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Sound Question

I

imported_Noob

Senior member
Would upgrading from integrated sound to an Audigy 2 ZS make a noticable sound improvement, even though your speakers may be old (Altec Lansing 100 Series 2.1)? alos is there any sound quality difference between the ZS and the ZS Platimum / ZS Platimum Pro? I know the Platimums ahve an external sound card. But from what I can interpret it would be the same considering the numbers seem to be exactly the same. Is this the case?
 
It will probably depend on the quality of your current integrated sound solution. Many of the newer ones sound pretty dang good, and unless you are an audiophile I doubt you would notice a difference, especially on those speakers.

As far as the Audigy line differences, well, the actual card itself doesn't have much differences from the low to the high end, you may get a few features here and there and a little bit better audio quality but nothing that is truly very noticable. And they do not have external cards, they have what are known as breakout boxes that allow you to plug in stuff such as headphones, mics, firewire devices, etc. to the front of the box rather than having to dig behind your case.
 
Shouldn't make a big difference with your current speaker set.

I can definitely tell a difference in 3d games and mp3 listening on my altec 4100 when I went from onboard AC97 to the vanilla audigy 2.

can't tell a difference with klipsch 5.1 from going audigy 2 to audigy 2zs.
 
You'd probably be better off spending the money it would cost to get the card on some new speakers. I'm not familiar with the 100 series for altec lansing though.

If you're just looking for a soundcard with really good 2.1 audio, the Chaintech AV-710 has excellent stereo output when you put it in high quality mode which uses the 7/8 output jack to do stereo. The DACs in the 7/8 are of excellent quality and will give you very nice results. Best part is that the card is under $30. The DACs for the other 3 output jacks are still pretty nice, but if you're just going to hook up a 2.1 set and don't need all the features of the audigy line, it's a good buy.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
You'd probably be better off spending the money it would cost to get the card on some new speakers. I'm not familiar with the 100 series for altec lansing though.

If you're just looking for a soundcard with really good 2.1 audio, the Chaintech AV-710 has excellent stereo output when you put it in high quality mode which uses the 7/8 output jack to do stereo. The DACs in the 7/8 are of excellent quality and will give you very nice results. Best part is that the card is under $30. The DACs for the other 3 output jacks are still pretty nice, but if you're just going to hook up a 2.1 set and don't need all the features of the audigy line, it's a good buy.
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http://www.alteclansing.com/product_details.asp?pID=120

That is the speaker set that I have. Thye seem to be prety bad considering you can buy them for $15.
 
How much do you want to spend on sound? At this point I'd say it's a much better idea to get a new set of speakers than to upgrade to an audigy 2.

EDIT: If you give us a budget, we could suggest some good speaker options.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
How much do you want to spend on sound? At this point I'd say it's a much better idea to get a new set of speakers than to upgrade to an audigy 2.

EDIT: If you give us a budget, we could suggest some good speaker options.
Click to expand...

About 100 bucks or so.
 
I'd go for 5.1 channels for PC multi-use.

Cheapest decent 5.1 creative x-530 around $50.

Next up would be cyber acoustics around $80, I think the 5640 model.

Then Altec Lansing GT around $100.
 
If you want to stick with 2.1, if you can fit these into your budget they would really rock.

For something a lot more affordable, these are only $30 after rebate and will still sound quite good and get quite loud.

A guy in the dorms with me has these and likes them.

For multichannel, I think I still like the logitech line. If you can find some z-640s, those are a pretty nice set. I havent' heard the new drivers in the x systems, but have read that they sound good too.
 
EAX will work on any speaker system. It's like an environmental adaptation thing your creative soundcard will do in games that support it. Like if there's a wall between you and a guy shooting, the sound will be muffled. You don't need special speakers to do this as it's the soundcard altering the output is sends.

As for that particular set, I haven't heard creative's inpire line. I know their gigaworks speakers are very nice, but that's definately out of the price range.

If you want 4.1, something to think about might be actually to get two sets of those logitech 2.1 sets to make a 4.2 set. I'm pretty sure just one of those subs will be better than most sub sets in the undre $100 price range. Their satellites sounded pretty good too. I think they were a good buy even when they were around $50 to $60 for a set. If you can get two sets for $60 after rebate, you'd have a pretty awesome setup for not much money. Just plug 1 set into the front output and 1 set into the rear output of your integrated audio.
 
