Soundblaster Audigy and X-Fi cards on clearance at OD B&M YMMV

[Schadenfroh]

Just got back from OD, they had SB Audigy 2 ZS NoteBook edition, Audigy4, and XiFi ExtremeMusic for $60 each on clearance. Best price I have seen on the Notebook model, the XiFi and Audigy4 prices are not special.

Prices vary Wildly at each location, please read the replies.

 

[Jadow]

too bad Creative cards suck in Vista, their driver support is non-existent. And they blame MS for raising driver standards.

 

[ForeStorm]

Well, HDMI apparently has troubles with EAX. Meaning, they break it.

 

[hansmuff]

Originally posted by: Jadow
too bad Creative cards suck in Vista, their driver support is non-existent. And they blame MS for raising driver standards.

How is that? They have 32 and 64-bit drivers for download from Creative's support pages. What do you mean by non-existent?!

 

[imported_BS]

I have Vista and a Creative Xfi with zero problems, At least you can get 3D audio out of the creative cards unlike all others. Due to MS dropping a layer in 3D sound.

 

[efnethore]

I went to 2 office depots in my area looking to find, in particular, x-fi xtrememusic. None had it.

what they do have is sb audigy 2 notebook zs for 38 dollars (which is a very good price).

they also had x-fi extreme audio for 60 dollars. xifi extremeaudio doesn't have the xfi chip and it's not a x-fi at all, don't buy it.

if you can find x-fi xtrememusic for 60, buy it without hesitation. I won't even begin to tell you how it has increased my fps by 10% and how wonderful the sound is. Did i mention that in games i know where people are from the sound of their footsteps? ok i won't tell you about that neither, go experience it for yourself, or at least read the reviews.

but i digress... I came home with bunch of office supplies that was suppose to organize and clean up the clutter but instead they add to the clutter, i'm a shopaholic.

 

[mgutz]

i run Vista x64 w/ x-fi xtrememusic and everything seems to work with the latest drivers from Soundblaster. non-existent you say? can't comment on the HDMI since i don't use it.

 

[Showtime]

Originally posted by: efnethore

if you can find x-fi xtrememusic for 60, buy it without hesitation. I won't even begin to tell you how it has increased my fps by 10% and how wonderful the sound is. Did i mention that in games i know where people are from the sound of their footsteps? ok i won't tell you about that neither, go experience it for yourself, or at least read the reviews.

Most any sound card will give a slight boost in performance over onboard sound since it frees up resources.

If you are looking to save money, Audigy 2 cards are more than enough for most gamers.

 

[I Saw OJ]

Originally posted by: hansmuff

Originally posted by: Jadow
too bad Creative cards suck in Vista, their driver support is non-existent. And they blame MS for raising driver standards.

How is that? They have 32 and 64-bit drivers for download from Creative's support pages. What do you mean by non-existent?!

The drivers sound like complete trash in vista. While they do "work" they are just basic drivers, no EQ support or anything like that. Hell, my sub isnt even working right now.

 

[bigsnyder]

Just picked up the XtremeMusic for $50. The Audigy 4 is $40 also at my local OD. Thanks!

 

[GeezerMan]

Use the analog outputs of the Xtrememusic, and run them to a high quality amp and prepared to be very impressed with the sound...

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ

Originally posted by: hansmuff

Originally posted by: Jadow
too bad Creative cards suck in Vista, their driver support is non-existent. And they blame MS for raising driver standards.

How is that? They have 32 and 64-bit drivers for download from Creative's support pages. What do you mean by non-existent?!

The drivers sound like complete trash in vista. While they do "work" they are just basic drivers, no EQ support or anything like that. Hell, my sub isnt even working right now.

I don't know dude. You may have some other issues going on there. My xfi sounds great in Vista.

 

[hansmuff]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ

Originally posted by: hansmuff

Originally posted by: Jadow
too bad Creative cards suck in Vista, their driver support is non-existent. And they blame MS for raising driver standards.

How is that? They have 32 and 64-bit drivers for download from Creative's support pages. What do you mean by non-existent?!

