xpehbamxyu Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 I am semi-satisfied with my Audigy2 card, I searched for alternatives, attemping to find something that would blow me to buy another card, but Have not found any.........can anyone suggest a plausible alternative to Audigy card? or should I just stop hoping? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symbiotic Hat Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 until someone else gets a licence to use EAX, Creative will be the best choice. I have also tried to get a sound card from a different manufacturer because of Creative's terrible driver support, but since almost all games use EAX, I have to stay with Creative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmo Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 There are lots of choices available. Don't let EAX rule your life, unless gaming is your #1 priority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuarterSwede Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Unfortunately the Audigy2 series cards are still the best cards for consumers. Some may say to try M-Audio's cards but Creative's Audigy2 specs are still better than even M-Audio's Revolution (7.1) card. Creative's hardware is great but their drivers do suck. By the way, I don't use EAX (not a hardcore gamer) or any of the flashy junk they stick in software to get people to buy the cards. I'm just concerned with getting my music played the way it was originally meant to be heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpehbamxyu Posted August 29, 2004 Author Share Posted August 29, 2004 What about that M-Audio card....I mean I a sure that no one should notice an exxcessive difference when playing music or games.....or am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaffa Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 nVidia SoundStorm. Too bad it's only buildin.. it's pretty good. Performs about the same as an Audigy.. Less proc load.. But yeah it's not the best of the best. Too bad there are not many alternatives to Creative.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpehbamxyu Posted August 29, 2004 Author Share Posted August 29, 2004 Yeh, it feels like they are monopolizing the whole bussiness... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuarterSwede Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 What about that M-Audio card....I mean I a sure that no one should notice an exxcessive difference when playing music or games.....or am I wrong? You are correct. Most people won't notice a difference at all. But, when recording there are definitely differences. Also, I heard somewhere (don't know if this is true or not) that the M-Audio cards use the CPU to do some of the processing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radium Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Yeh, it feels like they are monopolizing the whole bussiness... That's what they are doing. There used to be good alternatives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starcom826 Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 I believe the M-Audio card is supposed to have very good music playback, but on games it utilizes the cpu too much causing a frame rate hit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted August 29, 2004 Veteran Share Posted August 29, 2004 i always used creative and their good, but the driver downlaods off their site sucks so i just used those basic XP driver instead. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boogiman Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Teratec build excelend Soundcard. I work in a cinema en the sound controll unit is builded bij teratec. The good thing is that they do not only biuld for company sound use but olso voor home users. The thing is that they are expensive. They have a cheaper line for the ordenary user to make it affordeble but the quality is not that good. If you want exelent sound and you don't want to go with creative and you have the money for it, go for teratec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeburner Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 I never had a problem with Creative's drivers...been using my Audigy flawlessly for a while now :whistle: As far as alternatives, if your not a hardcore gamer, then buy anything you can afford *Shrugs* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothium Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 I have a Terratec 5.1 Sky card, was around ?70 a few months ago, they fit very nicely with my Logitech Z 680's. However i use a opitcal link straight to the logitech decoder because the sound is far better. Not sure if that is terratec's fault or not. Other than that, its a great card for normal use, lots of connections, great for movie playing. I don't know about the proc load on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert McClelland Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 try kx drivers :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmo Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Unfortunately the Audigy2 series cards are still the best cards for consumers. Some may say to try M-Audio's cards but Creative's Audigy2 specs are still better than even M-Audio's Revolution (7.1) card. Creative's hardware is great but their drivers do suck. By the way, I don't use EAX (not a hardcore gamer) or any of the flashy junk they stick in software to get people to buy the cards. I'm just concerned with getting my music played the way it was originally meant to be heard. If you care about music playback, you wouldn't own an audigy series of soundcard. I use a E-MU 1212m e-mu 0404 is also great for music. RME, Terratec, M-Audio, Chaintech all make excellent cards that surpass the audigy cards in terms of music quality. There is no reason to use an audigy card if you don't play games hardcore, as in, care about the extra 5-10 FPS you may or may not gain by using an audigy card, or if you want the surround sound positional audio from EAX. If you only want music, they suck. Check out the PC source forums over on head-fi if you want to do some reading. http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=59 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raraku Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 I'm listening to music on my new speakers and Audigy 2 soundcard right now.. I wouldn't say the music playback sucks. (In fact I'd say it's a heck of a lot better then it was before I upgraded). But to be fair, I've never tried any of these other companies. Still, I don't understand exactly how the music playback on Audigy's "suck"...