how much better is the audigy 2 zx than the TB SC?

[xyyz]

i finally went out and purchased an audigy 2 card, but i was somewhat disappointed when i installed it.

first of all, it started to give me sound problems when i installed the drivers. apparently the drivers on the website were not stand alone drivers, but more like an upgrade patch. fortunately, the newer drivers fixed the sound issues. then, unlike my older SC card, this doesn't properly detect AC-3. with the old card, i simply plugged an rca-mini jack and my decoder detected dolby digital. with this card, it seems that i need to get a part that i've never heard of before - a 4-pole-miniplug-to-4-pole-miniplug. what the hell is this, and how much is it going to cost me?

my older DTT2500 has a DIN socket, but again, that's going to run me at least $20 more. so get a minijack-din and then a din-din.

for the casual gamer, and someone who listens to MP3's, how much better is the audigy 2 zx vs, my older santa cruz? i really would like to play my games in surround sound, and i haven't been able to do so with the SC. but i'm wondering, can i use a minijack-din and then a din-din with my SC, or is this only a creative thing?

if the difference isn't too big, i think i'll take the audigy back and save myself $100.

 

[Brian48]

I upgraded from a TBSC to an A2, but I use analog speakers though.

For gaming, it would obvious which was the better card. No questions there, but that was always the A2's greatest strength.

For music, I thought it was only on par with my TBSC. Didn't sound worse, didn't sound better, just different. Then I read a thread over at 3DSoundsurge that allowed me to weak WinAmp+MAD+SSRC to play all my sound files at a resampled 24/96. Once tweaked, I thought the A2 actually sounded better.

For DVD playback, there was no question either. The A2 sounded much better, especially using WinDVD.

Regarding the drivers. Always install with the ones from the CD first and then run the update. Don't listen to Anti-Creative zealots about all the other stuff on the CD, not all of it is bloatware. Just do a custom install and select some of the control panels like Mixer, EAX Console, etc.., even the DVD-Audio player is pretty good.

I was one of these folks who almost gave the A2 a pass due to my (bad) experiences with the original Audigy, but I'm glad I didn't because the A2 is head and shoulders above it's predessor and the drivers actually quite good.

I've tried a lot different sound cards over the years. The A2 was the only card that decisively made me drop my TBSC from my primary box to my backup.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What kind of speakers are you using?

I don't remember what the 4-pole-miniplug-to-4-pole-miniplug is for... is that for running 7.1 on the Audigy2?

So, I'm envisioning you have a 7.1 set that has a digital decoder... or are you talking about the digital decoder on the soundcard? (ok, now I really don't know what you have )

At first I thought you had a receiver with 7.1 speakers, but now that I read your post over again I don't have any idea. I was going to suggest a different card - the HDA X-Mystique that you can do everything with digitally (including DD for games).

Normally I think that getting a $100 soundcard for an average set of computer speakers is a pretty bad idea when you already have something that's pretty decent. If the card has some features you want, ok, but speakers are usually the bottleneck in audio performance for most people.

Ok, I don't know where I was going with this... I just got up

 

[xyyz]

i have an set of older Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500's. they are a 5.1 setup with a dolby digital decoder. the speaker system is connected to the sound card via the SPDIF. unfortunately, they only detect the front two speakers and not any of the others.

while they're not the greatest, they're still a really good and clear set of speakers.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: xyyz
i have an set of older Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500's. they are a 5.1 setup with a dolby digital decoder. the speaker system is connected to the sound card via the SPDIF. unfortunately, they only detect the front two speakers and not any of the others.

while they're not the greatest, they're still a really good and clear set of speakers.

It only detects the two speakers when it's doing movies?

Two speakers in operation would be normal for music and games.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: xyyz
i have an set of older Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500's. they are a 5.1 setup with a dolby digital decoder. the speaker system is connected to the sound card via the SPDIF. unfortunately, they only detect the front two speakers and not any of the others.

while they're not the greatest, they're still a really good and clear set of speakers.

It only detects the two speakers when it's doing movies?

Two speakers in operation would be normal for music and games.

I think we might have another person that doesn't know how digital format works from a computer....either that or what stereo is

 

[classy]

I have both and have had a SC for about 2-3 years now and a ZX2 for more than a year. The Audigy 2 is better in all aspects. It's better in games, dvd playback and music is clearer and fuller. The Audigy is also able to deliver louder sound levels with much deeper but cleaner bass. Now the SC is a great card, if you have one I wouldn't say change it for an Audigy, but if you're buying a new card or want improved sound then buy the Audigy ZX2. I like both a lot, but no question the Audigy is better.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: rleemhui

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: xyyz
i have an set of older Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500's. they are a 5.1 setup with a dolby digital decoder. the speaker system is connected to the sound card via the SPDIF. unfortunately, they only detect the front two speakers and not any of the others.

while they're not the greatest, they're still a really good and clear set of speakers.

It only detects the two speakers when it's doing movies?

Two speakers in operation would be normal for music and games.

I think we might have another person that doesn't know how digital format works from a computer....either that or what stereo is

At least all these problems help my postcount

 

[xyyz]

looks like the audigy is going to cost me another $20 to get running to it's full potential. i'm really leaning back towards my SC right now. :/

with the SC, if i get the two components to allow the SC to jack into the DTT2500... well all i wanna know is if the SC will work with the DIN on the DTT2500.

question on the minijack-din and the din-din. can i only get these from creative? will any local places have the stuff? i checked fry's and they didn't have it. what about radio shack or micro center?

 

[EmoshBZ]

I say the audigy2 is a far better card!

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: xyyz
looks like the audigy is going to cost me another $20 to get running to it's full potential. i'm really leaning back towards my SC right now. :/

with the SC, if i get the two components to allow the SC to jack into the DTT2500... well all i wanna know is if the SC will work with the DIN on the DTT2500.

question on the minijack-din and the din-din. can i only get these from creative? will any local places have the stuff? i checked fry's and they didn't have it. what about radio shack or micro center?

I don't know what you mainly do but if you just want digital. You can use a minijack to RCA connector to connect it to the SPDIF in on the DTT2500

 

[xyyz]

that's what i've tried, but it doesn't work the way it was with the TB:SC.

i don't know why, but the minijack-rca on the SC was able to transmit dolby digital signals through the red connector, but the audigy 2 zs isn't doing the same.

 

[The J]

You have to disable the onboard AC3 and DTS decoders.

Go to Start > All Programs > Creative > Audigy 2 ZS (not ZX) > Creative Audio HQ. There, click on Device Controls and go to the decoder tab. Select the "S/PDIF Passthrough" radio button and click OK. It should now pass the signal correctly, just like your TBSC (you may need to use the white connector, though).

 

[xyyz]

i did that and it seemed to work. thanks.