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Creative Sound Blaster Z $80.39
- Thread starter LOCO LAPTOP
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dwilson041781
[H]ard|Gawd
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Another satisfied customer here. Gold caps and after some tuning, im in heaven. /BIGSMILE
LOCO LAPTOP
[H]F Junkie
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That's the card I had, you can upgrade the speakers at a later time, I think the Z-5500 will be fine.
Sound is a very subjective thing. If you are satisfied with how your z-5500's sound then stay with them, especially if it is the bass that you like. If you're concerned with cost then cost of going to nice studio monitors with a dedicated subwoofer is not going to be worth what you'll gain, unless you just can't stand the z-5500s.
ReconSniper
[H]ard|Gawd
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So the Logitech 2300 THX from 2008 I am rocking aren't as great as I think they are?
Oh and I absolutely LOVE "scout mode" with this card. I hear crazy new things in Black Ops 2.
texuspete00
Supreme [H]ardness
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I'm sold too bad it's been dead for awhile. 
I recently went back to onboard, removing a Xonar DG in favor of a physx card (dual slot consuming the pci beneath it). The DG always seemed like it had some sort of effect on. Don't really miss it, but the idea of having above average sound, I do.
I recently went back to onboard, removing a Xonar DG in favor of a physx card (dual slot consuming the pci beneath it). The DG always seemed like it had some sort of effect on. Don't really miss it, but the idea of having above average sound, I do. 
RX3
[H]ard|Gawd
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Ah man, I can't believe I missed this! I scour the hot deals daily...This would have been a great upgrade from my Xtreme Music.
Anyone have a spare they'd like to sell?
***edit***
Found some stock elsewhere. Amazon still has it for $110. Do they price match?
Anyone have a spare they'd like to sell?
***edit***
Found some stock elsewhere. Amazon still has it for $110. Do they price match?
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I'll say it again. Sound is very subjective. If you were to look at it scientifically then yes there are better speakers with better frequency ranges and produce more accurate sound, but if you are satisfied with what you have then what's the point of upgrading? Everyone likes different things about sound. Some people might like a lot of separation between instruments and a large range in the mid and high end. While some people might not care much about mid and highs and just want some bass. I suppose what I'm getting at is don't feel like you have to upgrade just because someone discredits your logitech system. If you're going to upgrade then definitely test out some systems first hand rather than just going off reviews.
ReconSniper
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I was more or less kidding about upgrading. I don't need anything else.
That is more of an ignorance is bliss statement. Boomy bass was just fine when I was a freshman in high school. Once I finally realized what real quality sound was like I could not stand to go back.
Again, I have no problem with people liking the z-5500's or other similar systems. Perfectly acceptable IMO. However, I cannot stand the crappy sound that systems like that produce. The difference to me is like driving around a Hyundai forever and then finally getting to drive around an Aston Martin. You will forever be desiring to get to the point where you don't ever have to sit in a Hyundai again
BETA.
2[H]4U
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curious as well as to how much better this one is compared to a titanium HD
curtisfong
Limp Gawd
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Titanium HD has better S/N and swappable op-amps. I had one, really liked it, but it's on ebay now. I wanted the option for 5.1 sound, this will certainly be "good enough"! I'll post here when I get my card. I'm using AD-700 phones. The Z can drive up to 600 ohm headphones, which is another + vs the HD (Z has a decent headphone amp, 2V @ 600 ohm vs 1V @ 330 ohm for the HD).
It can also be ignorant to just blindly upgrade without a real reason behind the upgrade. What I'm saying is that if the user doesn't have a problem with their z-5500's or whatever current speaker system then they can't really identify what they want to improve in their listening experience. Basically I don't think the person should have to ask if they should upgrade, but instead they should just have the want to upgrade when they realize what they specifically do not like about their current setup.
I also had z5500s and upgraded when I became frustrated with their boomy bass and over powering mid range getting in the way of hearing details in what I was listening to. But I wouldn't have upgraded just because I knew another teir of quality existed above what I had. Probably everyone here could be looking at the next teir of quality above what they have and it just leads to a never ending cycle unless of course the person is fairly wealthy and can afford exactly what they want.
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curtisfong
Limp Gawd
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Gold caps here too. Easy driver install off the CD, no bloat, happy so far.
fluke420
Gawd
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Thank OP. Got mine yesterday. Gold caps. Much better than my old Razor Barracuda AC-1.
TheMadHatterXxX
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Omg even using it on an old game like Return To Castle Wolfenstein, the sound is so much more richer and volumetric than my onboard Realtek. Definitely a noticeable difference on my Z-5500s.
I don't disagree with any of that, but there's a humongous gap between low end plastic PC speakers like that Logitech set and real speakers... Once you experience speakers that are actually able to reproduce a bigger range of the spectrum it's hard to go back to PC speakers with a boomy sub that's trying to make up for undersized satellites that should be reproducing more of the mid range etc.
I had my fair share of Logitech or Cambridge sets thru high school and college and I honestly wish I hadn't wasted money and time on then (since I probably went thru three or four sets).
