Audigy vs Soundstorm

[BartlettJ64]

Just got the new Asus Nforce2 board and had decided I wanted to simplify things and get rid of my Audigy card and use the onboard sound as I had read that it is awesome. I dont really listen to music on the PC much so its basically a gaming rig. I booted up and set the sound all was going ok. Started to play BF1942 and the sound was terrible.

My question really is is the Audigy card that much better for gaming than the on-board sound or am I just not optimizing the onboard sound correctly? Anyone that might have the board and help me with your thoughts? Might just pop the Audigy back in if it is *that* superior.

Thanks in advance all!

 

[chizow]

Its probably not set-up correctly. Did you check all your drivers and make sure that you removed any traces of old Audigy drivers? I still like Creative sound products, but there is no doubt their drivers can really mess your system up.

nForce2/sound storm should be as good if not better than Audigy in sound quality, however, Audigy will excel in that support Advanced EAX HD. I'm sure Sound Storm has environmental effect algorithms that rival Audigy, but it really depends if the API is integrated into games. EAX is becoming the standard, and the difference is quite noticeable.

Chiz

 

[BartlettJ64]

WEll, I did a fresh install so no creative drivers. I will play a bit tonight and see what I have done wrong. Perhaps the wrong plug..... I can be such a newbie to this stuff.

Thanks!

 

[arswihart]

I heard the final sound quality of the nforce2 mobos is dependent on the AC97 codec, and htat amounts to shitty sound. 16-bit 48 khz i think. Am I wrong?

 

[BartlettJ64]

Any other thoughts here? I might just go back to my good old Audigy.

 

[stultus]

Have you treid any game other than BF1942? I recall seeing talk about goofy sound isses with it in particular. But don't quote me on that.

 

[scalf]

I have a epox 8rda+ that had the exact same issue that you are talking about. The sound sort of speeds up and slows down in BF 1942. BF 1942 is known for sound issues but I saw the same thing in other games but not all games. I tried both sets of nforce drivers and patched the game. I eventually put in my audigy to take care of the issue.

 

[Mooncalf]

I am trying to make this decision now also and surprisingly have yet to find much regarding the quality of Soundstorm other than the Firingsquad article. That article placed the Soundstorm below the Audigy2 but sounds like it may be equal to the Audigy in sound quality but able to decode real time DD for games.

Anyone have any thoughts on which would offer greater quality as I was under the impression that the main difference between the Audigy and A2 was mostly features though with a better s/n ratio?

I have 4.1 speakers that I have no interest in upgrading for atleast a couple of years and watch dvd's primarly on a HT. So if the sound quality is the same then the main difference between the Audigy and Soundstorm would be the DD real time decoding for games, correct? In that case does that affect me at all since I have 4.1 speakers or is DD downconverted to 4.1 better than what the Audigy offers in 4.1?

 

[human2k]

ditch both, onboard sound is perfect >>>Free.

 

[Mooncalf]

I have the Audigy already but was trying to decide whether to keep it or sell it and get the nForce2 with integrated audio or not. Either way it is going to cost me for the extra on the motherboard and the loss on the Audigy or the cost of the Audigy.

The answer to my above question would help me make an informed decision.

 

[Bovinicus]

Well, according to some the Audigy2 does sound better than the Audigy. However, how much better is debatable. I would probably just keep the Audigy. I would suggest not buying an Audigy if you didn't have one already, but it's not really worth it to sell it; you won't get that much money for it.

 

[Mooncalf]

So basically the sound quality/features are interchangeable between the Audigy and Soundstorm so it doesn't matter which I choose?

What would an unopen Audigy be worth anyway?

 

[Accord99]

Originally posted by: Mooncalf

I have 4.1 speakers that I have no interest in upgrading for atleast a couple of years and watch dvd's primarly on a HT. So if the sound quality is the same then the main difference between the Audigy and Soundstorm would be the DD real time decoding for games, correct? In that case does that affect me at all since I have 4.1 speakers or is DD downconverted to 4.1 better than what the Audigy offers in 4.1?

The Soundstorm offers DD *Encoding* of audio. This may be useful if you wish to connect your PC to a receiver and only use 1 digital connection. There are no games that use DD directly for dynamic surround audio since there is no DD api that can do this. In general, the combined performance of the Audigy in DirectSound3D+EAX makes it the superior gaming card, and the Audigy supports EAXHD which is being supported by games like Jedi Knight 2, UT2003, etc.

 

[Mooncalf]

So the sound quality between the Soundstorm and Audigy would be roughly similiar with the Soundstorm only added feature over the Audigy being one can send a DD signal to a receiver with one connection?

Audigy would have the benefit at being better at gaming and equal in all other areas other than the one mentioned above (music and dvd on pc)?

How would you send a DD signal to receiver with the Audigy?

 

[Accord99]

Originally posted by: Mooncalf
So the sound quality between the Soundstorm and Audigy would be roughly similiar with the Soundstorm only added feature over the Audigy being one can send a DD signal to a receiver with one connection?

Essentially yes, the Soundstorm can send multichannel audio, usually from games, over one connection by encoding this audio into DD. In most receivers, the only way to receive multichannel audio not from DVDs, with the Audigy is to use the analog connections. Unless, you happen to have the flagship Denon 5803 lying around, then its possible to get 5.1 digital audio uncompressed from the Audigy. The sound quality should be better for the Audigy when using analog outputs because of the higher quality of DACs. People on the 3dsoundsurge.com forums tend to place the Soundstorm between the Live and Audigy.

How would you send a DD signal to receiver with the Audigy?

The Audigy can't by itself create a DD signal, what it can do is pass through existing DD or DTS signals from sources like DVDs to the receiver. Just connect the Audigy's digital output to the digital coax input of the receiver with a a 1/8" minijack to RCA cable. Or if you want, you can decode it on the computer and output the resulting 5.1 channels through the analog connections.

 

[Mooncalf]

Okay, I think I understand now. So really the difference is sending the multichannel audio from games to a receiver by one connection since the Audigy you would need to use the analog ones. Is that correct then?

That makes the decision even easier for me as I doubt I would ever send game audio to a receiver.

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[JavaMomma]

Which drivers are you using with your Asus Nforce2 board, the ones from Nvidia are not supposed to work right with the sound.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: human2k
ditch both, onboard sound is perfect >>>Free.

Have you ever experienced anything besides onboard sound? Didn't think so.

 

[SpyderX]

Originally posted by: JavaMomma
Which drivers are you using with your Asus Nforce2 board, the ones from Nvidia are not supposed to work right with the sound.

I read several reviews and from what I heard, you are suppose to install the ASUS ones first and then the Nvidia ones or vice versa (forgot which way)