. It delivers astonishing clarity and audio details that are inaudible on current 16-bit audio solutions, bringing your music, movies, and games to life.
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 offers Advanced Resolution DVD-audio playback up to an astonishing 24-bit/192 kHz in stereo, and delivers an ultraquiet 106 dB SNR that's far superior to ordinary CD and MP3 playback. With 6.1 speaker support, your games and Dolby Digital EX movies will sound more encompassing than ever before. The new Creative MediaSource music player will revolutionize your MP3 experience with its intuitive interface and rich feature set, while the Audigy 2 chip with EAX Advanced HD support delivers awesome power for gaming. Get Sound Blaster Audigy 2 for 24-bit/192 kHz audio fidelity--it delivers simply the best audio quality for music, movies, and games. Nothing else comes close.
Cameras and Photo
Most talked about in Media PC
Linksys by Cisco WMB54G Wireless-G Music BridgeLinksys; Windows; CE
Price in other shops:
Maxtor 1.5 TB OneTouch III Turbo Edition Hard Drive ( C01W015 )Maxtor; CE
Price in other shops:
Western Digital WDG2TP10000N My Book Pro Edition II 1 TB USB/ Firewire Triple Interface External Hard DriveWestern Digital; Windows; CE
Price in other shops:
LaCie 1 TB Big Disk Extreme External Hard Drive with Triple Interface ( 300797U )Lacie; CE
Price in other shops:
Seagate FreeAgent 500 GB 3.5-Inch USB 2.0 Hard Drive ST305004FDA1E1-RKSeagate; Mac; CE
Best price: $108.99
Price in other shops:
Maxtor 500 GB USB 2.0 OneTouch III Series 16 MB Cache Hard Drive ( T01H500 )Maxtor; CE
Price in other shops:
Western Digital WD5000KSRTL/ WD5000AAKS Caviar 500 GB SATA Hard DriveWestern Digital; Windows; CE
Best price: $59.00
Price in other shops:
Seagate ST3500641CB-RK 500 GB External Hard Drive USB 2.0/ FireWireSeagate; CE
Price in other shops:
Seagate STM305004OTAB05-RK 3.5-Inch PushButton Maxtor OneTouch III 500 GB 2.5-Inch USB 2.0/ FireWire400 External Hard DriveMaxtor; CE
Price in other shops:
Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 500 GB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive WDG1U5000Western Digital; CE
Best price: $90.00
Price in other shops:
Similar digital cameras
Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Widescreen Edition)Disney; Release date: 2006-12-05; DVD
Best price: $6.71
Price in other shops:
Creative Labs SB0570 PCI Sound Blaster Audigy SE Sound Cardby Inc. Creative Labs
Creative Labs; Published: 1991; CE
Best price: $74.99
Coolmax M-500B 500W Eps Power Supply with 5 Sata Connectors ATX12V & EPS12VCoolMax USA; CE
Best price: $25.75
Price in other shops:
Linksys by Cisco WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband RouterLinksys; Windows; CE
Price in other shops:
Kansas - The Best of KansasKANSAS; Release date: 1999-02-23; Music CD
Best price: $5.14
Price in other shops:
Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle LoungeMercury; Release date: 2008-04-29; Music CD
Best price: $3.90
Price in other shops:
Saitek Eclipse II Keyboard (PK02AU)Saitek; Windows 2000; CE
Best price: $42.69
Price in other shops:
Belkin 10FT CAT5E Patch Cable ( A3L791B10 )Belkin Components; CE
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
EVGA 01G-P3-N945-LR GeForce 9400 GT 1GB DDR2 PCI-E 2.0 Graphics CardEVGA; CE
Best price: $57.50
Price in other shops:
Logitech Z-5500 THX-Certified 505-Watt 5.1 Digital Surround Sound Speaker SystemLogitech; Release date: 2008-03-17; Windows XP; CE
Best price: $375.00
Price in other shops: