Why get a soundcard?

[Pixeleet]

Is there a real reason to get a soundcard (i.e. Audigy 2 ZS) if you have an nforce2 mobo?

EDIT: the mobo i'm referring to is the Asus A7n8x-x

 

[Deleted member 72990]

i think nforce2 is probably your best bet if it has soundstorm. i wish i had it

 

[GodsMadClown]

you should get a soundcard if you don't have, or don't want to buy a digital decoding solution.

 

[lilpoopypants]

nope

 

[jester1176]

reasons...

1. less cpu overhead. host based audio costs you a bit of processing power.
2. eax support. anything other than an audigy card only supports eax 1 and 2.
3. support for 7.1
4. nice bundle. the zs gamer comes with splinter cell, raven shield, jedi academy, tomb raider and halo

 

[Mister X]

jester1176: You left out the most important part.
MUCH BETTER SOUND QUALITY.

 

[lilpoopypants]

ya better sound quality, if it works.
requirement #1, its gotta work. theres way too many ppl with creative cards complaining, have been for years.
the revo does better but theres even a few ppl here with some issues..

i say, if your not an audiophile, the onboard should sound fine (mine does).. and if it works.. you already won the war.

why get marginally better sound quality? do you really think an audigy improves the sound quality that much on a set of el-cheapo logitech z560s (prob the most common, well rounded set of speakers out there, as well as most popular)? No.

at least, soundstorm does fine without one, and is head and shoulders above the audigys on stability and reliability.

on CPU overhead, this is one of my rants from a few days ago and its simply the truth-

Performance loss, smerformance loss.
If your "gaming rig" is made unplayable, or you even have a noticable difference (ie. without benchmarking) when you switch to a card that offloads the processing to your CPU... then your "gaming rig" should be popping out Word documents in place of fragging in Doom 3.

Seriously. I never understood everyones obsession with sound hardware acceleration.

Everything should be Dolby Digital 5.1 anyway, forget about EAXcretion Rev. 4.0. It sounds like crap.
And like I said, if your system is brought to its knees from calculating which of 4 or 5 speakers the sound is supposed to be coming from in DirectSound3D.. then its time to upgrade yer so-called gaming rig..

you want the best sound quality at a decent price? I've heard the Revolution 7.1 and 5.1 are the ticket. They are not perfect but have much less problems with conflicts and screw-ups then Creative products.
And you get (arguably) the best mainstream consumer card out with the best sound quality.

Anyway... the time to worry about game sound maxing out your CPU time was when we were stuck in the Pentium 133mhz days, or maybe on the P2. We have more than enough processing power with Athlon 64s to handle DS3D.
And if you have an NF2 you get to be blessed with realtime Dolby Digital.

I'm not against keeping your clock cycles, but most wont put this in perspective.

If you are a hardcore gamer, the added quality from a M-Audio Revolution will probably make you a better player by hearing more detail than losing your hardware acceleration and MAYBE (depending on what CPU you have), 5-20FPS.

Like I said, a "gaming rig" being brought to its knees, or even affected by processing direct 3d??? hardly. this is the age of uber powerful CPUs my friends..
if you dont have one, time to upgrade the old gamin rig.

EAX is crap (all versions)
and 7.1 is crap. find me a game that effectively uses 5.1, let alone 7.1... just a wee bit too many speakers a wee bit too fast there.
if you dont have "mere" 5.1 in your living room, you dont need 7.1 in your computer room. esp the cheap crap 7.1 system most people with this idea are going to end up with. and if its useless in 95% of games, why?
if you dont have realtime DD 5.1 yet (soundstorm) then forget 7.1.
I'll recommend 7.1 when they offer real time encoding for it.

and the bundle?
you forgot to mention creative's bloatware that sticks inside your system better than an ethiopian boy's HIV infection.
then that bundle is lost if you lose the cd, cuz creative doesnt allow their bloatware to be downloaded without you proving you have the original CDs that contain the outdated, buggy crap!
take my word for it now, that is actually a blessing rather than a curse.


you want higher quality? forget ALL the BS cards out there and run a digital line from Soundstorm to a 5.1 martin logan (or similar) surround system and be blessed with realtime dolby digital encoding. otherwise stick with your WORKING FINE onboard.

or welcome all the problems that come with Creative cards (and have for YEARS) for a little more clarity.. which plays second fiddle to the Revolutions anyways... to save those precious CPU cycles that werent being used anyway on your 3ghz P4.

ugh.. tired of the "save FPS" argument from the Creative camp.. its such a load of ****.

 

[strid3r]

I could hear the difference in sound quality when I upgraded from the onboard sound on my NF7-S. I threw a Fortissimo III in there about a week after I got my motherboard, and I could definitely hear an improvement. I had that card for about 9 months, and decided to get an Audigy 2 ZS. Again, I could hear an improvement, even on my set of "el-cheapo logitech z560s". It all comes down to whether or not YOU'RE happy with it. If you're happy with onboard sound, just stick with it.

 

[Paragon]

I have been using the onboard analog for quite some time.. have found no need to put the audigy back in.

 

[jester1176]

lilpoopypants, let me guess...you dont like creative.

anyway, for your bundle comments, you dont have to install ANY applications that come with the card. you can select DRIVER ONLY INSTALL and things will work just fine.

there's people complaining because there's people using the cards! creative owns about a 75% share of the pc audio market. the reason no one is complaining about MAudio, Philips, GTXP et al is because no one is using them! of course if you're selling millions of units each year you're going to have people with configuration problems, compat. problems etc. it's the nature of the beast!

look, it all comes down to personal preference. you think EAX is crap. i think it's good technology that makes my games sound more realistic. i want a cave to sound like a cave...i want a warehouse to sound like a warehouse. none of that is posible in REAL TIME without eax.

you're talking about dolby digital...well, name me 5 games that have real dolby digital support. yah, didn't think so. yes, it's great for movies, but it's nothing in games.

finally, you're talking about cpu overhead not being a big deal. well, 5-10 frames per second loss in any given game when using host audio (onboard) is big to a lot of people. just look at the guys overclocking their machines...these are the people who hang out on these forums, the people who want every ounce of performance from their rigs. and you're going to try and tell me and them that 5-10fps isn't a big deal? please.

 

[E4g1e]

EAX is crap (all versions)
and 7.1 is crap. find me a game that effectively uses 5.1, let alone 7.1... just a wee bit too many speakers a wee bit too fast there.
if you dont have "mere" 5.1 in your living room, you dont need 7.1 in your computer room. esp the cheap crap 7.1 system most people with this idea are going to end up with. and if its useless in 95% of games, why?
if you dont have realtime DD 5.1 yet (soundstorm) then forget 7.1.
I'll recommend 7.1 when they offer real time encoding for it.

Also, find me a recent (read: newer) game that is limited to 4.1 or 2.1 (or even monaural) audio...

And these forums are full of 'bull$#%@ting' people who wants the maximum performance out of whatever systems they own... 'Onboard audio, schmonboard audio'...

 

[Stanley Pain]

ya better sound quality, if it works.
requirement #1, its gotta work. theres way too many ppl with creative cards complaining, have been for years.
the revo does better but theres even a few ppl here with some issues..

i say, if your not an audiophile, the onboard should sound fine (mine does).. and if it works.. you already won the war.

why get marginally better sound quality? do you really think an audigy improves the sound quality that much on a set of el-cheapo logitech z560s (prob the most common, well rounded set of speakers out there, as well as most popular)? No.

at least, soundstorm does fine without one, and is head and shoulders above the audigys on stability and reliability.

on CPU overhead, this is one of my rants from a few days ago and its simply the truth-


Like I said, a "gaming rig" being brought to its knees, or even affected by processing direct 3d??? hardly. this is the age of uber powerful CPUs my friends..
if you dont have one, time to upgrade the old gamin rig.

EAX is crap (all versions)
and 7.1 is crap. find me a game that effectively uses 5.1, let alone 7.1... just a wee bit too many speakers a wee bit too fast there.
if you dont have "mere" 5.1 in your living room, you dont need 7.1 in your computer room. esp the cheap crap 7.1 system most people with this idea are going to end up with. and if its useless in 95% of games, why?

