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who's running the Audigy 2 ZS card?

O

ozziegn

Senior member
Okay, I just came into a pretty nice deal on an Audigy 2 ZS so I've decided to retire my TBSC card.

So, I'm wondering if I can just go to Creative's site and D/L their drivers (and patches or what not) and avoid sticking in the CD that came with the card altogether.

I say that because I know that in the past when I've used the Creative CDs that they would install a bunch of tooty-fruity software and sh*t that I'd probably never use so this time I'm being cautious about using the CD if I dont have to.

but I'm wondering if there is something on the CD that my system should (or will) need or can I get away with just D/Ling the driver from their site and be done with it?

any comments or suggestions will be appreciated. 🙂
 
i'm sure you can, IIRC i downloaded the drivers straight from creative cuz i lost my CD. i'm not sure if you are going to get the bloated package of useless crap they put in there or just the drivers though. i think you can get just the drivers
 
You should install from the CD. The CD will let you choose what you want to install and what you don't.

You NEED some of their bloatware to make your sound good. You need the EAX Control Panel and the Speaker COnfiguration Control Panel. EAX Control Panel let's you turn of CMSS (bass booming upmixing crap) and Speaker Config let's you choose your speaker setup and change channel volume.

Then you can update the driver from the creative site. They actually have an auto update feature on their site that works pretty well.
 
^ What he said. Choose custom installation (iirc there's an option for that) and don't install anything you don't need or want.
 
well, at first I went ahead and just installed the D/Led driver but I then tried what shady said. all in all I dont think I really notice a difference in sound quality between my TBSC and this card.

should I notice a difference considering I'm running a pretty decent set of speakers (in sig)?
 
Yeah, I think you actually need to have previous drivers installed before you can install the downloaded ones. Could've been that it saw I already had them installed, but I thought I remember it saying to install the ones from the CD before updating them.

And yes you do want stuff like the EAX and THX consoles. Otherwise it won't put out in surround like you want it to. Its a pain how you have to go and set up the stuff do what you want, but its nice you have so many features to tweak.
 
Nah you don't need the drivers on the cd, you can pretty much download the drivers and install. Unfortunately applications and such you would, which sucks.
 
Don't listen to all anti-Creative zealots. Most of them haven't touched a Creative product in years. There's nothing wrong with the current Creative drivers and software for the A2. Like ATI, they've done a complete 180 degree turn-around from the days of the SBLive/Audigy. The number of driver/software updates have been very frequent and consistent.

Just install off the CD, pick ONLY what you need (ie. drivers, AudioHO, Mixer, EAX Console, etc..), and run the auto-update off of Creative's site. Unless you're a musician or do a lot of audio recording/editing, you don't need all the other stuff.

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
TBSC's music sound quality is better than ZS, while ZS offers better gaming immersion.

So is the general concensus.
Click to expand...

Maybe for the original Audigy, but the TBSC is NOT better than either A2 or A2 ZS for music playback. The DACs are far superior to what's used on the TBSC. The difference is especially noticable if you tweak the A2 (WinAmp+MAD+SSRC+24/96) for music playback. The only consumer level sound card I've used that's decidedly better than the A2 in this area is the Revo 7.1.

In regards to gaming, there's no competition. The A2 series kills everything else there.
 
Originally posted by: Brian48
Don't listen to all anti-Creative zealots. Most of them haven't touched a Creative product in years. There's nothing wrong with the current Creative drivers and software for the A2. Like ATI, they've done a complete 180 degree turn-around from the days of the SBLive/Audigy. The number of driver/software updates have been very frequent and consistent.

Just install off the CD, pick ONLY what you need (ie. drivers, AudioHO, Mixer, EAX Console, etc..), and run the auto-update off of Creative's site. Unless you're a musician or do a lot of audio recording/editing, you don't need all the other stuff.

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
TBSC's music sound quality is better than ZS, while ZS offers better gaming immersion.