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boogiman Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 If you only want music, they suck. Right, ok, And why is that? I don't think that the Audigy2 line would got so many award for quallity if the sound is crap while playing music. Unless you can prove it ofcors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmo Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Right, ok, And why is that? I don't think that the Audigy2 line would got so many award for quallity if the sound is crap while playing music. Unless you can prove it ofcors. UHhh lets see. First off, don't have to take my word for it, go read any forum related to sound/hifi and PCs, you will find majority of people have already proven that the audigy cards suck for music reproduction. Or, take my word for it, I have owned just about every soundcard since adlib, sb16, gravis ultrasound, sb32, sb64, sblive, audigy 1, game theatre xp, santa cruz turtlle beach, phillips 5.1 something, audigy 2, m-audio revolution, and now I own the e-mu 1212m. Audigy cards crap all over music. You may think it sounds great, but what have you ever compared it too? Have you ever used it with something other than your pc speakers? a decent pair of headphones even? Now i'm not saying the audigy 2 card is a pos, it is the best gaming card out there, has great dvd support etc, and works with almost everything. Some people have some driver complaints but I never had any issues with any creative card I have owned in the past. I am only talking pure music here. Do a lil research, I am only trying to point people on the right path towards hifi bliss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kl33per Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 You can't just listen to two sounds cards and say one is better over the other. For starters you need to do a blind listening test (which is extremely difficult considering you have to change cards everytime you wish to listen to the other card). Unless you can consistently identify which sound card is playing a particular song at the same volume/eq/etc, whilst not having prior knowledge of which sound card is being used, your results will mean nothing. All Audigy cards resample 44.1khz music to 48khz. This actually lowers the quality of the sound. The chances of you noticing the difference however are extremely unlikely. Still, a blind listening test is the only way to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimplyPotatoes Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 There are no alternatives to Audigy! You will fall back in line solider! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmo Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 You can't just listen to two sounds cards and say one is better over the other. For starters you need to do a blind listening test (which is extremely difficult considering you have to change cards everytime you wish to listen to the other card). Unless you can consistently identify which sound card is playing a particular song at the same volume/eq/etc, whilst not having prior knowledge of which sound card is being used, your results will mean nothing.All Audigy cards resample 44.1khz music to 48khz. This actually lowers the quality of the sound. The chances of you noticing the difference however are extremely unlikely. Still, a blind listening test is the only way to be sure. Obviously, sir, you have never listened to many soundcards. You do not need a blind listening test to determine the different in a soundcard, thats like saying all CD players are equal, and you would need a blind test to tell apart a General Electric CD player from a NAD cd player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theyarecomingforyou Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 I use a E-MU 1212m E-MU have enough problems with drivers... they work with the community a lot more, but they still aren't great with drivers (WDM for recording, not supporting 7.1 properly, etc). All the 1212m, 1820m, etc are great for recording, but distinctly lacking for gaming/videos/etc. Plus E-MU are owned by Creative... it's a bit worrying thinking that they might pull the plug on E-MU drivers (I'm not saying it will happen, but I despise Creative and they have done more surprising things in the past). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmo Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 E-MU have enough problems with drivers... they work with the community a lot more, but they still aren't great with drivers (WDM for recording, not supporting 7.1 properly, etc). All the 1212m, 1820m, etc are great for recording, but distinctly lacking for gaming/videos/etc. Plus E-MU are owned by Creative... it's a bit worrying thinking that they might pull the plug on E-MU drivers (I'm not saying it will happen, but I despise Creative and they have done more surprising things in the past). Yep, I use my EMU 1212m in games with no problems, CS: source, doom3, older games, etc all work fine, I only use 2 channel audio (headphones, or speakers) so I don't need multichannel. But no, it does not replace the audigy, but the original point was about music, not dvds or gaming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argote Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Santa Cruz or Catalina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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