Going from a SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 to Audigy 2, Worth it?

Darkheart · Post by **Darkheart** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 10:12 am

I've got some money to spend and I'm a bit disatissfied with my SB Live 5.1 it seems to hog quite a bit of resources and struggle when having to produce a largish number of channels. I also have some reasnoble 5.1 speakers (Cambridge 5300) so I was thinking of updating from my SBLIVE 5.1 to the Audigy 2.

I never got an Audigy because of all the driver problems I heard about particularly with Win XP which I use. The price for the Audigy 2 is £82 which seems quite expensive but I suppose it is new. Do you think the Audigy 2 is worth it for me or should I just stick with the Live and put the money into something else?

One of the main things I'm interested in is the Advanced HD which seems to be moving some of the load for sound and effects of the CPU (reducing useage) and onto the sound card. Also with support for 64 channels it should stop some of those annoying problems I've had when running games that like a lot of channels.

I'm not too bothered about DVD audio. I have a better DVD jukebox/stereo system and I prefer to watch DVD's in the front room rather than sat in my study, it's just more comfortable. I'm also happy enough with 5.1 and not hugely bothered about 6.1.

I'm also not too bothered about the 24/96Khz recording and playback as I find CD quality (44Khz) sufficent.

So should I stick with the Live!, buy an Audigy (have the fixed it's problems now?), or go all the way for the Audigy 2?

Thanks,

Darkheart

System Specs for further info:

Athlon XP 2000+
MSI KT4 Ultra
512Mb 333DDR SDRAM
Lian Li PC70 USB Case
Geforce 3 Ti200
Adaptec U160 SCSI Controller
Soundblaster Live! 5.1
3COM 3C905C Ethernet Adapter
Illyama 17" Diamondtron Monitor
IBM U160 SCSI HDD (36Gb)
Maxtor 60GB HDD (7200)
Maxtor 29Gb HDD (7200)
Toshiba 6X DVDROM
Teac 32X CDROM
15/30 GB ADR Tape Backup
Yamaha 6416 SCSI CDRW
Microsoft Natural Elite Keyboard
Microsoft Explorer Intellimouse (3.0)
Sandisk USB CF Cardreader
Cambridge 5300 (5.1) Speakers

Post by **sbp** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 12:55 pm

Audigy 2 is what Audigy should have been.

Going froma Live to An Audigy there is a difference in sound quality. Audigy 2 uses same Emu10k2 chip as Audigy, but better converters. Hence it sounds clearer.

In terms of games, Audigy is king.

Drivers-thats the big thing isn't it? DocSilly and I haven't had problems with its drivers. However I know people who dumped their Audigy after driver problems.

Reviews say if you are a gamer to save some money and get an Audigy-the new features Audigy 2 has won't be used much. Also for those with an Audigy, getting an Audigy 2 is not much of an upgrade.

btw M-Audio is releasing a new sound card called the Revolution
http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/cgi-bin/www ... o=7&fpart=

LTrain · Post by **LTrain** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 4:09 pm

Peice of crap Audigy 2 does not have drivers for XP currently. Thought you might like to know.

Larry

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 4:15 pm

HAHA, Really? that is very funny.

I liekd the audigy over the Live...so my guess woudl be the audigy 2 would be great...apparently as long as you arnt using xp.

Greg

Post by **sbp** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 5:31 pm

Originally posted by LTrain
Peice of crap Audigy 2 does not have drivers for XP currently. Thought you might like to know.

Larry

What about the drivers on the cd?

http://www.fileconnect.net/modules.php? ... =0&thold=0

How could the following sites test the card under WinXP? Wouldn't they smack Creative around for not having a WinXP driver?

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/cre ... index.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/video/02q4/ ... nd_methods
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content ... gy2&page=6
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3 ... 630,00.asp
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?d ... 03&dPage=9

Gand1 · Post by **Gand1** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 5:58 pm

Personally, I got fed up with the massive problems that Creative drivers and cards have caused. I went with a Hercules Game Theater XP6.1 and never looked back. If you dont want a breakout box look at the Herc Fortissimo.

Darkheart · Post by **Darkheart** » Tue Nov 19, 2002 5:59 am

Ltrain do you have an Audigy 2? Creative's site says that it ships with support for Me,2000 & XP and in all the reviews I've seen there's been no mention of no drivers for XP which I'm sure would be a major failing. I'll have a look at the Hercules card, anyone know what chipset it uses?

Thanks,

Darkheart

LTrain · Post by **LTrain** » Tue Nov 19, 2002 6:05 am

I did the whole installation, with the CD, by the book, and the thing locks up every time I try to use it. Like, running the remote control program, etc. Also, if you go to creative's web page, they don't offer any drivers to download for XP.

Larry

LTrain · Post by **LTrain** » Tue Nov 19, 2002 6:54 am

To be fair, I removed EVERYTHING, including the drivers, and re-installed. Same issue. I'm lucky to even get back into my system, because it loaded this crap on started up that was locking my system. I am so fucking angry right now.

Larry

Darkheart · Post by **Darkheart** » Tue Nov 19, 2002 12:40 pm

Doh, sounds like another coup for the Creative driver team...

Man you'd think they could get working drivers out with their cards by now...

Darkheart

Post by **sbp** » Tue Nov 19, 2002 5:48 pm

Ohh so there is a WinXP driver then.

Exactly how long has the Audigy 2 been out? Less than a month and a half.

--------------
Hyperthreaded P4s hit Audigy snagette
Not so much a chime, more a stutter

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Tue Nov 19, 2002 7:06 pm

i got rid of a live 5.1 value and went back to ac97 onboard sound - that wasn't very good and got one of those cmedia cards - sounds as good to me as the sb and i haven't had any driver issues - less than $20 most places - i have the cmedia onboard in my other system and never had a prob with it

Darkheart · Post by **Darkheart** » Wed Nov 20, 2002 4:19 am

SBP, XP has been out for ages it's not unreasnoble to expect a card to SHIP with drivers for all current OS's (particularly the latest Microsoft).

Darkheart

Darkheart · Post by **Darkheart** » Wed Nov 20, 2002 6:23 am

Argh after reading all the stuff about the Creative cards including Creative's forums it looks like like the problems of the Audigy have been repeated with the Audigy 2. As I REALLY don't want crashes, lockups and stuttering to be my PC audio experience. Looks like Creative are also charging for drivers now

I did look for the Hercules card but I can't seem to get hold of it anywhere, however there is an alternative in the Videologic Sonic Explosion DVD. Here's the link on the card:

http://www.videologic.com/Products/Prod ... Type=Intro

Doesn't look too bad at all, anyone got one?

Thanks,

Darkheart

LTrain · Post by **LTrain** » Wed Nov 20, 2002 7:05 am

Creative has forums? I'll have to check that. As a sidenote, I filled out one of their service request customer help thingies, its been 3 days and I have not heard from them.

Larry