SB Live! vs Audigy 2 ZS, worth it?

dak125dak125
edited December 2003 in Hardware
Once I figure out the speaker situation (most likely Z-680's) I want to know if my current SB Live! will do them justice. I was looking at the Audigy 2 ZS and it seems to have gotten very positive reviews, but would the difference be that noticeable? Nothing's better than personal reviews and with that in mind, does anyone have one? I listen to a lot of music, game quite a bit, and watch quite a few movies. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance-DaK

Comments

  • croc_croc_ New
    edited December 2003
    Owned an SB live, had too many problems with it to remember if it even worked, but from what i do remember, alot of static. Owned an audigy, better, but not that much. Never seen/heard an Audigy 2, but I hear good things.
  • TemplarTemplar You first.
    edited December 2003
    Audigy 2's don't sell for more than $100 now anyway. There's no point in getting an SB Live! They do funny things to your speakers.

    My speakers are beginning to fritz, and it got so annoying I went and bought a pair of headphones (and to avoid disturbing anyone with my loud music :) ). My volume knob was FUBAR because when I turned it a little bit, the volume either shot WAY up or got REALLY quiet until I stopped turning it. They would also increase and decrease volume at will, and since I like to keep music on while sleeping, having your speakers increase volume at 3 in the morning to where they wake you up is quite annoying.

    I doubt this is because of the speakers, because I had an SB Live! in the PC preceeding this one, and had some old Altec speakers that did the same thing.

    My friend has a pair of these exact speakers and they work perfectly, and had them longer than I have.

    Edit: Audigy 2, $79.. http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?sid=3FCBD6003132E17F&product_code=297978&pfp=BROWSE
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited December 2003
    The Z-680's are a 5.1 speaker set. I'm not sure what version of the SB Live you have (the original SB Live, SB Live Value or SB Live Platinum), but it's a 4.1 sound card.

    In order to use the SB Live with your speakers and still get to use the centre channel, you'll need a 5.1 enabled SB Live, either the SB Live 5.1 or SB Live Platinum 5.1 which features a centre/subwoofer output jack. :)

    Honestly, spend the money and get the Audigy 2, unless you have a motherboard with NVidia's SoundStorm APU, which sounds just as good as the Audigy 2 (when properly tweaked). :)

    If you don't have a sound card, the Audigy 2 is worth it if you play games and require EAX extensions for environmental-audio effects at a reasonable price. You can get other sound-cards that offer much better music playback quality and a higher SNR, but they also cost an arm and a leg more than the Audigy 2 (IE the TerraTec DMX 6-Fire, which is a beautiful sound card). :D

    I presently own 4 SB Live's (2 SB Live Value's, 1 SB Live Platinum and 1 SB Live, all 4.1 cards). One of the value's & the platinum are inside of Intel machines, while the other 2 are inside AMD systems (one NForce2, one VIA KX133). With the hacked Audigy 2 DS driver suite, they actually perform not too bad, much better than the onboard Crystal Media or RealTek sound codec's. :)
  • dak125dak125
    edited December 2003
    I currently have an SB Live! 5.1 card. It sounds pretty damn good with my current speakers too. There hasn't been much of any static. But, if there's going to be a huge noticeable difference then I would get the Audigy 2. On my old mobo (P4S333 I think) I used the onboard sound originally and then switched to the SB live, huge difference. That's what I'm looking for again.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited December 2003
    dak125 had this to say
    I currently have an SB Live! 5.1 card. It sounds pretty damn good with my current speakers too. There hasn't been much of any static. But, if there's going to be a huge noticeable difference then I would get the Audigy 2. On my old mobo (P4S333 I think) I used the onboard sound originally and then switched to the SB live, huge difference. That's what I'm looking for again.

    You probably won't get that from the Live to Audigy 2. I didn't notice that large of a difference switching from a Live Platinum to Audigy 2 Platinum, but again your ears may notice a larger difference than mine did. :)
  • dak125dak125
    edited December 2003
    SimGuy had this to say
    dak125 had this to say
    I currently have an SB Live! 5.1 card. It sounds pretty damn good with my current speakers too. There hasn't been much of any static. But, if there's going to be a huge noticeable difference then I would get the Audigy 2. On my old mobo (P4S333 I think) I used the onboard sound originally and then switched to the SB live, huge difference. That's what I'm looking for again.

    You probably won't get that from the Live to Audigy 2. I didn't notice that large of a difference switching from a Live Platinum to Audigy 2 Platinum, but again your ears may notice a larger difference than mine did. :)

    Probably not. I just know if something sounds good or not.
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