What about Audigy2 ZS?

[Delpiero]

I am looking forward to buy an Audigy2 ZS sound card . I want to hear your comments especially from those who has this card. Will it make any significant improvement in DVD, music listening and playing games? Currently i am using SB live 5.1 and the DVD and games are pretty good. But i need some more punch and sound clarity . I would buy this card whatever it costs if it is a good performer. Should i buy this card or not ?

[freshseasons]

Man i have Creative Audigy 2 Zs ...i bought it For 7,200/- Rs 3 months back from Foreign Computer , Bajaj Nagar....the Card contains Tombraider Angel of Darkness Cd , Tom Clanceys Seris , DVD Demo CD ..Etc...
Why did i buy such an expensive card...because i'm an audio buff....Should you buy it....Well if you are price conscious dont buy it...But if you are an audio buff please please buy that card....Coz you cannot rationalist decisions like passion with Price ...can we ???
First thing first ...you will have to ditch that Creative Inspire 4.1 4400, Speaker of yours if you really want to enjoy the card...i mean sound at 24Bit from card and the speakers cannot justify that...Get something in range of Altec Lansing or Higher Creative 7.1 ( The card is meant for 7.1 ) Range ..and then man you are in a Bliss..Because with the present Speaker you really cannot tell the difference between Creative 5.1 and an Audigy 2 ZS....yes you can tell the Difference between a thud and a Thuuuuuddd with this card Easily..you get a free firewire PORt too ..saved me money there to buy seperate one ...And then theres always a ego point of having the best sound card around...and yes ....your room will rock...[/b]

[theraven]

if ur upgrading make sure ur gettin better speakers before anything
ur new sound card will pump out all the numbers .. but whats the point if ur output from ur speakers is crappy ??
there will not be any significant gain ...
so i suggest u try better (5.1) speakers first ... ull get the "more punch and clarity" ur lookin for
let me put it in the simplest of ways
u have the best graphics card ... but u have a monochrome monitor
see what i mean ?
( i pick graphics as an example cuz everyone seems to understand that these days .. ofcurse the above situation is only hypothetical )

Audigy is a Good gaming card, but I would say go for a Audigy 1 LS, it supports everything U will ever need, I got the Audigy LS

[enoonmai]

I have a SBLive 5.1 card too? I'm not that much of an audiophile yet I like my sounds right, if you know what I mean So, wouldn't it be better if I go in for better "Certified" speakers rather than use the Audigy? Or would it be better to upgrade both? How much does the LS cost anyway?

[Delpiero]

Thanx everyone for the suggestions. So finally i would be going with Audigy2 ZS combined with inspire T7700.

[blade_runner]

Originally Posted by enoonmai

I have a SBLive 5.1 card too? I'm not that much of an audiophile yet I like my sounds right, if you know what I mean So, wouldn't it be better if I go in for better "Certified" speakers rather than use the Audigy? Or would it be better to upgrade both? How much does the LS cost anyway?

If you are a avg listener like most of us the SBlive is more than enuf! getting a better set of speaker without a right soundcard to drive them would be meaningless, Tell me wots a body without a soul Better get new speakers and a gr8 soundcard to match those..........
Btw the LS isnt available i think.......but not too sure of that.

If U got a 865GBF motherboard, then I would say stick to the onboard, it is as good in quality & performance then a SB Live DE 5.1, both supports EAX 2.0

Audigy 1 is all needed, I can't find anything new in Audigy 2 ZS or I would have upgraded myself, I use only 2.1 channel speakers & headphones

[suave_guy]

Originally Posted by delpiero

Thanx everyone for the suggestions. So finally i would be going with Audigy2 ZS combined with inspire T7700.

