Audigy 2

[Tanaban]

Audigy 2 (http://www.gamepc.com/shop/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=GamePC+Online+Products&category%5Fname=Sound+Card&product%5Fid=SB%2DAUDIGY2)

reviewed (http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=audigy2&page=1)



<!--EDIT|Tanaban|Oct 21 2002, 10:20 PM-->

[ToxicSoup]

Sound cards are over-rated.

[mOOkie]

I always feel quite amused by expensive sound cards like that... I'm using my onboard soundblaster instead! Cheap but perfectly fine...

[SnipeBoy]

It might just be my ears but I dont really see any difference between my Sound Blaster Live 5.1 card and the onboard sound, maybe its just because its an older one but hey it was free. :D

[ToxicSoup]

i can tell the difference between onboard sound and my audigy. But i dont see a use in upgrading your sound card every year. I got my audigy because:

1. It was free.
2. It supports 4 speakers, which my on board doesnt do.

[AMGpower]

My computer is about 2 years old (ive upgraded) and there is no on board sound. Whats funny is that my friend got a Vaio and there is on board video. It sucks. He had to put the quality and detail setting to the ground to get BF1942 to work. A little off topic but what the hell. Wish I could of built him one ;) .

[ToxicSoup]

Originally posted by AMGpower@Oct 22 2002, 07:17 PM
My computer is about 2 years old (ive upgraded) and there is no on board sound. Â*Whats funny is that my friend got a Vaio and there is on board video. Â*It sucks. Â* He had to put the quality and detail setting to the ground to get BF1942 to work. Â*A little off topic but what the hell. Â*Wish I could of built him one Â*;) .
Onboard video always sucks. No exceptions.

It always annoys me when people would rather buy a $3000 system from alienware or such company than build it themselves, or have someone else (like me :D ) do it for almost half that price. And chances are it will perform better than any pre-built system.



<!--EDIT|TypeXColorRed|Oct 22 2002, 08:29 PM-->

[SnipeBoy]

I dont think I could ever go back to a pre-built system, only one ive had was free from the local education authority and after a couple of years I gutted it to make my current PC, theres nothing left of the original now except maybe the plug. :lol:

[MP3Chuck]

There's really no reason to go out an "upgrade" to the Audigy2 unless:

1 - You want 6.1 Surround suppport.
2 - You want Firewire.
3 - You record music. (Apparently the D/A converters are rather high quality.)

Other than that ... *shrug*

[ToxicSoup]

Originally posted by MP3Chuck@Nov 1 2002, 12:57 AM
There's really no reason to go out an "upgrade" to the Audigy2 unless:

1 - You want 6.1 Surround suppport.
2 - You want Firewire.
3 - You record music. (Apparently the D/A converters are rather high quality.)

Other than that ... *shrug*
6.1 is for morons with ears in back of their heads.
The regular audigy has firewire... which is useless unless you have a super good video camera and or external hard drive.

Hercules game theater XP is better for recording music, and it's cheaper.

*falls down the stairs*
me: Im gonna sue you bastards.
them: Sir... there are no stairs in this facility... and you're standing up, please go home.
me: No, i dont want your hot dog.
them: we're calling the police.
me: no you arent, i didnt ask for cheese on that, dummy.
them: we forgot what we were going to say.
other thems: sir, your car is broken, you arent going anywhere.
me: what?! you wrecked my car.
them: we're going to shoot you.
:blink: im tired

[Tanaban]

Well if you're all going to bring out the numbers and stuff... yes the Audigy 2 is a slight step up, especially for Audiophiles *points to self* who cant stand low sound quality.

I have a 4.1 klipsch speaker setup so a 6.1 or even a 7.1 wouldnt mean a thing to me (but when the come out with a 8.1 set up I could just go buy another seet of 4.1s s :blink: ) but there are somethings that make the Audigy 2 worth while.
1) for the gamers there is hardware support for EAX 3.0 and to all of you how say "yeah but what games that are out will use that!?" there is a little game called Grand Theft Auto 3 that uses it.
2) They have made some nice impovements to the sound quality, such as the out put of 24bit sound. The original Audigy did have 24bit sound when the sound was in the card, but the converter from digital to your little analog wiring was cheap and was only 16bit so you loss a clearness to the sound. The Audigy 2 actually has a 24 bit converter thingy mabober.
3) I really dont care cause I hate my sound card with a passion and need a new one. Although I might just never buy another creative product agian... (*points at his spaztic Creative DVD-rom, and his SB live 5.1 Sound card).

[MP3Chuck]

I never understood the whole EAX thing ... is it any good without a set of surround speakers?

[Tanaban]

Originally posted by MP3Chuck@Nov 1 2002, 03:41 PM
I never understood the whole EAX thing ... is it any good without a set of surround speakers?
:blink: o_0 yessss! It's how most games calculate where and how sound comes to the listener. It can utilize any speaker set as long as teh sound card has the hardware to programed to do it, like a SB Live 5.1 can utilize a headphone set up and all the way up to a 5.1 set up. Think of it like a 3d intstuction set, like Open_gl or Direct 3d, for sound instead of video.

[ToxicSoup]

Well... all i know is my regular audigy does all the things i will ever need it to do and the sound quality is excellent with my cambridge soundworks 4.1 analog speakers.

[MP3Chuck]

Originally posted by Tanaban@Nov 1 2002, 05:51 PM
Originally posted by MP3Chuck@Nov 1 2002, 03:41 PM
I never understood the whole EAX thing ... is it any good without a set of surround speakers?
:blink: o_0 yessss! It's how most games calculate where and how sound comes to the listener. It can utilize any speaker set as long as teh sound card has the hardware to programed to do it, like a SB Live 5.1 can utilize a headphone set up and all the way up to a 5.1 set up. Think of it like a 3d intstuction set, like Open_gl or Direct 3d, for sound instead of video.
OK then one more question ... suppose I'm playing Unreal Tournament 2k3 w/ EAX on ... and someone is around the corner shooting. Will I be able to notice that? Or is it more a front/back position thing?

[Tanaban]

Originally posted by MP3Chuck@Nov 2 2002, 12:43 PM
OK then one more question ... suppose I'm playing Unreal Tournament 2k3 w/ EAX on ... and someone is around the corner shooting. Will I be able to notice that? Or is it more a front/back position thing?
I know that on the Audigy and Audigy 2 they can simulate that, but on the SB live 5.1 and before they can only do a positioning thing

[Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat]

One time I bought a 14 dollar 5.1 surround sound card for one of my computers. It didn't make the fps go up too much (vs onboard sound) but with headphones it was unbelievable! anything that used the UT engine was suddenly brought to life. (Like Rune, which is the best mplayer game ever, for dm anyway. I haven't played UT2003 yet.) It was all surroundy and stuff. And then it burned up, along with that computer. I am getting a 6.1 card with my nForce2 so I don't see any reason to even buy a new sound card for at least a year.

Sorry guys, I didn't notice how dead this topic was.