Audigy 2 vs. Audigy 1

[guptasa1]

Hey all,

This may or may not be a stupid question. LOL. I'm currently running an Audigy 1 Platinum and overall am very pleased with the performance. I'm no audiophile and don't do anything too advanced. Mostly use it for listening to music and gaming. I don't even have a huge speaker setup - just 2.1, but nice quality and I'm happy with it.

I'm considering some upgrades for my computer (just that time), and I was wondering, would upgrading to an Audigy 2 enhance the performance of my machine (faster sound processing or something)? (How it performs in games, etc.?) Or is it just an Audigy with more features that I won't use? Thanks.

 

[Schadenfroh]

faster, more channels, eax 4 support, etc.

 

[jamesbond007]

I've owned the Audigy 1, 2, and now 2 ZS (all platinum editions) and going from an Audigy 1 to Audigy 2 is a day and night difference in terms of sound quality. The highs were more crisp and the lows were more pronounced. Going to a ZS makes my system comparable, at least in my opinion, to a professional M-Audio card. I know some of you may think I'm nuts, but audio quality is all about everyone's ears and everyone has different tastes.

I say if you have the cash, go for a 2 or better yet, an Audigy 2 ZS. The sound quality is noticable in games, but more importantly, music.

I use a Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker system with a Klipsch DD-5.1 decoder box hooked via coaxial (SPDIF) to my PC.

My $0.02.

 

[LongCoolMother]

you probably wont hear any difference in sound quality by upping to a audigy 2. if you have a 2.1 setup i suppose there wouldnt be much reason to upgrade either. the audigy 1 is plenty sufficient for gaming with 2.1 and your performance wont jump from the emu101k chip by any considerable amount.

if you are really concerned about sound quality in music (which you say you arent) then switching to a m-audio revolution 7.1 would be leaps and bounds better than any of the audigy 1/2/zs cards. but the gaming performance would be far worse. and it doesn't have official eax 4 support.

 

[ViRGE]

Technically, the only difference is that the DAC is different, there's another speaker jack, and the feature connector for the LiveDrive supports a couple more things; the core EMU10K2 chip is the same, so EAX support is the same, etc.

 

[guptasa1]

Thanks all. With the exception of any in-game sound issues like stuttering or whatever (which appear to be the same on the 2), I have no real sound issues. Sounds good to me. Can't imagine on 2.1 I'd hear a stellar difference, would I?

But if it's not going to speed up system performance, I'm doubting I'll shell out the cash to upgrade it. Still, appreciate all the feedback and wouldn't mind hearing some more comments - haven't full decided yet. Thanks!

 

[compfreak999]

ok i have soundstorm and audigy 2
ppl say soundstorm is about the same as audigy 1 so thats going to be my basis. the bass is some much better on the audigy 2, mid/high ends were not to noticiable. im running the creative megaworks 550D

 

[JSt0rm]

Remember the detail of your recording and also your speakers play a big role in how things sound. Is the best bet to continue to upgrade the dac's (digital audio converters) and never touch the speakers? How about these speakers:

http://www.event1.com/index.html

I own the 20/20bas and they sound great with mp3 audio and games. They make a full range of audio speakers for all your needs.

 

[guptasa1]

Quite happy with the speakers I have actually. Might eventually upgrade them, but not just yet. They're small but nice Cambridge Soundworks models. I don't know where I'd put a 5.1 system if I got one. lol. And as far as new basic speakers, I just don't need that at this point in time. Thanks though.

As to the other replies, I'm a little torn still. Sound quality for what I'm doing may not be a noticeable improvement, and if performance isn't upgraded, I maybe should think about waiting until my next full machine.

When a lot of you are saying the sound quality is different, is it in EVERYTHING, just music, or what? Thanks. =o)

As I said, frankly, I'm very happy with the sound QUALITY of my current card. Unless it improved performance of the system, it probably wouldn't be something I'd worry too much about. Thanks.

 

[JSt0rm]

sound quality is so subjective If you are happy with your sound then I wouldn't think about upgrading. There are probably other ways your could spend money to upgrade performance without touching the audio side.

 

[streetphase]

hey I got a audigy 2, is there a hack to convert or get the features of teh audigy 2 zs??

 

[streetphase]

I put in a search on google for "audigy 2 to zs hack" and came up with these drivers "YouP-PAX ZS 1.2 Driver " but I cant seem to locate them... anyone ever heard of em?

 

[streetphase]

Ok sorry to thread jack... but check this out.. http://forum.clubic.com/forum2.php3?post=16750&cat=4

I think you can softmod an audigy 1 to a audigy 2 zs?? I dont know but check out that link,, might have to run it thru altavista...

 

[LongCoolMother]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Technically, the only difference is that the DAC is different, there's another speaker jack, and the feature connector for the LiveDrive supports a couple more things; the core EMU10K2 chip is the same, so EAX support is the same, etc.

how is the dac on the zs? last time i read i think people were talking about drivers that were able to bypass the kmixer resampling to 48khz on the newer audigys as well.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
I've owned the Audigy 1, 2, and now 2 ZS (all platinum editions) and going from an Audigy 1 to Audigy 2 is a day and night difference in terms of sound quality. The highs were more crisp and the lows were more pronounced. Going to a ZS makes my system comparable, at least in my opinion, to a professional M-Audio card. I know some of you may think I'm nuts, but audio quality is all about everyone's ears and everyone has different tastes.

I say if you have the cash, go for a 2 or better yet, an Audigy 2 ZS. The sound quality is noticable in games, but more importantly, music.

I use a Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker system with a Klipsch DD-5.1 decoder box hooked via coaxial (SPDIF) to my PC.

My $0.02.

Why use an Audigy 2 ZS if you're going to use digital out to an external decoder? You're not even getting 5.1 surround in your games that way, only 2.1, maybe with some upmixing.

 

[guptasa1]

Thanks all. Probably will stick with what I have for now based on what you said (but I'll keep researching). I might look into the softmod thing, but I dunno.

 

[guptasa1]

Ya know what? I actually decided to look up prices for the 2 ZS and decided to go for it.

I did read about certain performance enhancements that might make things a LIL quicker or better performing with less chance of distortion. AND, the 2 was a LOT lower price than I expected. I went for the Gamer model since it comes with 5 games, and I have moderate-to-high interest in all of them (especially the Jedi Knight Addon and Halo titles) and don't have any of them. So it made sense to go for it.

The one thing the Gamer model is lacking is the Audigy (1 & 2) Platinum's internal port drive, but frankly, for the price and the games, it was worth it to lose that. Except for the headphone jack, bottom line is I never used it.

While I love my current speakers, I decided to pair it up with a new similar set (also upgrade), only these should be a moderate upgrade since they're slightly higher power, slightly clearer, have plug-in wires (my current ones are the manual "clip" kind), and have a wired remote with headphone jack built in so I'll actually gain functionality instead of lose it. They were also very affordable and well-reviewed (I-Tanium 3300's). If I don't like them as well as my current set, I can always return them, but I figured might as well just go with things.

Thanks for the advice all.