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steelcity_ballin · Sat Jan 03, 2004 7:22 pm

Okay now I have my xmas money and my bills paid and I am debt free. AMEN! ( thats good considering my 1000+ dolar credit card bill)

Now i need to get back into debt fast, so im starting by buying a new audio card. I have the Logitech z640's and i love them. They do everything i need.

I was looking at an audigy 2 on newegg for 74 bucks and also noticed the audigy 1 for 50+.

will i really notice a difference given my speakers using the audigy 2 over the audigy 1?

And they both do support 5.1 correct? My speaker setup has a center, left and right front, and left and right back. Thanks guys! I'll be purchasing it this wednesday based on what i hear from you guys.

derFunkenstein · Sat Jan 03, 2004 7:27 pm

The Audigy 1 is a nice card, so for less than $25 more, I'd probably go with the Audigy2. It's supposed to do REAL 24-bit playback and all, so that's probably what I'd go for.

steelcity_ballin · Sat Jan 03, 2004 7:31 pm

Is their an audible difference in 16 bit adn 24 bit though? I dont much about this, and i don't want to buy the audigy 2 unless it really would make a difference.

anotherwords, are you sure its just not a selling point to get more money out of us... Thanks Der...

derFunkenstein · Sat Jan 03, 2004 7:50 pm

Personally, I have no idea if I can tell the difference between 16 and 24 bit. I doubt it's as big of a difference as it was going from, say, an original Sound Blaster with 8 bit sound to a SoundBlaster 16 with 16bit sound, because I can hear hissing like a tape on 8bit sound...but 24...like I said...I have no idea, because I've never heard it. I know the audigy is decent on CPU% when it comes to gaming (because that's part of why I still use it over the nV soundstorm on my mobo), but I've heard (no real facts to point at, though) that the audigy 2 is a little better with that...if it helps, I'm not going to upgrade any time soon.

All that said, what sound card are you using now?

steelcity_ballin · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:15 pm

Right now im using the onboard sound that is Ac97 but allegedly 6 channel from my motherboard. Its an nForce2 nf7-m witht he nvidia APU but not soundstorm.

Even though it says its 6 channel, when i have everythign plugged into my onboard card correctly, and im sure it is, i only get sound from 3 of the speakers , center, right and left front.

If i use a splitter i can get sound from alll my speakers although one of the fronts (either hte left or right depending on which way i plug it in) wil sound very very quiet adn im told this isnt real surround sounds its just mirroring the other speakers.

derFunkenstein · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:16 pm

Heh...weird...well, of hte channels you get sound out of, are you satisfied with the quality? If so, I guess I'd suggest the Audigy1...if not, then go balls-out for the audigy 2...

steelcity_ballin · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:21 pm

I have never really had anythign btu onboard sound for all my computers, so i guess im not sure what im missing.... Im mainly concerned with the speakesr being put through wiht real 5.1 sound. 16-24 bit i dunno all that jazz... perhaps the audigy 1 is hte better deal for me..

derFunkenstein · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:22 pm

probably. It DOES do 5.1, so you shouldn't be disappointed there.

steelcity_ballin · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:24 pm

Okay man sounds good, thanks for the input. I'll post back here when i get it all.

derFunkenstein · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:25 pm

sounds good! newegg is a gimme nowadays, so you don't even need good luck.

HowardDrake · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:36 pm

For the record SoundStorm is a certification, not some piece of hardware. Unfortunately the NF7-M doesn't have the MCP-T which is what you need for real good onboard sound, so a sound card is a good option. Personally I'd rather get the M-Audio Revolution for 99 bucks. Better card and I really think Creative Labs needs to do better drivers for them to get one penny of my money. My $0.02.

steelcity_ballin · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:47 pm

I had gave the revolution a thought but it seemed a waste to buy a 7.1 capable card and not really use its full capability. It is tempting though because i will be buying a 7.1 setup for a home theatre eventually, though im not sure how soon.

thanks for the input though howard.

edit:

come to think of it, i used to own a Sb live 5.1 gamer, but never used al the holes on it. And my friend has a hercules i think and he never usede all thje holes too, WHAT are all those extra holes for? The green im told is the front while hte black is the back, im lost...

derFunkenstein · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:54 pm

uh...line in, microphone...then the 3 required for 5.1...that's all I know of... :lol:

steelcity_ballin · Sat Jan 03, 2004 8:56 pm

Well, my Motherboard manual suggest plugging them into those three but i have no idea what those other ones are....

HowardDrake · Sat Jan 03, 2004 9:04 pm

pete_roth wrote:
I had gave the revolution a thought but it seemed a waste to buy a 7.1 capable card and not really use its full capability. It is tempting though because i will be buying a 7.1 setup for a home theatre eventually, though im not sure how soon.

thanks for the input though howard.

edit:

come to think of it, i used to own a Sb live 5.1 gamer, but never used al the holes on it. And my friend has a hercules i think and he never usede all thje holes too, WHAT are all those extra holes for? The green im told is the front while hte black is the back, im lost...

Pete the 5.1 only came out through the digital output of the Live 5.1s. There were only 2 ouputs on the back, front and rear. You also had line in, line out, and mic input. And like I said, don't get CL board because the M-Audio is too much, get it because CL sucks.

steelcity_ballin · Sat Jan 03, 2004 9:07 pm

Lmao a Crative hater eh? thats funny stuff.

I'm fully awawkre of the SB live driver problems, i am wary of them to this day, but can you offer any other comprable solutions to the audigy one in that price range that isn't creative?

HowardDrake · Sat Jan 03, 2004 9:15 pm

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-118-101&catalog=57&depa=1

An oldie but goodie.

derFunkenstein · Sat Jan 03, 2004 9:23 pm

for a basic soundcard, sure...but CPU usage in DS3D is pretty ugly...

steelcity_ballin · Sat Jan 03, 2004 9:25 pm

I have heard of these, infact i believe a friend of mine has one. Good stuff, ill save money and avoid possible old driver problems, many thanks howard.

OsakaJ · Sat Jan 03, 2004 9:42 pm

I've never listened to an Audigy 1 card, but when I upgraded from a SB Live Value to an Audigy 2 the improvement was very noticable. Ripping music from a CD at 24 bits only gives a slight improvement over 16 bits if I record at less than 192 kbps. Listening through Sennheiser HD 500 headphones I can tell some difference between 16 and 24 bits, but it's not a lot, even with higher quality recordings.

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Logitech Z640's + best sound card for them?

Logitech Z640's + best sound card for them?

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