The drivers sound like complete trash in vista. While they do "work" they are just basic drivers, no EQ support or anything like that. Hell, my sub isnt even working right now.

Are you using digital out? Maybe there's issues with that, I don't know. It's fair enough to call them out on that, but to say the driver support is non-existent is really misleading.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: hansmuff
Are you using digital out? Maybe there's issues with that, I don't know. It's fair enough to call them out on that, but to say the driver support is non-existent is really misleading.

There are issues with that. SPDIF is broken for Vista x64.

Creative's driver support has always been lousy at best and their Vista drivers are horrendous.

 

[Bad Dude]

When the drivers was still in beta, I had crackles and pops and I had the later revision with the heatsink on it. I have not tested the final drivers release yet. I might give Vista a try again later.

Do you guys use the 32bit or the 64 bit version? I bought my Extreme Music at Amazon for $51 after a $20 rebate.

Thanks.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: hansmuff
Are you using digital out? Maybe there's issues with that, I don't know. It's fair enough to call them out on that, but to say the driver support is non-existent is really misleading.

There are issues with that. SPDIF is broken for Vista x64.

Creative's driver support has always been lousy at best and their Vista drivers are horrendous.

The problem is, there really is no alternative that is supported in most games.

 

[Jules]

I went today at my local one by sams and they still had the xtrememusic for 129.99$

 

[Bad Dude]

The drivers on their website is still beta.

 

[I Saw OJ]

Originally posted by: hansmuff

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ

Originally posted by: hansmuff

Originally posted by: Jadow
too bad Creative cards suck in Vista, their driver support is non-existent. And they blame MS for raising driver standards.

How is that? They have 32 and 64-bit drivers for download from Creative's support pages. What do you mean by non-existent?!

The drivers sound like complete trash in vista. While they do "work" they are just basic drivers, no EQ support or anything like that. Hell, my sub isnt even working right now.

Are you using digital out? Maybe there's issues with that, I don't know. It's fair enough to call them out on that, but to say the driver support is non-existent is really misleading.

Not digital out, just regular analog speaker output. Its either use my SB card or nothing since my on board sound doesnt have vista drivers.

 

[zzbusch2]

So, if creative Audigy's are not to goodand have problems, what would be a good replacement card? Say, for an Audigy 4, or any Audigy.

 

[bigsnyder]

Not much really. If you are still using XP, then the driver issue is fine. As far as Vista, a lot of things are going to have driver problems, just as they did when XP first came out.
At least Creative has Vista drivers out, they will take a few revisions to mature, like everyone else's.

C Snyder

 

[Jadow]

Originally posted by: zzbusch2
So, if creative Audigy's are not to goodand have problems, what would be a good replacement card? Say, for an Audigy 4, or any Audigy.

at this time, NOTHING from Creative is good if you have Vista.

Here's creative's forums where they're just getting ripped apart, and admit they suck.

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board?board.id=Vista

 

[AMD K9]

Are any of those Audigy's like the Audigy Platinum or Audigy 2 Platinum I have? I really am spoiled using the 5 1/4" drive bay style of those 2, and could nbever go back to a regular audio card with outputs only on the back of the PC.

On the other hand I feel the Audigy with the front I/O drive bay should only be $60 new, I never use the remote and the software sucks (before XP I used to use a free audio driver that worked better than Creative Labs and the name escapes me for the moment I want to say Project VX or something) EDIT it is KX Project and they still have a website.

http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1

Anyone with a creative card should use this software instead of the bloat-ware Creative has you install.

 

[bigsnyder]

Some the X-Fi models can use the front drive bay. I am using the one from my Audigy 2 with my new Xtrememusic card. I don't think the Audigy 4 is compatible with the internal drive bay, but the Audigy 4 Pro model did use an external module like the Audigy 2 ZS platinum pro. As far as the KX Project drivers, I never could get them to uninstall properly. That has been some time ago, maybe they are better now.

C Snyder

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Showtime

If you are looking to save money, Audigy 2 cards are more than enough for most gamers.

Yeh, that is what I am thinking. That the XiFi ExtremeMusic is not worth the money when I currently use an Audigy 2 ZS with Sennheiser HD212 pros