What is this??? Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit???

[RedShirt]

Been looking at soundcards and this card almost looks like a basic Audigy 2 ZS in specs (100 SNR instead of 108, but does 96 kHz at 5.1. The old lives only did 48)

Link

Did I miss something here? I haven't heard one word about this product. I do not belive it is out yet.

Here is a link at Buy.com. The price is 28.99.

Live 24-bit at Buy.com

I went ahead and pre-ordered at that price, thinking I could cancel if the card turns out to be crap, but it looks very interesting. Came out to be 34.46 shipped.

Does anyone know anything about this product?

 

[Algere]

News to me

 

[Mindaxiz]

as i understand its an upgrade to 24bit of the old 16bit Live! should be the same audio quality as the audigy with less features and smaller processor (good for music and ok for games)

 

[yhelothar]

Crap..
I would just get the Chaintech AV710 that would blow that card out of the water for $21..

 

[Maggotry]

Interesting product, but no digital coax out. I'll stick with soundstorm. Could be a great budget card, though.

 

[zephyrprime]

Is the processor really smaller? There aren't any specs on the site.

 

[RedShirt]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Crap..
I would just get the Chaintech AV710 that would blow that card out of the water for $21..

Already ordered and on it's way. But the Chaintech leaves much to be desired for games. I thought I could use this new creative card for games, and the chaintech for music.

 

[M16Grenadier]

I thought the Audigy LS would be the replacement for SB Live.

Edit: Actually, it sounds as if it has similar specs as the Audigy LS, maybe it is the Audigy LS with the old SB Live branding? (SB Audigy LS has a different processor than regular Audigy/Audigy2/Live, and needs different drivers as well).

 

[RedShirt]

Originally posted by: M16Grenadier
I thought the Audigy LS would be the replacement for SB Live.

Edit: Actually, it sounds as if it has similar specs as the Audigy LS, maybe it is the Audigy LS with the old SB Live branding? (SB Audigy LS has a different processor than regular Audigy/Audigy2/Live, and needs different drivers as well).

Audigy LS doesn't support EAX HD I thought... This does.... Plus it supports 7.1 like the Audigy 2 ZS, and it does 96 khz in 5.1.

So confusing.

 

[RedShirt]

So, no one knows anything for sure about this card?

Kinda crazy that I can't find one preview or anything online.

Edit:
It also looks like while it does EAX HD, it doesn't do EAX HD 4.0. It does do EAX in hardware also...

 

[RedShirt]

Bump for the early evening crowd.

I ended up cancelling my order due to the fact that no one knows anything about this product. I believe it is supposed to be released around Sept. 18th?

 

[Auric]

It's just stripped down external I/O with a cheaper DAC and might require a hack to the driver setup to enable all software functionality. It does look like good value percentage wise but do you really need to save $10 to $20 over an Audigy 2 ZS (post rebate & bundle sale)? SPDIF is on-board so could be used with a DIY cable in lieu of the optional bracket.

 

[RedShirt]

Originally posted by: Auric
It's just stripped down external I/O with a cheaper DAC and might require a hack to the driver setup to enable all software functionality. It does look like good value percentage wise but do you really need to save $10 to $20 over an Audigy 2 ZS (post rebate & bundle sale)? SPDIF is on-board so could be used with a DIY cable in lieu of the optional bracket.

Where can I get an Audigy 2 ZS for 45 dollars after rebate? I'll jump on that.
If this card is just like the Audigy 2 ZS except for a cheaper dac, then it would be AWESEOME for the Chaintech AV-710 and this to be paired up in a computer. The Live for games, the chaintech for music

 

[Auric]

See pricegrabber, but it is $60 AR and only less if you sell the games.

I don't see the point of a Live! 24-bit in combination with an AV-710 when a single ZS would be cheaper and has the best DAC for all outputs. The good DAC on the AV-710 is only for two-channel output. The best music-only solution (two-channel where CPU usage is unimportant) is still "free" on-board SPDIF out to an adequate receiver.

 

[RedShirt]

Originally posted by: Auric
See pricegrabber, but it is $60 AR and only less if you sell the games.

I don't see the point of a Live! 24-bit in combination with an AV-710 when a single ZS would be cheaper and has the best DAC for all outputs. The good DAC on the AV-710 is only for two-channel output. The best music-only solution (two-channel where CPU usage is unimportant) is still "free" on-board SPDIF out to an adequate receiver.

The Audigy resamples the sound. The Chaintech card is commonly known to be better at music than the audigy. Even with the SPDIF out of the creative, it still resamples the sound.

 

[Auric]

The option of not resampling is nice in theory but not a panacea when quality is affected by numererous hardware components and the software and how they interact with the rest of the system (especially when lacking a direct connection to the drive), plus EMI, RFI, etc. and ultimately the amp and speakers used. If CD playback is all that matters, why even use a PC?

 

[Algere]

Originally posted by: Auric
If CD playback is all that matters, why even use a PC?

Cause E-MU 1212M doesn't = $200 CD Player

 

[RedShirt]

Originally posted by: Auric
The option of not resampling is nice in theory but not a panacea when quality is affected by numererous hardware components and the software and how they interact with the rest of the system (especially when lacking a direct connection to the drive), plus EMI, RFI, etc. and ultimately the amp and speakers used. If CD playback is all that matters, why even use a PC?

