Sound Blaster

[josh609]

Hello again. I have a sound blaster Live 5.1 16bit sound card which i believe is 4-5 years old (correct me if i'm wrong) and the first to support EAX. For christmas i believe i'm getting an audigy 2 ZS and I have a 5.1 stereo setup. Do you believe i'll notice much of a difference with the sound quality in my games or movies? Has anyone been able to tell a difference when they updated to a audigy 2 ZS from an old sound blaster or motherboard sound?

 

[Ghouler]

Yeah, you should notice difference - if you pay attention to sound ;P
It is more distinct and if you play multiplayer games where there is so much going on, latest cards guarantee there will be no drop-outs and all sources of sound are clearly positioned in 3D.

Movies: Audigy 2 ZS decodes Dolby ex and DTS, while Live decodes only Dolby. THX calibration console is a nice tool for proper surround sound for movies, too
Games: Audigy supports EAX 3 and 4 (EAX HD) and 64 simulatnous voices , while Live only EAX 1 and 2 and 32 voices.
This refines details in games that support EAX HD and most current games do.

Compared to onboard sound that has no hardware accelaration in games
there is usually a gain of a few FPS in any game. And sound is better.

But I'd rather go straight to the latest X-Fi card. Audigy will later or sooner become obsolete and I am sure you will be able to use X-Fi for years, same as with Live card.

I have recently upgraded from audigy 2 to X-Fi and do not regret the move. Surround sound over regular headphones is one of the features that justifies the expense. And you can get it for about $70, there have been couple of threads on this already here...

 

[Away]

Speaker quality will have an effect on this as well. There is a noticable difference between cheap speakers and quality speakers.

 

[Ghouler]

Originally posted by: josh609

...and I have a 5.1 stereo setup

ehmmm?

 

[josh609]

I have Logitec X530 5.1

 

[Ghouler]

not too bad Z5500 or Gigaworks would be a better companion but having said that I currently use old 5.1. Inspire set that is more or less equal to x530 and is quite sufficient for small/mid-size room for watching movies.
I only use headphones for gaming since I got X-Fi.

 

[josh609]

How does BF2 sound with the X-Fi? Have you tried a before and after with BF2. It is the only game that i know that fully supporst X-Fi.

 

[Ghouler]

Quake 4 is the other one and one that I am playing. Single sounds are more distinctive, and I guess that's EAX 5 and its 128 voices support. Also, when you get out from the Strogg fortress and run thru the trenches you can actually hear shots above you, well in front of you but above that is something I have not noticed before: sound is positioned really well now. Also if I bend down or jump sound changes same way as in real life when there are some obstructions or open space starts at certain height (again: trenches are good example)

Quake 4 and BF2 are the only games that address X-RAM of the upper X-Fi models and have latest EAX.
But even with other games I tried recently with X-Fi (San Andreas GTA, Thief) it did make an audible difference - when gaming with headphones.
Surround over normal stereo headphones is very realistic and reliable for instant location of enemies (or police in GTA and works with any game and X-Fi.

 

[GamerExpress]

Originally posted by: josh609
Hello again. I have a sound blaster Live 5.1 16bit sound card which i believe is 4-5 years old (correct me if i'm wrong) and the first to support EAX. For christmas i believe i'm getting an audigy 2 ZS and I have a 5.1 stereo setup. Do you believe i'll notice much of a difference with the sound quality in my games or movies? Has anyone been able to tell a difference when they updated to a audigy 2 ZS from an old sound blaster or motherboard sound?

Personally yes, I noticed a fairly large increase, I also upgraded my speakers at the same time though.