Speaking from a user that is using soundstorm two recent ghames that Run VERY well in 5.1 are FarCry and Doom3. Unfortunatley you won't get the wonderful 5.1 encoded audio via SPD/IF with out soundstorm. However, if you are using analog outs on your soundcard you can and will get 5.1 (but not DD).

 

[lilpoopypants]

Excellent, now that we have some games that work in 5.1 DD lets get everyone hooked up with 5.1DD and THEN someday we'll look into 7.1.. for now its borderline retarded.

My point was that half the people dont even have decent 5.1.. why jump to 7.1 when no games support it? It makes no sense.. stick with quality 5.1 (Dolby Digital).

Also, on a driver only install you get no utils, no balancing besides treble/bass, no way to change volume levels on the outputs (ie front, rear).

And yes, DS3D acceleration IS no big deal. I explained it- "If you are a hardcore gamer, the added quality from a M-Audio Revolution will probably make you a better player by hearing more detail than losing your hardware acceleration and MAYBE (depending on what CPU you have), 5-20FPS."

But sure i like creative, I used their cards from 1988 to 2000.. they just arent the best and their merits aren't quite merits. Its overblown crap.

 

[Memo]

If you're happy with your sound then, no, there is no reason in upgrading. Or as mentioned, if you have a slow cpu and the on-board sound is taking up good chunk of cycles, a seperate card would be useful.

 

[lilpoopypants]

Also, should add.. even if you do have the original creative disc.. you are still stuck with basic treble/bass controls, so you ARE just as well off with the basic driver install cuz the software doesnt offer anything more in this regard anyway.
Or on the other hand, Nvidia gives you a 9band EQ even with non-soundstorm boards.. and Im sure M-Audio and others give you more than basic bass/treble controls as well without the original CD.

And for a gamer, (the main group that is worried about CPU cycles).. if your gaming machine is brought to its knees.. if you dont have an abundance of CPU power in the age of the a64 FX (or even a 2800+ A64) then you are borderline retarded for buying a $100 sound card to improve your gaming than saving up for a faster CPU.

 

[jester1176]

lilpoopy, stop being difficult just to be difficult. the audigy installers give you 3 choices.

1. full install.
2. custom install
3. driver only

custom install lets you pick and choose what applications you want to install and what you dont. yes, the creative install does include a lot of crap, but like you said, there's a lot of necessary applications in there as well like the mixer application. you can choose JUST the mixer and the driver if you like.

 

[lilpoopypants]

Quote of the year (should be a sticky)

if you dont have an abundance of CPU power in the age of the a64 FX (or even a 2800+ A64) then you are borderline retarded for buying a $100 sound card to improve your gaming than saving up for a faster CPU.

 

[jester1176]

that's great that you think so highly of yourself that you quote yourself....

i would never suggest that someone who's looking for better performance out of their rig upgrade their sound card. i don't think anyone with half a brain would. BUT that doesn't take away from the fact that if someone already has a very good machine with a 64 bit processor, with a gig of ram, with a "latest and greatest" video card, and they're STILL looking for frames to gain, why not suggest they move from on-board audio?

 

[Mister X]

Quote of the year (should be a sticky)

I have another name for the asinine comment you are referring to but I will keep it to myself thanks.

 

[Stanley Pain]

Excellent, now that we have some games that work in 5.1 DD lets get everyone hooked up with 5.1DD and THEN someday we'll look into 7.1.. for now its borderline retarded.

My point was that half the people dont even have decent 5.1.. why jump to 7.1 when no games support it? It makes no sense.. stick with quality 5.1 (Dolby Digital).

Also, on a driver only install you get no utils, no balancing besides treble/bass, no way to change volume levels on the outputs (ie front, rear).

And yes, DS3D acceleration IS no big deal. I explained it- "If you are a hardcore gamer, the added quality from a M-Audio Revolution will probably make you a better player by hearing more detail than losing your hardware acceleration and MAYBE (depending on what CPU you have), 5-20FPS."

