Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sound Card by Creative
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Digital camera reviews of Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sound Card
Digital camera Review: Frustrating
Summary: 3 Stars
Alright...when I can actually get this darn thing to work right it is an EXCELLENT sound card..But over the past few years I've had this thing I have had to reinstall the drives numerous times....I mean...much more than I should have to...This program will only function right for me for about a few months before I have to reinstall it again. I have updated my drivers and I'm sure nothing is wrong with my hard drive, still get the same problem...suddenly something stops working right, this time it was the fact that I can only choose 4.1 speakers..not even headphones or anything else...I dont even have 4.1 speakers....I have 6.1...Last time I couldn't change the EAX settings from default, so everything sounded horrible, the time before that I couldn't even open the EAX console period, mostly it's just problems with their EAX software. Which if you dont use everything sounds much worse by the way. If you can look past that problem though....great sound card...creative just needs to learn how to program decent software, cause the drivers for this sound card are absolutely horrid.Digital camera Review: Good, once it works!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an excellent sound card, but there is an issue that I encountered while installing it. As another review stated, there is the 'squeal of death' issue. I found to fix this you need to download the correct bios update <I have a dell 8100 computer, so this answer may not be true for everyone>. I went to the dell website, clicked on the support section, and then went on to download 'FlashBIOS' update drivers. This solved all of my sound problems, and I now am very happy with this soundcard, as well as the creative 6.1 speakers I also purchased.Digital camera Review: Great-Sounding Stuff
Summary: 5 Stars
To suggest that this soundcard is a dramatic improvement over on-board sound is a massive understatement. I recently purchased a new computer, one far more powerful and speedy than my old one, but I soon discovered that my media didn't sound nearly as good as I was used to hearing. I'd had a Sound Blaster Live card in my old unit, but I could not install that in the new computer: It was not compatible with Windows XP. Hence, I had to buy a new soundcard, not something super-fancy or compatible with speakers in 100 different rooms: Just something that kicks out good stereo sound for a good three-speaker setup, not to mention the ability to utilize more channels should I ever decide to go that route. The difference in the sound blew my mind: So much richer, deeper, more full in both lows and highs. This thing makes my computer sound wonderful, whether I'm playing it through my computer speakers or running it through my stereo. Helps with cd burning as well, as it allows for full-range copying of discs with 24-bit sound. Highly recommended!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.
Digital camera Review: Just my 2 cents....
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the most talked about sound card these days, above this being the platinum edition. For the hard core gamer, the movie fan & mp3 listener, this card will do the job just right. I purchased this card for a new system I built, and it's performed like a charm since installation. The quality of the sound is clearly above my old sound blaster live card. If used with high quality speakers, the sound card will really bring out that monster inside. You'll hear music, movies, even games with such clarity, that you may even hear sounds that are there that you never heard before.
One of my favorite features of this card is the EAX Console. Here you can choose from a wide variety of effects for your audio, which, again, if combined with good speakers, can make the listener feel right in the action. Also, included is a creative player, which I do not use, but I'm glad it's there just in case I get tired of my current player and want to test it out.
You also have diagnostics, speaker settings, surround mixer, & other features.
You can easily combined a speaker system with 5.1 speakers; that's going to add a lot of joy to your listening experience.
If you want to listen to your music in a different level, want to experience games & movies in a better way, then definitely get this audio card. It beats the sound from the built-in audio controller that comes with most of today's motherboards.
The difference will be heard.