Sound Card Question --- Plz Help!!

[Nforce4ever]

I have a Asus nforce2 mobo with onboard Sound Storm and thinking about getting a separate sound card. Would I notice much improvement in both music and game sound by going to TurtleBeach Santa Cruz or Sound Blaster Audigy LS or Audigy 2 ZS?

I don't think my onboard sound supports EAX. Do games with EAX sound much better with a sound card that supports EAX? Santa Cruz claims that it supports EAX 2.0 and SB Audigy supports EAX 4.0. What improvements are there between EAX 2.0 and 4.0?

I would greatly appreciate your input. Thanx.

 

[Cerb]

Music: YES.
Games: no, an Audigy would be about even.

 

[Brian48]

An Audigy2 or Audigy2 ZS would be better in both areas.

 

[Nforce4ever]

Santa Cruz is $43 and SB Audigy 2 ZS is $91 at Newegg. Considering the "bang for the buck", which card would be better?

 

[Brian48]

I've had four TBSC's over the years and still have one in one of my backups. As much as I still love it, I'm hesitant to recommend it. Driver support has all but dried up for it and Cirrus Logic has dropped all support for the chipset sometime late last year. If you're not heavy gamer, then it should serve you fine. Otherwise, I think the A2/A2 ZS is the better deal only because it's will last a whole lot more longer than the TBSC (which has passed it's life cycle). Mind you, I am specifically refering to the A2/A2 ZS. The original Audigy is no where near in the same class in my opinion.

 

[Algere]

When I did have a Audigy 2 the sound effects are much better even on a 2.1 setup compared to EAX 2. There was more echo in the environment which made it sound somewhat more realistic and melee attack in Halo take for example against the side of a Ghost just sounds better.

obviously now I have a M-Audio Revo mainly for music reasons

 

[Johnny101]

If you have high-end 5.1 speakers then I would go with the Audigy.

 

[Algere]

Yea it's preferable to pair up good speakers with a good sound card or the other one will hold the other one back.

 

[Nforce4ever]

I'm using Logitech Z560 THX (4.1 system), which means 6.1 or 7.1 support is useless. I'm sure a card that supports 6.1 or 7.1 would be fine with 4.1 system. I don't watch any movies with my PC so that wouldn't be an issue. Besides, I wouldn't mind having 6.1 or 7.1 function for later speaker upgrade.

 

[Nforce4ever]

Need more help. Only few people responded.

 

[nitromullet]

I don't own an Audgy2, but I do own an Audigy1, and have had an Asus mobo with SoundStorm. The difference between the Audigy 1 and the SoundStorm is negligable, so I wouldn't recommend spending the money on it. As far as any add on sound cards go, I would opt for a Creative card over anything else for general usage (games, movies, and listening to music). I don't think that a sound card upgrade over the SoundStorm will be extremely overwhelming either way, but if you want to add a card, go for the Audigy2.

 

[Nforce4ever]

Thanks for the inputs. I'm suspecting the sound quality difference would not be significant between Sound Storm and Turtle Beach. I'm not sure about Audigy 2 ZS. I keep hearing a lot of good things about it.

 

[helloguy]

Originally posted by: Nforce4ever
Thanks for the inputs. I'm suspecting the sound quality difference would not be significant between Sound Storm and Turtle Beach. I'm not sure about Audigy 2 ZS. I keep hearing a lot of good things about it.

well, it depend on people, for me, i'd prefer zs over santa cruz or the onboard nforce2 solution coz I play games,music & movies. btw, i do own the same spk setup as u're, though I'm upgrading to 5.1/7.1 soon. fyi, i was using onboard soundstorm before, 'Call Of Duty' sounded BETTER than soundstorm~!