So is the general concensus.
Click to expand...

Maybe for the original Audigy, but the TBSC is NOT better than either A2 or A2 ZS for music playback. The DACs are far superior to what's used on the TBSC. The difference is especially noticable if you tweak the A2 (WinAmp+MAD+SSRC+24/96) for music playback. The only consumer level sound card I've used that's decidedly better than the A2 in this area is the Revo 7.1.

In regards to gaming, there's no competition. The A2 series kills everything else there.
Click to expand...

I prefer the (WinAmp+MAD+ASIO) combo 😀
 
okay, so I've heard that this CMSS stuff is garbage and that I should turn it off.

well, when I do that I lose my rear speakers in my 5.1 setup.

anyone wanna throw me a lifeline as to why that does that and how I can fix it?
 
I'm assuming you have windows set to use the correct number of speakers, as well as the speaker setup program thingy that comes with Creative's software. That's the first thing I would try to do at least - run those again to make sure it thinks you have a 5.1 setup.
 
I don't think that will do it. If you disable CMSS, the audio app or game will play the audio "as is" without mixing. Since a lot of audio sources are only two channels, it will only play on two speakers.

If you have the A2 ZS and not the original A2, set it to 2x stereo instead of CMSS. This should give you audio to your rear speakers, although the center speaker may still not be utilized.

I recommend that, instead of listening to all the complaints about CMSS (which does have it's merits in some gaming applications), play your music files with and without CMSS, CMSS2, and 2x stereo to see what really sounds best for you. For me, I like 2x stereo.
 
Originally posted by: ozziegn
okay, so I've heard that this CMSS stuff is garbage and that I should turn it off.

well, when I do that I lose my rear speakers in my 5.1 setup.

anyone wanna throw me a lifeline as to why that does that and how I can fix it?
Click to expand...

Most music, outside of DVD-Audio, is stereo, or 2 channel. CMSS takes that upmixes it to all available channels, and throws in some bass and reverb too. CMSS 2 is way better than CMSS 1 though. And Stereo x2 is better than either of those. But none of those provide you with the original stereo listening experience.
 
Originally posted by: Nebor
Originally posted by: ozziegn
okay, so I've heard that this CMSS stuff is garbage and that I should turn it off.

well, when I do that I lose my rear speakers in my 5.1 setup.

anyone wanna throw me a lifeline as to why that does that and how I can fix it?
Click to expand...

Most music, outside of DVD-Audio, is stereo, or 2 channel. CMSS takes that upmixes it to all available channels, and throws in some bass and reverb too. CMSS 2 is way better than CMSS 1 though. And Stereo x2 is better than either of those. But none of those provide you with the original stereo listening experience.
Click to expand...

If you use CMSS 1, there is no reverb. See here for more info.
 
Originally posted by: beatle
Originally posted by: Nebor
Originally posted by: ozziegn
okay, so I've heard that this CMSS stuff is garbage and that I should turn it off.

well, when I do that I lose my rear speakers in my 5.1 setup.

anyone wanna throw me a lifeline as to why that does that and how I can fix it?
Click to expand...

Most music, outside of DVD-Audio, is stereo, or 2 channel. CMSS takes that upmixes it to all available channels, and throws in some bass and reverb too. CMSS 2 is way better than CMSS 1 though. And Stereo x2 is better than either of those. But none of those provide you with the original stereo listening experience.
Click to expand...

If you use CMSS 1, there is no reverb. See here for more info.
Click to expand...

Would you just expect BMW to come out and say, "iDrive is a piece of sh!t, it's clunky and non-intuitive" ? Of course Creative is going to endorse their own product. If you have nice headphones (I have nice headphones) you're better off using no CMSS at all. The only thing I ever use CMSS for is when I listen to internet radio to go to sleep, that way I get sound from my rear surrounds (which are behind my bed), and the crappiness that is CMSS covers up the crappyness of the internet music's quality.
 
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