Call me behind times but is the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 the best for listening to music?

[kantonburg]

I figured it's time to turn in my SoundBlaster Live card for something a bit more updated. It's the oldest piece of hardware in my PC now. 90% of the sound comes from MP3s and I mostly listen to music. I play very few games and watch no DVDs on my PC.

Is this what I'm looking for?

Thanks

 

[thraxes]

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz gets recommended regularly around here.

THREAD HIJACK: Does anybody know where I can get the TBSC in europe???

 

[mrzed]

Unless your MP3's are well encoded at 320kb/s , and you have really good (eg NOT computer) speakers, I doubt you will hear much difference between the live and the audigy. Really any decent soundcard for that matter. Audio quality is a chain. For most computer music listeners the weak links are in:

1. Encoding to lossy compression schemes
2. PC speakers designed for gaming

Gaming speakers need to be designed to handle sharp transients. They also tend to hype the bass enormously.

Most souncards are nowhere near the weak link. But if you just want to spend the money, go for it!

I am sure you will get a lot of responses from people saying how much better their card sounds for music. I am sure they beleive it. I'd have to see a blind a/b comparison of two cards using Altec Lansing speakers and 128kb/s MP3's to be convinced.

 

[kantonburg]

Originally posted by: mrzed
Gaming speakers need to be designed to handle sharp transients. They also tend to hype the bass enormously.

This is the main reason I decided on the Altec 641s (at the time) but you can't find them anywhere anymore. I guess I'll have to settle on the Altec 621s

 

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: mrzed
Unless your MP3's are well encoded at 320kb/s , and you have really good (eg NOT computer) speakers, I doubt you will hear much difference between the live and the audigy. Really any decent soundcard for that matter. Audio quality is a chain.

I could hear a noticeable difference when I upgraded from a Live to an Audigy. This was noticeable listening to music and playing games. Like you were saying though, only get it if you have good enough speakers to notice. My 400-watt Klipsch's really bring out the difference.

 

[Vonkhan]

I prefer Audigy 2 for gaming and TBSC for music ... i upgraded my TV/music/homework rig from the onboard audio to a TBSC, incredible!

 

[WHipLAsh13]

I picked up an Audigy 2 Platinum earlier this year and was very happy. This is a very solid card. I cant speak of the TBSC since i haven't used it but the Audigy 2 is very solid for both music and games.