But sure i like creative, I used their cards from 1988 to 2000.. they just arent the best and their merits aren't quite merits. Its overblown crap.

Agreed. I tend to stick to my Revo for Music/Movies and some games (ones without the need for positional audio) and Soundstorm for most FPS games, and games that support multi speaker settings.

IMHO, nothing and I do mean NOTHING has come close the A3D 2.0 sound quality of positional Audio

 

[lilpoopypants]

Yes I have yet to hear DirectSound3D match the positioning of A3D2.

And we all know EAX has nothing to do with that at all, in case someone does not know.. EAX is essentially a bunch of software "switches" that you can turn on and off for different environments. Its fairly easy to implement for developers from what I understand, and because of this ease it also has poor results.
Think about this: if EAX was worth two sh**s and a wet fart, dont you think one of the biggest releases of the decade (Doom3) would have incorporated it to begin with?
No. Creative had to blackmail them to integrate it. Typical.

But I'm more leaning towards realtime Dolby Digital (which I believe Warcraft3/Doom3 and others support), which the Soundstorm and the Xbox both are capable of doing, for the future of gaming audio.

Games traditionally follow movies in the graphics department, and this is no different in the audio department either.
Movies and games are essentially the same medium, yet one is interactive.


I should respond to this

BUT that doesn't take away from the fact that if someone already has a very good machine with a 64 bit processor, with a gig of ram, with a "latest and greatest" video card, and they're STILL looking for frames to gain, why not suggest they move from on-board audio?

The point was, if you look and benchmark a A64 FX system (for instance), the FPS difference is nothing.
Your bottleneck is not the processor on a hardcore Gaming Machine, but the graphics or something else.
And if you are not "hardcore", then why are you worried about 5FPS?

Its a revolving door.. how irrelevant Creative and hardware acceleration is these days. From the Dolby Digital 5.1 answer to the tremendously powerful CPUs being produced.. its near ridiculous.

Let me put it to you this way, if you are in the CPL, and you are losing because of your system being too slow... and a hardware accelerated sound card helps you.. your system does NOT belong in the CPL (not that they let you use your own anyway, but it still applies to pre-match practices).
That is disregarding the fact that a Revolution will likely allow you to hear things better anyway (and more likely make you a better player than keeping FPS that likely arent being affected).

Do this hardcore gamers..
benchmark your favorite game with and without your hardware accelerated soundcard at your given resolution, if you lose >10FPS, or dip below 60FPS its time to upgrade.
Period.

Theres not even a debate, if you are not maintaining that level of performance, or if your system is that highly CPU dependant at that resolution.. its simply too slow to be professionally, or even "hardcore" gaming on.

The best way to reduce getting killed is to remove the CPU from being the bottleneck (because it should never be if you are worried about a FPS slowdown getting you killed), getting the best sound card for gamers (Soundstorm or Revo).

Not removing a bottleneck that shouldnt be a bottleneck in the first place (sound).
Because if you didnt catch what i was saying by now... your "gaming" system is too slow to stop it from hindering your gaming performance.

A more detailed, more reliable card/drivers are more important once you understand how modern games and computers interact.. and what SHOULD be hurting your fragging.
It is not your sound acceleration.
If it is affected it AT ALL, you need a faster CPU.

 

[Brad4321]

I got my audigy platinum ex for the features. I can't tell any real sound quality difference between that and the integrated on my nforce 2 mobo, I just needed the features and performance that only come with a dedicated sound card. I will probably keep this card until it quits, as there is no reason to upgrade it to anything else.

 

[Circuitbreaker8]

ya better sound quality, if it works.
requirement #1, its gotta work. theres way too many ppl with creative cards complaining, have been for years.
the revo does better but theres even a few ppl here with some issues..

i say, if your not an audiophile, the onboard should sound fine (mine does).. and if it works.. you already won the war.

why get marginally better sound quality? do you really think an audigy improves the sound quality that much on a set of el-cheapo logitech z560s (prob the most common, well rounded set of speakers out there, as well as most popular)? No.

at least, soundstorm does fine without one, and is head and shoulders above the audigys on stability and reliability.

on CPU overhead, this is one of my rants from a few days ago and its simply the truth-


Like I said, a "gaming rig" being brought to its knees, or even affected by processing direct 3d??? hardly. this is the age of uber powerful CPUs my friends..
if you dont have one, time to upgrade the old gamin rig.

