Audigy 2 ZS: a decent upgrade?

[Patrese]

I tried searching around the forum for this, but couldn't find an answer. Sorry if it was already asked!

I have an oportunity to buy an used Audigy 2 ZS for a good price. My main interest is listening to music and watching movies, and I've already got excellent 2.1 speakers, so it's not a problem. I'm using the onboard sound of my good-old Abit AN7 (Realtek ALC658@NVIDIA Soundstorm), so I'm wondering if it would be a decent upgrade. Also, I want to know how does it compare to the low end of the X-Fi line (Creative X-FI Xtreme Audio, for instance), as I'd find fine to use it on the new system I'm gonna buy by year's end.

Keep in mind that I'm in Brazil, so the cheapest X-Fi card is at least twice as expensive as the Audigy 2 ZS. It means that the mainstream/top X-Fi cards are entirely out of question...

Thanks in advance, and sorry if I messed up somewhere with my English!

 

[The Sly Syl]

Are you using Windows XP or Vista?

 

[Patrese]

Windows XP. Eventually I'll upgrade to Vista (with my new system, as NVIDIA didn't care to release drivers to NForce 2), but not anytime soon. I know about the "paid driver" to Vista too, but I don't really care as I'll mostly use it for music, and in a 2.1 setup... (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7926)

 

[The Sly Syl]

I've been using an Audigy 2 ZS for nearly 3 years now; and while it was superior to my onboard; the main reasoning behind that was because of my surround sound setup and EAX for videogame use. If you're going to stick with a 2.1 setup; i don't believe that you'll be getting all too much improvement.

Unless the soundcard is mostly free; then it might be worth it simply for the few niceties it has hidden under all the annoyance of getting the thing to install correctly. If you had Vista; it wouldn't be worth getting at all.

 

[Patrese]

Thanks, Sly Syl... and bump, for more opinions...

 

[adairusmc]

I have been using an Audigy 2 ZS for a couple of years, and it still works great. I am using it under vista 64 right now, and I have had no issues with the drivers or anything - works flawlessly.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

So if you had Vista, what sound card should you be getting?

 

[Ika]

The Audigy 2ZS is better than the X-Fi XtremeAudio. The problem with the XtremeAudio is that it is NOT a real X-Fi; it is actually more like an Audigy 2 Value in disguise.

If you can find an X-Fi XtremeMusic, however, that will be a better card.

 

[6T9FR]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16829102006

What about that model? How much of an improvement would it be over my Audigy 2ZS?

 

[Patrese]

Originally posted by: 6T9FR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16829102006

What about that model? How much of an improvement would it be over my Audigy 2ZS?

Good question, though it gets way too expensive here in Brazil. For you guys to have an idea, the used Audigy 2 ZS I may get costs US$85 (and it's a pretty good price here), and a new X-Fi Xtreme Gamer costs US$230... and our salaries here in Brazil are smaller then yours in US.