The ideal speakers for audigy2 ZS is creative gigaworks 7.1, anything less then that i wont suggest coz although the sound card is efficient but same cannot be said about the speakers of 7.1 range except offcourse gigaworks series....
If you ask me, to be honest ur current choice of Creative inspire T7700 speakers is not justified at all(considering the fact that ur going to have audigy2), coz this is a scaled down model and the subwoofer is really the weakest point of this model altough the midrange speakers are ok, and one more thing their sound crackels at higher volume so u better avoid these speakers. Infact its better to have high quality 5.1 speakers then an average sounding 7.1 speakers setup.
Trust me!

Enjoy

[delhibhai1000]

some1 is selling a used Audigy1 fer 2k at TA.......

[indro]

Hello, Yes when the topic is about Audigy 2 ZS then there has to be some kind of comment from my side .Well first of all there is a vast difference between an onboard and an Audigy 2 ZS , but between an SB live and audigy 2 .. hmmm well actually there is , but if you ask me .... hmmm ... well initially i was very excited for a 7.1 setup ,i had a creative inspire 5200 and SB LIVE ! combo and the sound was awoesome but not enough power and boom , and i new i wanted something which will give me something more , so i went ahead with the Audigy 2 ZS and t7700 both costed me about 17000 rupees and to tell you the truth ... there wasent much difference in the beginning.But in about 2 days when i finally got all the software setup correct ... the sound was something which i never heard before (I am serious ) Ill tell you guys ... it takes sometime to customise the software which comes with the sound card like the EAX console , CMSS2 console , enviromental morphing and the THX console , byt after when you'll get the setup right , ill tell you the sound will drench your senses .

Ok so far the + points ... well as far as my setup is concerned one thing which is bad is that you cant configure the sound card to a 96KHz frequency but rather keep it at 48 Khz otherwise rear side speakers sound gets distortion. Anyways i was trying with mp3 audio so i am not sure . ill have to try it on a good quality DVD. If you can spend more .. spend it on a 7.1 creative gigaworks , I would !

[Delpiero]

Originally Posted by indro

Hello, Yes when the topic is about Audigy 2 ZS then there has to be some kind of comment from my side .Well first of all there is a vast difference between an onboard and an Audigy 2 ZS , but between an SB live and audigy 2 .. hmmm well actually there is , but if you ask me .... hmmm ... well initially i was very excited for a 7.1 setup ,i had a creative inspire 5200 and SB LIVE ! combo and the sound was awoesome but not enough power and boom , and i new i wanted something which will give me something more , so i went ahead with the Audigy 2 ZS and t7700 both costed me about 17000 rupees and to tell you the truth ... there wasent much difference in the beginning.But in about 2 days when i finally got all the software setup correct ... the sound was something which i never heard before (I am serious ) Ill tell you guys ... it takes sometime to customise the software which comes with the sound card like the EAX console , CMSS2 console , enviromental morphing and the THX console , byt after when you'll get the setup right , ill tell you the sound will drench your senses .

Ok so far the + points ... well as far as my setup is concerned one thing which is bad is that you cant configure the sound card to a 96KHz frequency but rather keep it at 48 Khz otherwise rear side speakers sound gets distortion. Anyways i was trying with mp3 audio so i am not sure . ill have to try it on a good quality DVD. If you can spend more .. spend it on a 7.1 creative gigaworks , I would !

Thanx indro, if t7700+Audigy2 ZS will drench your senses then what will happen if you listen to the gigaworks s750 with more than 600 watts of pure THX certified power. Anyway the s750 is very expensive 35 to 40k is what it costs, superb sound but very expensive . It is out of my reach for atleast a few months. So i think i will wait for a few months and let the prices drop. Are Klipsch and Midiland available in India?

[suave_guy]

Originally Posted by delpiero

Are Klipsch and Midiland available in India?

klipsch is available in india, not sure about midiland..
http://www.klipsch.com/locator/index.aspx

[blade_runner]

Yeah klipsch is available with the audio people in Chennai and in kolkatta . The Klipsch promedia 5.1 THX costs arnd 38k+. Ad midiland isnt available except for grey channels though i seriously doubt that.