Even MP3s are resampled. People are under the false impression that Creative is the best. Maybe they are for games, but I still dislike them. The only reason they are as big as they are is because they have a monopoly. No one else can come up with a 3d positional audio scheme. Look at what happened to Aureal. I wish Nvidia would just make a soundstorm soundcard.

 

[Auric]

So with some extra messin' you can use a higher-end Creative E-MU card with an existing PC to achieve better sound quality than a stand-alone home stereo device for the same $200? Okay, but we're really talking aboot whether a $25 card is actually a quality alternative to a higher spec Envy24 on one hand (like an M-Audio) and an EMU-10K2 based card on the other.

Yeah, 44 KHz MP3's would be resampled but you wouldn't be using MP3's if all you cared aboot was quality.

I have not heard an AV-710, let alone compared it on the same system to a ZS so don't know but I suspect the anti-Creative mentality combined with its cheap price has more to do with its attraction than its quality.

 

[Algere]

The $25 AV-710 is comparable to a M-Audio Revolution 7.1 and better than a Audigy sound qualitywise, assuming your using the high-resolution 2-channel output which utilizes the Wolfson DAC instead of the VIA codec.

The benefits of the M-Audio over the AV-710 when price is put into consideration is that all of the Revolution's outputs (e.g. 4.1 and up) / input are of higher quality, better drivers & gaming support (EAX/newer Sensaura build), TruSurround, official ASIO support, etc. etc.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: M16Grenadier
I thought the Audigy LS would be the replacement for SB Live.

Edit: Actually, it sounds as if it has similar specs as the Audigy LS, maybe it is the Audigy LS with the old SB Live branding? (SB Audigy LS has a different processor than regular Audigy/Audigy2/Live, and needs different drivers as well).

It exactly matches the old LS specs, so there's no doubt in my mind that it's simply a rebuilt LS. This is actually a good change too; the Audigy LS wasn't a true Audigy in the first place, so it's good to see that they dropped the name.

PS For anyone curious, I'm pretty sure the Audigy value is a rebuilt ES, which in turn is a rebuilt Audigy1

 

[RedShirt]

Originally posted by: Auric
So with some extra messin' you can use a higher-end Creative E-MU card with an existing PC to achieve better sound quality than a stand-alone home stereo device for the same $200? Okay, but we're really talking aboot whether a $25 card is actually a quality alternative to a higher spec Envy24 on one hand (like an M-Audio) and an EMU-10K2 based card on the other.

Yeah, 44 KHz MP3's would be resampled but you wouldn't be using MP3's if all you cared aboot was quality.

I have not heard an AV-710, let alone compared it on the same system to a ZS so don't know but I suspect the anti-Creative mentality combined with its cheap price has more to do with its attraction than its quality.

Creative markets their card as 24-bit... They are still using the same chip they did with the original live for these Audigys, just doing some re-working. Everything gets sampled up/down to 48 Khz at 16 bit the resampled back. It's a pretty nasty way of doing things.

For games Creative cannot be beat. For music it's easy. I used to have SoundStorm and recently "upgraded" and have just been hating the soundcard market. I have a nice receiver hooked up to a nice 5.1 setup and it just has sucked. I can't wait for my AV-710 to arrive, but I'm still trying to figure out what I should do for games.

 

[RedShirt]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: M16Grenadier
I thought the Audigy LS would be the replacement for SB Live.

Edit: Actually, it sounds as if it has similar specs as the Audigy LS, maybe it is the Audigy LS with the old SB Live branding? (SB Audigy LS has a different processor than regular Audigy/Audigy2/Live, and needs different drivers as well).

It exactly matches the old LS specs, so there's no doubt in my mind that it's simply a rebuilt LS. This is actually a good change too; the Audigy LS wasn't a true Audigy in the first place, so it's good to see that they dropped the name.

PS For anyone curious, I'm pretty sure the Audigy value is a rebuilt ES, which in turn is a rebuilt Audigy1

The specs do look alike. However, the LS Supports EAX 4.0HD, this new live does not... Must be another crappy decision by creative to disable things the card supports in drivers.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: RedShirt

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: M16Grenadier
I thought the Audigy LS would be the replacement for SB Live.

Edit: Actually, it sounds as if it has similar specs as the Audigy LS, maybe it is the Audigy LS with the old SB Live branding? (SB Audigy LS has a different processor than regular Audigy/Audigy2/Live, and needs different drivers as well).

It exactly matches the old LS specs, so there's no doubt in my mind that it's simply a rebuilt LS. This is actually a good change too; the Audigy LS wasn't a true Audigy in the first place, so it's good to see that they dropped the name.

PS For anyone curious, I'm pretty sure the Audigy value is a rebuilt ES, which in turn is a rebuilt Audigy1

The specs do look alike. However, the LS Supports EAX 4.0HD, this new live does not... Must be another crappy decision by creative to disable things the card supports in drivers.

The LS doesn't support EAX 4.

 

[RedShirt]

On that page that you linked to it says it does.... (Support EAX 4.0 Advanced HD)