EAX is crap (all versions)
and 7.1 is crap. find me a game that effectively uses 5.1, let alone 7.1... just a wee bit too many speakers a wee bit too fast there.
if you dont have "mere" 5.1 in your living room, you dont need 7.1 in your computer room. esp the cheap crap 7.1 system most people with this idea are going to end up with. and if its useless in 95% of games, why?
if you dont have realtime DD 5.1 yet (soundstorm) then forget 7.1.
I'll recommend 7.1 when they offer real time encoding for it.

and the bundle?
you forgot to mention creative's bloatware that sticks inside your system better than an ethiopian boy's HIV infection.
then that bundle is lost if you lose the cd, cuz creative doesnt allow their bloatware to be downloaded without you proving you have the original CDs that contain the outdated, buggy crap!
take my word for it now, that is actually a blessing rather than a curse.


you want higher quality? forget ALL the BS cards out there and run a digital line from Soundstorm to a 5.1 martin logan (or similar) surround system and be blessed with realtime dolby digital encoding. otherwise stick with your WORKING FINE onboard.

or welcome all the problems that come with Creative cards (and have for YEARS) for a little more clarity.. which plays second fiddle to the Revolutions anyways... to save those precious CPU cycles that werent being used anyway on your 3ghz P4.

ugh.. tired of the "save FPS" argument from the Creative camp.. its such a load of ****.

Well, I got my 560's around september last year, along with my old amd based system which had nfoce 2 audio. One thing you guys have to know is if you're not using digital out, you're not using soundstorm. If you're using analog, the realtek codecs are doing all of the work. I was using onboard sound for a while, until I cracked and bought an Audigy 2 ZS from newegg. The sound quality difference was AMAZING! It was like night and day with my speakers. Much more options also, and games sounded A TON better with the audigy 2 zs. I would never go back to onboard sound...EVER.

 

[guilTy]

i have an old audigy1 platinum, and i must say when i went from what i had before(onboard audio) to that i did notice a difference in sound quality, but not in performance. like brad4321 i got my audigy for the features (front side MIDI connections etc..) HOWEVER, i dont think i am so much an audiophile that i will need it once i get my new motherboard. ill give it to a friend who needs the MIDI inputs more than i.

its just a matter of whether or not youll notice the difference(or if youll care), and if your willing to shell out the money for that difference. i am strapped for money, so i have no intention to upgrade to another soundcard for a long time.

my 0.02

 

[E4g1e]

Also, should add.. even if you do have the original creative disc.. you are still stuck with basic treble/bass controls, so you ARE just as well off with the basic driver install cuz the software doesnt offer anything more in this regard anyway.
Or on the other hand, Nvidia gives you a 9band EQ even with non-soundstorm boards.. and Im sure M-Audio and others give you more than basic bass/treble controls as well without the original CD.

Actually, M-Audio does NOT give you any tone controls at all whatsoever - not even simple bass and treble controls - with their Revo cards.

 

[Paragon]

Actually, M-Audio does NOT give you any tone controls at all whatsoever - not even simple bass and treble controls - with their Revo cards.

If you are worried about audio quality, ya shouldn't need to mess with those. Quantity on the other hand.. that is when ya hear the idiots with their car stereo blasting to where you can hear the bass 4 houses down..

 

[GodsMadClown]

Actually, M-Audio does NOT give you any tone controls at all whatsoever - not even simple bass and treble controls - with their Revo cards.

WTF? Why would I want tone control in my driver? That's what EQ in the player software is for. Yeah, M-Audio sux, because they don't have cruft in their dirvers that shouldn't be ther in the first place.

P.S. Get a decent headphone/speaker rig with a nice, flat response and you'll hear the music as the recording engineer intended it. EQs are largely for working around equipment limitations.

