[WMCoolmon]

I've been using an Audigy 2 NX and don't really have a complaint other than I keep forgetting to turn it on.

[Grey Wolf]

The Audigy 2 Value has a slightly different chip, so it makes getting drivers a bit more annoying.

[Nix]

If you want to be future-proof for the next year or so, and want to take advantage of EAX 4 and 5 (still not many games actually support it)  I wholehearteldy suggest the X-fi extreme music.  I've posted a bunch of stuff on it before, and I feel it's a superior card to the Audigy 2 series as a whole.  I absolutely adore it, and I feel it was worth every penny.  It really wont make a difference though as I've said before in sound quality if you use cheap headphones/desktop speakers.  If you have a decent pair of desktop monitor speakers, or a good hi-fidelity set of headphones, then you will be able to notice a difference, if you really pay attention.  (or are like me and have abnormally sensitive hearing)

That, and I'd also reccomend the new X-Fi, so you'll get new drivers here and there.  Creative stopped supplying decent drivers for the Audigy 1 very shortly after the Audigy 2 was released, and from what I heard from my gaming buddies locally, the drivers werent so hot either

[Kosh]

Man I really haven't been keeping up with this stuff very well. Except for a Sound Blaster 16 that was in a P200 computer, the only other Creative sound card I ever owned was a Sound Blater Live!. Except for a very annoying driver issue, it was a good card.

[Dark RevenantX]

I have the best of the crappy sound cards.  All I needed was a good speaker.

[ZmaN]

how is the audigy 4?  i can get it straight from creative for about 80 bucks...  is it better  then the Audigy 2 Value/ZS?
And is the Audigy 2 vanilla the same as an Audigy 2 Value?  Is it better than the ZS/Value? 


Shoot me with a bf green if I've asked to many questions....

[Nix]

Spend another 20-30 and get the newer X-Fi.  It has a newer DSP and newer DAC's onboard.  Plus, the Audigy 4 was released under the radar and from what I read, was geared toward professional audio creation rather than gaming and such.  I'm telling ya, the new X-Fi REALLY is worth the price you pay for it.  You'll be thanking yourself 2-3 years down the road when it's still usable.  I had been using the same Audigy 1 card since 2001 the very same week it came out, and despite the crappy problems I've had with my new VIA based motherboard and really ****ty drivers, it had been a very nice card.

But then again, if you just use garden variety speakers or a pair of 30 dollar koss headphones, you're not going to notice that much difference between the cards.  The difference is very noticable when you have a decent set of output for your audio. 

[CP5670]

I will probably get one of those at some point as it does seem to have some nice capabilities, but I want to wait until there are more games that support its features.

The Audigy 2 Value drivers are a bit of a hassle to set up but work very well after that. Creative has this habit of not supporting their older products properly on newer OSs (the SBLive XP drivers were some of the worst I've ever dealt with, even though the 98/ME drivers work perfectly), but this card should work fine until Vista comes around, and I won't be switching over to that immediately anyway.

[Kosh]

VIA based motherboard

*shivers


VIA sucks

(the SBLive XP drivers were some of the worst I've ever dealt with, even though the 98/ME drivers work perfectly)

I've had it installed on both Windows 98 and 2000. Unless it is the first driver you install when you reformat, it will cause problems. Namely BSOD and crashes.

If you were upgrading to a Live card, then you would have those problems. The only way to fix it is to reformat and install the sound drivers first.

[CP5670]

The main problem I was having was that a lot of games seemed to just break the EAX functionality whenever they were run. I was having to reinstall the drivers like every three days around one point to keep the global reverb and EAX 1.0 for old games. That was off a fresh install; I had migrated the card from my old setup. I am currently just using it in my retro game computer, where its SB16 emulation capability is very useful.

[ZmaN]

okay, an overall summary of this thread..::..


Differnce between Audigy 2 Value and Audigy 2 ZS (retail or OEM versions)....

Can somebody give me that?  I REALLY need to buy this soundcard soon....

[CP5670]

See my first post in here.

[Grey Wolf]

*shivers


VIA sucks

Modern VIA boards are actually quite good.

Don't hold on to stereotypes; they're never beneficial.

[Flipside]

ZMan go for the value, you really aren't going to use or benefit from the advantages of owning a ZS

[ZmaN]

ZMan go for the value, you really aren't going to use or benefit from the advantages of owning a ZS

Naa, im gunna get the Audigy 2 ZS, not the value, and ill tell ya why....


Have you compared the system requirements between the ZS and the Value???
Well the Value Requires a 1 ghz Pentium 3 or 4 processor, while the ZS only requires a 350 mhz pentium II or celeron....

I also read some reviews on some other forums (people asking other people about the ZS)  The guy said that the Computer was snappier with the ZS rather than with the Value....  He said look at the system requirements.....

Plus I want the Rainbow Six Game, it looks good....  Is it any good?  Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven's Shield?

[ZmaN]

Well I finally bought the ZS!!!!!!!!!!  Oh yeah I am so happy about it!!!  I havent gotten it yet, but it should be at my house tomorrow!!!


All I can say is \ /