I was looking at the Best Buy ad and saw a Creative sound card that was like 199 or something close to that. What's the deal?
Someone fill me in on what's so special about these high dollar soundcards
- Thread starter michaels
- Start date
IMO not worth shelling out for high end cards the noticable difference to me is usally slight. If your really interested in good sound cards ask jello and but I think the main concern is buy one thats gunna work well with what you want to setup ie subs, speakers, whether you will attach it to a home theater(spelling) things like that.
Creative is silly like that. It should have good sound quality, and its DSP takes some pressure off the CPU. There are plenty of other sound cards with sound quality just as good or better for less money, but most of these are going to use more CPU time than a Creative Labs card. Also Creative is about your only choice if you're worried about EAX support past version 2.0.
IMO, if you don't have good speaker systems and/or if your not an audiophile, it's not worth spending large amounts of money on speakers and/or sound cards
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
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I think a lot of it is kind of "they make it, so I should buy it, it must be better".
Creative has a ton of different cards with incremental features and a wide range of prices they charge for the cards.
From the Audigy2 value onwards, all the creative cards seem to have very similar performance for taking the audio load off the CPU. The X-Fi seems to have an edge once you get into really high voice numbers in the sound.
A lot of people buy cards with hopes that it will speed up their gameplay / framerates. I think that should be considered a secondary effect at best. Money spent elsewhere towards a faster videocard, more ram, etc. is probably going to have a much more significant difference.
If you're concerned about that, the Audigy2 series when it was on sale for around $40 to $50 AR was a good deal. There seem to be less issues with that line vs the newer X-Fi.
It's possible that the $199 card you saw could have been an A2 or A4 as well. These are all variations of the same basic cards. Creative has made it very difficult to attach front panel connections to their Audigy and X-Fi lines so that you're forced to pay for an extra drivebay to get that functionality.
These cards will often come with remotes and other gadgets that drive up the price.
So, these Creative cards promise faster gaming and better quality output (with more surround effects etc).
Overall I think a lot of people spend way too much on their soundcards. At most, a 1:1 ratio of spending on speakers and soundcard would make sense with a 2:1 or higher ratio I think is a better idea.
Some people spend $200 on a souncard and then get $50 speakers. I think if they reversed their budgets, they'd be much happier with the final result.
If eveyone was spending as much on the speakers/sub as I did, then I'd say go ahead, get your X-Fi Elite Pro or something similar because you have the type of output devices where the increased spending for the quality output might actally make a difference.
As was mentioned, you can also get a card going for music playback for significantly cheaper that will do a fine job. The $30 Chaintech AV-710 is a great card for music. I think in general, music is where it's more important to get quality output than in a game. You're going to notice when things don't sound quite right during your favorite song vs. what it sounded like when the RPG blew up your teammate next to you.
Am I just rambling? I think I am. I better just stop.
I just got back from about 8 hours of class.
Creative has a ton of different cards with incremental features and a wide range of prices they charge for the cards.
From the Audigy2 value onwards, all the creative cards seem to have very similar performance for taking the audio load off the CPU. The X-Fi seems to have an edge once you get into really high voice numbers in the sound.
A lot of people buy cards with hopes that it will speed up their gameplay / framerates. I think that should be considered a secondary effect at best. Money spent elsewhere towards a faster videocard, more ram, etc. is probably going to have a much more significant difference.
If you're concerned about that, the Audigy2 series when it was on sale for around $40 to $50 AR was a good deal. There seem to be less issues with that line vs the newer X-Fi.
It's possible that the $199 card you saw could have been an A2 or A4 as well. These are all variations of the same basic cards. Creative has made it very difficult to attach front panel connections to their Audigy and X-Fi lines so that you're forced to pay for an extra drivebay to get that functionality.
These cards will often come with remotes and other gadgets that drive up the price.
So, these Creative cards promise faster gaming and better quality output (with more surround effects etc).
Overall I think a lot of people spend way too much on their soundcards. At most, a 1:1 ratio of spending on speakers and soundcard would make sense with a 2:1 or higher ratio I think is a better idea.
Some people spend $200 on a souncard and then get $50 speakers. I think if they reversed their budgets, they'd be much happier with the final result.
If eveyone was spending as much on the speakers/sub as I did, then I'd say go ahead, get your X-Fi Elite Pro or something similar because you have the type of output devices where the increased spending for the quality output might actally make a difference.
As was mentioned, you can also get a card going for music playback for significantly cheaper that will do a fine job. The $30 Chaintech AV-710 is a great card for music. I think in general, music is where it's more important to get quality output than in a game. You're going to notice when things don't sound quite right during your favorite song vs. what it sounded like when the RPG blew up your teammate next to you.
Am I just rambling? I think I am. I better just stop.
I just got back from about 8 hours of class.
I see you all saying stuff about M Audio.
I went to there website - looks good.
But I see no reviews of any of there products.
Creatice can`t be that bad. Can it?
I went to there website - looks good.
But I see no reviews of any of there products.
Creatice can`t be that bad. Can it?
Creative isn't bad, but they're just hella overpriced. If you want good reviews of products, go to newegg.com and check out their M-Audio selection and their reviews.
If you got really good speakers then a soundcard is a must. I don't like creative, tho, because IMO their prices r way to high.
Creative pretty much has a monopoly on 3D sound for games. They bought out Aureal and Sensaura, and they own enough patents to shut down any competitor.
Wow that's a laugh - suggesting someone go to NewEgg and base a purchase on their reviews. Get real.
m-audio is not what you want if you plan to do a ton of gaming. m-audio cards not meant for gaming, contrary to what it says on the revolution boxes 
Originally posted by: smthmlk
m-audio is not what you want if you plan to do a ton of gaming. m-audio cards not meant for gaming, contrary to what it says on the revolution boxes
That's really only due to anything-but-2-channel-support. Their cards for stereo gaming should be just fine... They just don't have the 3D support like Creative does (EAX)
I have a Revo 7.1 I was going to use in my gaming box, but it won't run on my board (conflict I assume)
Creative manufactures some very fine hardware in the E-Mu line, and they are using some quality components in that line that are comparable to those used in higher-priced stuff offered by other manufacturers (M-Audio, Lynx, ESI, MOTU, and others). The valuable content in a higher-end audio card lies in the quality of the A-D (analog-to-digital) converters for recording, and the D-A (digital-to-analog) converters for playback, and in the other electrical and electronic components that are used to feed, filter, and amplify those signals to useful levels. There are huge differences in signal quality ranging from the cheapest onboard sound to the more expensive recording and playback hardware. Better amp/headphone setups, or amplifier and speaker systems, will more easily reveal those differences.
Well the first problem is your pricing it at Best Buy. My local computer store has the "Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value 7.1 24-bit" for $57.99 Canadian ($50.00 US). This is good value. I have the Audigy 2 ZS (same card but with the 5.25" front panel) and it sounds good.
I wondered myself if it was worth it so one day I enabled my on board audio to see if I noticed a difference. I did, it was quite noticeable. You don't have to buy creative's newest/best card to give your PC improved sound performance.
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