Audigy vs Fortissimo III

[blade2]

Ok so I posted a thread earlier about soundcard choice but ive narrowed it down between the SoundBlaster Audigy and the Hercules Fortissimo III.
Sound quality is the most important to me and then gaming. I can't find any reviews comparing the two, everyone reviews the Audigy 2!
From the previous thread, the Fortissimo III was recommended to me.
However the Audigy has a firewire port which my mobo (Gigabyte 7VRXP Rev2 - ancient now me thinks!) hasnt and the Audigy is from my local pc store - always good if there are problems whereas the Fortissimo is from Amazon.co.uk - a pain if a problem developes.
So what shall it be guys - both are same prices. Surround sound and that dont bother me-just good sound primary+use with gaming secondary.

 

[Stealth1024]

Thread on the topic of the Audigy: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=1219349&STARTPAGE=1&zb=733085

 

[Stealth1024]

And the review: http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/creative-audigy2-zs/index.html

 

[Brian48]

I've both. I'd take the F3 if gaming was not an absolute priority. A lot of folks will mention CPU overhead, but I'm telling you the difference is completely insignficant. The Audigy has better support of EAX regardless of whether it's 1.0 or 2.0, and especially 3.0 which the F3 doesn't support. It just plain sounds better when HW audio is enabled. Driver support, despite what the anti-Creative zealots will tell you, is better with Creative as well in recent times. Guillemot has seemingly forgotten about their audio line of products.

The only thing I don't like about the original Audigy is that it's just not as good as the F3 in other areas such as music and DVD playback. Not that the F3 is significantly better, but the difference is noticable to me. Also, the Audigy is prone to that annoying "pop" and "crackle" problem when playing .mp3's which really irritates me. I almost gave the Audigy2 a pass because of my experiences with this card.

In any case, if given an option between the two, I'd probably take the Fortissimo III. It's a very solid, all-around card. If you have the chance to pick up an Audigy2, then go for that instead. It's better than either the F3 or Audigy.

 

[blade2]

Hmm well the Audigy 2 I can find the OEM version for £60 which isnt too shabby so perhaps I will go for that, seeing as I wont be updating my soundcard for a long time.

Thanks a lot for the clear advice

 

[WobbleWobble]

A Fortissimo 3 is almost the same as a Fortissimo 2 but with 7.1 instead of 4.1 support and it's even cheaper. I bought mine for $35 CAD which is about £15.

Value wise, you'll get a lot more for your dollar, or pound in your case.

But Audigy 2s aren't terribly expensive and it will last.

But if you're still stuck between an Audigy and Fortissimo 3, I'd also choose the Fortissimo 3.