Audigy 2 ZS or Nvidia Soundstorm

[ronnaZ]

i'm planing of buying creative inspire 5.1 5200 speakers. i wanted to know whether i should stick to soundstorm or go for an audigy 2 zs.

also can ya guys give me suggestion for any other speaker in the same price range($60-$80)

 

[ElFenix]

if you're looking for the better sound for music you should go turtle beach santa cruz instead of either of those

 

[RussianSensation]

Actually Santa Cruz is nowhere near as good as the new Audigy 2 ZS. First ZS offer 108DB loudness and clarity, 7.1 channels, has EAX 4.0 features. This alone will make it impossible to compare the santa cruz cards to the audigy cards for gaming experience. For music, the difference might not be as much but considering the santa cruz card is like 3-4 years old, I have my doubts it's better. If it was better it wouldnt' cost almost 3x as less.

For your 5.1 5200 creative speakers I would definately stick with the soundstorm solution as it is excellent and has been compared to the Audigy 2 many times, with many arguying it is better than Audigy 1. It would make sense to go for the ZS card if your speakers were a lot better like Logitech Z680 or something along those lines. I dont think in your case the $85 on the ZS is justified as in this case the speakers cost less than the sound card

.

 

[InlineFive]

I like my SoundStorm. I hear many more EAX effects then my old Santa Cruz or Fortissimo III. And all three support EAX 2!

-Por

 

[Regs]

SoundStorm can channel sounds like a Audigy? If I can, then I would just stick with the soundstorm. If not, I would have nothing holding me back from getting the Audigy. Channeled sound is a must for 5.1 speakers. Actually, there would be no point at all buying 5.1 anything without channeled sound.

 

[JBT]

I would stick with sound storm. With lower end speakers there is no real point in getting a high end sound card esspecially since sound storm is already VERY good.

 

[wetcat007]

If you got the money tha audigy will be better.

 

[zodder]

I like my SoundStorm. I hear many more EAX effects then my old Santa Cruz

I agree 100%. I went SoundStorm and have never looked back.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
If you got the money tha audigy will be better.

And there's the crux of the argument right there. Besides DICE, SS has no advantage over Audigy class hardware; the reason it's remarkable is because it's the first integrated audio that's reasonable to use.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Actually Santa Cruz is nowhere near as good as the new Audigy 2 ZS. First ZS offer 108DB loudness and clarity, 7.1 channels, has EAX 4.0 features. This alone will make it impossible to compare the santa cruz cards to the audigy cards for gaming experience. For music, the difference might not be as much but considering the santa cruz card is like 3-4 years old, I have my doubts it's better. If it was better it wouldnt' cost almost 3x as less.

For your 5.1 5200 creative speakers I would definately stick with the soundstorm solution as it is excellent and has been compared to the Audigy 2 many times, with many arguying it is better than Audigy 1. It would make sense to go for the ZS card if your speakers were a lot better like Logitech Z680 or something along those lines. I dont think in your case the $85 on the ZS is justified as in this case the speakers cost less than the sound card

.

have those numbers been independently tested? last test i saw with SNR, dynamic range, and a ton of other things, every creative card reviewed was trash. the latest card reviewed was the live 2 tho.

 

[Mem]

have those numbers been independently tested? last test i saw with SNR, dynamic range, and a ton of other things, every creative card reviewed was trash. the latest card reviewed was the live 2 tho.

Santa Cruz is not a bad sound card but has been overtaken by the times and is showing its age now.The new Audigy 2 ZS is superior,it`s excellent allround, for gaming and EAX support you can`t beat the Audigy 2 ZS,now comparing the SoundStorm to the Santa Cruz is more interesting,I would go with the SoundStorm between the two.

As already stated other factors like quality of the speakers and your own ears play a very important part.

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

Audigy because I don't think you can buy a true soundstorm board anymore.

 

[Brian48]

Audigy 2 or Audigy 2 ZS. SoundStorm is overrated, especially if you're using analog.

FYI, speaking as someone who has owned up to four Santa Cruz's, there is no way in hell the TBSC is better than the A2 series.

 

[helloguy]

Originally posted by: Brian48
Audigy 2 or Audigy 2 ZS. SoundStorm is overrated, especially if you're using analog.

FYI, speaking as someone who has owned up to four Santa Cruz's, there is no way in hell the TBSC is better than the A2 series.

brian is correct, yup, i was using soundstorm with 'analog' output to my z560, it was terrible with music & games. After I swtiched to zs, things are different now.Definitely go for it.

 

[ElFenix]

like i said, i want measurements, because nothing in creative's history leads me to believe they can produce a good sounding soundcard.

 

[ViRGE]

Elfenix, 3D SoundSurge has a really good overview of Soundstorm, although they don't do much in the way of head-to-head comparisons.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
like i said, i want measurements, because nothing in creative's history leads me to believe they can produce a good sounding soundcard.

Keep in mind that Audigy2 ZS, EX, Platinum, etc etc, are all different (using different DACs). The Audigy2 OEM is by far the poorest of them all.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/video/20031007/audigy-09.html#comparison_at_441_khz

 

[Palek]

Sudhian did a review of the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro. I seem to recall that all Audigy 2 ZS (vanilla, Platinum and Platinum Pro) cards use the same DAC's for the analog speaker outputs, but I could be wrong. Anyway, they say there is no better soundcard out there right now in the same price range with a comparable feature set and performance/quality.

However, like others have said, there is no way you will be able to notice much difference between Soundstorm and the Audigy 2 ZS if you use a sub-$100 speaker set. Get some better speakers instead!

 

[ElFenix]

i'd like to see sound quality tested against an m-audio revolution or something similar. i'm really only concerned with sound quality, not wiz-bang features

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
i'd like to see sound quality tested against an m-audio revolution or something similar. i'm really only concerned with sound quality, not wiz-bang features

The most retailed RightMark results are there. What more do you want ... getting complicated EE equipment?

But for sound quality wise, the Audigy2 definitely falls behind the Revo, the ZS series gets up there with the revo. But then again, sound quality is subjective, I'm just repeating what I feel and what I believe most of the reviewers feel.

 

[VIAN]

All I have to say is Lucasfilm THX.

 

[ronnaZ]

thankx everyone!!

i still have a doubt... when i increase the volume the sounds get distorted, but when i plug the speakers to my mp3 player even at the same level the sound is clear. will the same thing if i plug it to 5.1 speakers.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: ElFenix
i'd like to see sound quality tested against an m-audio revolution or something similar. i'm really only concerned with sound quality, not wiz-bang features

The most retailed RightMark results are there. What more do you want ... getting complicated EE equipment?

But for sound quality wise, the Audigy2 definitely falls behind the Revo, the ZS series gets up there with the revo. But then again, sound quality is subjective, I'm just repeating what I feel and what I believe most of the reviewers feel.

toms test compared to the previous audigy model. i didn't see the revolution in that link. looking over the site i didn't see the revolution anywhere
most reviewers get caught up in wiz bang features. 3dss was good but its pretty dead.

 

[acemcmac]

My audigy 2 ZS is in the mail but I *NEED* internal analog... I'm gunna have to export the SPDIF to my motherboard and convert it to analog right there, nerfing the whole audigy board if I can't find a pinout soon... Any of the Audigy 2 ZS owners here ever looked into that before you made your reccomentadion?

 

[acemcmac]

Eeeeewww... DP <YUCK>