 

[Pixeleet]

I was planing on getting nothing "worse" than the logitech z-680s. I'm leaning towards a HT system though, just because the room where this comp will reside will just be for gaming (perhaps movie watching if i get a big enough screen). Check this thread for my speaker delima (sp?):
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=790879
My budget isn't all that big, so buying custom speakers is really out of the questions. Either I go with Klipsch or Logitechs, or a HTiaB. Please keep comments regarding the speakers/HT setups to the other thread.

 

[SJetski71]

Analog soundstorm "mcp-t" sounds 100x better than analog "mcp" alc650. I have Nforce2 mobo's with both and theres absolutely no comparison and their respective control panels are totally different.

Also, If i remember correctly, there were more than a few reviews that demostrated soundstorm+hypertransport had less cpu usage than any sound card including creative and crystal chipsets.

That being said, all chipsets have their strengths and weaknesses inho. Creative is for gaming mostly, Via is for music listening, Soundstorm is a little of everything, especially good for dolby on the fly and htpc use.

 

[lilpoopypants]

I wasnt aware the Revos dont have an EQ. It doesnt matter, they still are better than Creative products. Which doesnt take much, not even an EQ.

But I hardly see a ambitious hardware/software vendor putting a 9-12band EQ in their driver software to be somehow degraded by anyone.
If you dont like it, dont use it (leave it flat).. instead you are defending companies who are creating soundcards for $100 that are technically being bested by onboard audio (SoundStorm) in both software and hardware merits, at least for the average (most) users and esp for games.
I dont see how lacking that is a plus. Considering your Winamp3 might have an EQ as you say, but what about Doom 3 (as long as the sound is working for you, as Audigy users have been reporting across the web en mass)?
I tested it myself, popped in the audigy, updated the drivers to the crappy version (newest), then found Doom3 audio stopping completely within 2 minutes of gameplay. Take it out, as I have many times... and my Nforce audio is pumping out clearer, crisper and better positioned audio within seconds.

I've already educated on why worrying about CPU utilization is for those who are borderline retarded. Why must I explain how more is not less? Dont use it.

 

[Mister X]

I wasnt aware the Revos dont have an EQ. It doesnt matter, they still are better than Creative products. Which doesnt take much, not even an EQ.

How do you come to these conclusions if you don't even know basic stuff about these cards?

 

[lilpoopypants]

If the Creative cards dont work correctly for even a quarter of the users (a conservative guess), then any further debate is moot.

It has to work #1.. the rest is debatable. But theres a rather large anti-Creative faction out there, and for good reason.
I've experienced most of the issues myself.

Its clear and obvious to anyone that the Revo has outclassed Creative in a first round knockout (which is rather sad). I dont care what happens to Creative, but their marketing department creates WAY to many !!!!!!s for no good reason, when the stuff is NOT the best out there, even for gaming.

 

[E4g1e]

I might as well go back to the days of no-audio on PCs (or specifically, with the PC emitting nothing but crude beeps for audio). I've had serious issues with every soundcard that I've ever used - onboard, Creative and M-Audio.

 

[Mister X]

Its clear and obvious to anyone that the Revo has outclassed Creative in a first round knockout (which is rather sad).

As someone that has owned both a Audigy 2ZS and a Revo it is clear to me that you could not be any more wrong.
The only thing Revo did better then the ZS card was quality and two minutes with the soldering iron fixed that.

 

[agentzero9]

I could hear the difference in sound quality when I upgraded from the onboard sound on my NF7-S. I threw a Fortissimo III in there about a week after I got my motherboard, and I could definitely hear an improvement. I

you were probably using an analogue connection which means you were not even taking advantage of soundstorm.


What you are comparing your fortissimo III to is the onboard realtek codek on the NF7-S

 

[lilpoopypants]

the 'only' thing it did better was quality? isnt that the whole point to a sound card.
you arent most people either. not everyone knows what to take their soldering iron to on their ZS to make it as good as a Revo.
you could prob take onboard and make it better than a Revo.. for the rest of us, we gotta go with a Revolution or soundstorm.. depending on priorities.