To go back to my original point tho, if you've never experienced anything better and you already have a decent sound card, then your money is far better spent elsewhere than on upgrading the sound card. Would you actually disagree that speakers will make far far more of a difference?
texuspete00
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I'm happy with my HARX700 headphones but have NO idea what direction the sounds are supposed to be coming from..... wouldn't in this case there be potential to enjoy the sound card now, and maybe upgrade speakers/headphones later, since they are usually a more expensive upgrade, as well? This isn't an audiophile site, it's more a PC gaming one.
Plenty of higher end headphone/speaker discussion takes place around here... And $80 gets you nearly all the way to a sizeable upgrade from the RX700 (something like the HD 558 used for $100), hell you can get two decent bookshelf speakers and an amp for $80. Just saying... Higher end audio doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg, companies like Logitech are just milking a market with mediocrity IMO (and I don't hate Logitech on principle, I'm a big Logitech mouse fan and their service and support is excellent).
I think you're getting way too caught up in your own personal opinion and assuming that the poster was just asking purely about getting the best sound.
To me it sounds like he's upgrading from an older gaming sound card to a newer gaming soundcard and wondering if he'll notice any difference if he continues to use z-5500s. Yes he will notice a difference. Does he mean that he wants the best sound quality? I don't know he doesn't specifically say. For all we know he may be asking if it'll improve positioning cues with the scout mode. If the card in question were something on par with the X-Fi Titanium then I'd definitely say upgrade the speakers, but since this is just a gaming card then no I wouldn't say you need such a drastic upgrade since you are still using a soundcard geared towards gaming opposed to best sound processing experience and you aren't going to find many higher end analog 5.1 setups for a reasonable price.
What I am doing is keeping my personal opinion of the z-5500's to myself(even though it is very similar to your personal opinion) to try to not skew the posters own feelings about their current setup. Instead I use the question if they are satisfied. This is to open the dialog to question what their end goals are and what they are not satisfied with. Until you know that you can't really say if they should upgrade or not. Because in the end all you are doing is coming back to YOUR opinion that you were not satisfied, but who really cares when the person at question is the poster and not you. Instead what you're doing is coming off a bit like a snob by calling them "high school" speakers. That's like insulting a co-worker for driving a Chevy Cavalier just because that is what you drove in highschool.
To clarify I use my setup for gaming movies and music. Gaming being the main focus. The clarity I got from switching out an Audigy 2 ZS to the X-Fi Fatality was night and day but I also picked up a set of Z-5500 when I upgraded to the X-Fi sound card which is why I was curious if I should consider doing the same with the purchase of a Creative Z sound card. The other thing I was considering was that PCI-E would work well in my rig because it would leave more room for a second GPU. Better driver support was another consideration. I plan to get one anyway I am just waiting on a good deal. I am interest in knowing what setup / brands are top notch these days. I pickup up the Z-5500 back in day because they were popular back then and since I was primary gaming this is why I bought the speakers.
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QKSILVR73
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I too am running the fatality PCI w/ xram and 5500. And although the highs are lacking, I don't watch movies or listen to much music. I do a lot of gaming and seems suited well for this. Been debating on a new card as of late, and glad I skipped the last version of these cards. When I do a new system build, which will probably lack a PCI slot, I will definitely get this version if not the Fatality.
There really hasn't been any improvement in the 5.1 computer speaker market. All the higher quality computer speakers have been strictly 2.1 aside from the 4.1 Klipsch Promedia, but those have been discontinued and were plagued with amplifier problems so buying used isn't very smart. This leaves the z-5500s still at the top in that price range for computer speakers.
If you have around $500 to spend then you could definitely find a home theater receiver with 5.1 analog inputs and find an alright set of speakers that'll easily beat out the z-5500's.
Or what I did with my z-5500's is I disconnected the front L/R speakers then just replaced them with independently ran AV40 studio monitors for around $100. Sure the AV40s are pretty low quality in the realm of studio monitors but they do provide a much fuller range of sound than the 3" Logitech phase plug drivers. I chose this route because it was fairly cheap and the only thing I really care about having higher quality audio for was listening to music which I'd only need stereo for anyway. So I run the 2.0 AV40s most of the time unless I'm gaming or watching a movie where I want the surround and don't mind a bit of boomy bass. It's a bit of a hassle getting the AV40s and z5500s at a similar audio level, but to me the hassle outweighs going all out and buying a theater receiver and building a nicer system. I suppose this is why I say to really consider the reason for upgrading. Once you leave the realm of "PC speakers" the choices can become extremely overwhelming unless you have a clear picture of where you want to go.
I really hate car analogies, but I'll bite... If you ask me, spending money to go from a decent X-Fi card to a newer Z series while using the same speakers is akin to dropping six grand on performance parts for a Civic. It'll still be a Civic... I drive a lowly Civic btw.
It just isn't worth it on the basis of SQ or features alone, good old CMSS-3D is probably no worse than any of the new virtualized modes. Now, if he wants a new card in order to move to PCI-E or because his card lacks decent driver support under a new OS then that's a different story...
Tho I'd still argue that for what he's using it and with his current gear a near-$100 Z is kind of overkill and a Xonar DGX would work just as well for less money.
rene mauricio
Gawd
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Why is this topic still on this forum? I keep seeing it come up - hoping that they are back on sale... only to see it isn't.