I have a 2ZS and I gotta tell you its great, but you must pair it with some decent speakers
expect spending 150-200 (total)


D
 
Does your $100 budget include the soundcard purchase too?

I would agree with ZLI that it's kind of silly to buy an audigy2 if you're going to pair it with some low end speakers.

If you plan to upgrade at a later time though, it would be a good idea. Get an audigy2 now and pair it with that $30 logitech set, and then wait until your budget allows for a nice 5.1 set down the road? (Klipsch promedias, Logitech z-5300s or z-5500s, Creative Megaworks etc.)

It kind of depends what you want to do in the long run. There's nothing wrong with getting an audigy and pairing it with some cheaper speakers though... you just wont get its full potential.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Does your $100 budget include the soundcard purchase too?

I would agree with ZLI that it's kind of silly to buy an audigy2 if you're going to pair it with some low end speakers.

If you plan to upgrade at a later time though, it would be a good idea. Get an audigy2 now and pair it with that $30 logitech set, and then wait until your budget allows for a nice 5.1 set down the road? (Klipsch promedias, Logitech z-5300s or z-5500s, Creative Megaworks etc.)

It kind of depends what you want to do in the long run. There's nothing wrong with getting an audigy and pairing it with some cheaper speakers though... you just wont get its full potential.
Click to expand...

The budget doesn't include the Audigy. And I might just get one of those speaker sets you suggested to me. Thanx for the help everyone!

 
It sounds like you have about $150 to work with here...

I think if you have 5.1 integrated audio already it would be a good idea to get the best speakers you can afford at the moment like these for example and then pair them up with the integrated audio. Integrated audio has come a long way in the last few years and it's pretty decent now. Maybe you could try it out first and then if you're not happy with it, get a $25 chaintech AV710?
 
I believe the Audigy 2 Value is functionally identical to the ZS with regard to sound (if I'm wrong, someone please correct me). It's $55 shipped at NewEgg. Creative's software can be a little intimidating to newcomers, but the Audigy's hardware does work which is done in software with AC97. I just put an old SB Live! Value in my second machine, which has an Abit NF7 with onboard sound. It runs games a little smoother and it sounds better, even with the $15 speakers I'm using. People who haven't used a recent Creative card will swear that they're no better than most onboard chips, but I've played with a few onboard and I think Soundstorm is the only good one. I had an nForce 3 with the Envy chip, and it sucked when compared to an Audigy.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
It sounds like you have about $150 to work with here...

I think if you have 5.1 integrated audio already it would be a good idea to get the best speakers you can afford at the moment like these for example and then pair them up with the integrated audio. Integrated audio has come a long way in the last few years and it's pretty decent now. Maybe you could try it out first and then if you're not happy with it, get a $25 chaintech AV710?
Click to expand...

Nah my integrated audio is only 2.1 Audio.

 
Originally posted by: Noob
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
It sounds like you have about $150 to work with here...

I think if you have 5.1 integrated audio already it would be a good idea to get the best speakers you can afford at the moment like these for example and then pair them up with the integrated audio. Integrated audio has come a long way in the last few years and it's pretty decent now. Maybe you could try it out first and then if you're not happy with it, get a $25 chaintech AV710?
Click to expand...

Nah my integrated audio is only 2.1 Audio.
Click to expand...

Oh, bummer.

Both the links you had before showed 5.1 audio capability so I thought that was what you had.

So you have a different motherboard?
 
You can reassign them then to do 5.1 duty. Do you have the driver installed for it? There should be a utility program that allows you to select 5.1 mode.
 
The drivers are installed. But I have sent in my comp to the manufacturer for cleaning and installation of better cooling. It may support DD 5.1, but nto a 5.1 surround sound set.
 
I'm fairly certain that you can reassign the jacks to do 5.1 duty... but I've never had that board so I could be wrong.

Have you tried it before? I'm thinking there's an option you can select with the sound utility that will change the 3 jacks from stereo, line-in, mic
to front, rear, center/sub
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I'm fairly certain that you can reassign the jacks to do 5.1 duty... but I've never had that board so I could be wrong.

Have you tried it before? I'm thinking there's an option you can select with the sound utility that will change the 3 jacks from stereo, line-in, mic
to front, rear, center/sub
Click to expand...

I don't know. I have never tried. But how could it be physically possible to fit 5 speaker jacks into 3 jacks. But I don't know if this is how it works so I am just assuming.
 
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