 

[Mister X]

the 'only' thing it did better was quality? isnt that the whole point to a sound card.

Nope.
But that is one of the advantages a sound card has over an integrated solution.
The other advantages are better gaming performance and more robust features..

you could prob take onboard and make it better than a Revo

The same way that you and everybody else can... disable on board and buy a sound card.

BTW you still have not answered the previous question I put to you so let me ask it again.
Have you owned either an Audigy2 or Revo card?

 

[lilpoopypants]

have you not been listening. gaming performance is a kids argument.. when your educated on the subject of modern games/cpus/gpus you will realize that a audigy2ZS is not needed, nor a relevant player with its subpar features. besides EAXcretion 4.0 and accelerating sound features that might have taxed a Pentium 2... theres no point.
but if you are gaming on a P2, then by all means.. Creative has your answer.

and robust features? last i checked the nvidia soundstorm had the most robust features for gaming. not the ZS. feature numero uno- realtime dolby digital encoding.

i dont have a revo or a ZS, and it will be a cold day in hell before i own another audigy. i do own the audigy1, ive had enough of the emu101k or whatever that POS is still based on.
better dacs and whatever else Creative cobbled together in the Audigy2ZS doesnt erase the fact the emu101k is a failure. but possibly the greatest marchitechure champion of all time.
now the Revo appears to be a great jack of most trades. but im happy with my Nforce2 audio.. it does have the best, most updated driver support in the industry dont cha know?

if i wanted a better sounding audigy1 i'd buy a A2, instead I just want something that works correctly so I moved one step backwards to my Nforce2 audio.. and coincidentally moved 5 steps forward.

so yes, I COULD purchase a ZS and incur the audio deathwish we all know that can be.. or get the audiophile choice, from an audiophile company (Revolution) and recieve what I'm sure is better sound.. but Nvidia (the only GAMER company of the 3) has me covered.

so i say to you, I know enough about Creative to stay away from them. Nothing else is needed on that subject. I DID use them since around the time I moved off my Commodore 128 onto PC territory though.. so I know how they've repackaged essentially the same card over, and over and over.. if thats what you mean. They dont exactly have much gold old fashioned American ingenuity.. but hey, they are canadian!
It takes no experience with an M-Audio Revolution to understand from the glowing reviews from countless satisfied users that it is the superior choice, and that would not take much anyway.. Creative hardly works since the Audigy for myself (same issues exist on the A2s) and for most the Lives! did it for them.

Need I direct an audiophile such as yourself to this old and trustworthy article on why NOT to buy anything Creative?
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=76742
Straight from WINAMP.. the audiophiles choice for a media player!

Defending Creative is like being a one legged man at an a$$ kicking contest...

Its easily implied that a product from M-AUDIO would trounce the dung Creative puts out. Or terratec or whoever.. Creative is last on the list and I'd personally pick a PCI C-Media card before their unreliable, unsupported garbage. I think my Audigy Gamer that was $100+ a few years back is enough of a smack in the face for me.

Good night!

since we're trying to prove that we are correct because we are dumb enough to actually PURCHASE an audigy2zs... i guess i should ask you.. do YOU have a soundstorm?

 

[strid3r]

you were probably using an analogue connection which means you were not even taking advantage of soundstorm.


What you are comparing your fortissimo III to is the onboard realtek codek on the NF7-S

That is correct, I was using the analog connections on the NF7-S. It seems to me some people buy Soundstorm boards thinking the analog connection is better than their non-Soundstorm counterparts, but obviously that is not the case.


And why do you (lilpoopypants) insist on badmouthing the ZS when you have never even owned one? I bought one and had it running up in less than 15 minutes, playing music with foobar2000 (which I think most "audiophiles" prefer).

 

[Mister X]

since we're trying to prove that we are correct because we are dumb enough to actually PURCHASE an audigy2zs... i guess i should ask you.. do YOU have a soundstorm?

First off there is no need for you to call anyone on this forum names just because you disagree with them.
Secondly, yes. I have owned a Soundstorm equiped motherboard.