Audigy 2ZS vs. ASUS Xonar ???

[Zillatech]

I currently have an Audigy 2ZS that I purchased because of issues with an X-Fi card. I am planning on re-installing my system with Vista 64 Ultimate and was wondering about the new ASUS Xonar cards. They seem to be getting excellent reviews both from Tech Sites and NewEgg.

1. Is there a big difference in sound quality between the two cards?

2. Are there any potential pitfalls with running the Xonar and older games?


I was hoping for a little feedback before I throw down $100.00 bucks for the Xonar DX card. I have also decided that the X-Fi cards (all of them) have an inherent design flaw that causes the Crackling / Popping issues across different MB's (its a crap shoot).


My System Specs:

Intel Q6700 @ (9x333), Zalman 9700LED | ASUS P5E (X38) Motherboard | EVGA 8800GTS (512) | 4GB (2x2) DDR2-1000 G.Skill RAM | Seasonic M12 700W Power Supply | SONY/NEC SATA DVD Burner | Lian-li A16B Case w/ Window | 2x150GB WD Raptor ?X? Drives | Sound Blaster Audigy2ZS

 

[TC91]

try out the audigy 2 zs on the new install first to see if you re satisfied (and maybe the onboard sound too). the xonar sounds (not sure if pun was intended) like a very good card from the reviews but i ve never used it before personally so i cant help you out with that too much.

 

[ourfpshero]

the audigy 3d sound in games is 'bigger' than in dolby headphones sound cards. use the zs

 

[error8]

I personally would take the Xonar over the Audigy. The creative card ( quite all of them) has primitive drivers under Vista, nobody really wants or cares to make it work right under this OS. For XP, the Audigy is a great card, under Vista, is just a nightmare.
From what I've heard, Xonar has very good drivers support and that "emulated" EAX 5.0 works as good as the real one from X-fi and there's no need for Alchemy or other crap to make it functional in games.

If you had problems in Vista with X-fi you'll surely run into greater ones with the Audigy so if you have the money, get the Xonar.

 

[Brian48]

I have both the Xonar D2 and the X-FI ExtremeMusic. The X-FI is still clearly better at games, but the Xonar is not bad and it makes up for it in other areas. Movie and music playback is clearly superior with the Xonar.

My only real beef with the Xonar is that the current drivers have been in beta for the last 4 months. They did issue a long awaited hot fix for source engine games and BioShock a little while ago, but it took a long time in coming. DS3D GX 2.0 used for EAX 5.0 is no where near as impressive as the company makes it out to be and still fairly buggy. I just keep it disabled these days.

Anyway, for my purposes, if I had to choose between a X-FI or Xonar, I'd still take the Xonar, and certainly over the dated Audigy2.

 

[Brian48]

FYI, I'm running under Vista 64.

 

[Zillatech]

Thanks for the input. I see Creative is coming out with a new "PCI-E" X-Fi and I might give that a shot. It looks to be a little more up to date but I'll probably wait till I see a couple of reviews.

 

[Chosonman]

I don't know a lot about sound cards but after doing some homework I got a HT Omega Strike and I love it.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: error8
I personally would take the Xonar over the Audigy. The creative card ( quite all of them) has primitive drivers under Vista, nobody really wants or cares to make it work right under this OS. For XP, the Audigy is a great card, under Vista, is just a nightmare.
From what I've heard, Xonar has very good drivers support and that "emulated" EAX 5.0 works as good as the real one from X-fi and there's no need for Alchemy or other crap to make it functional in games.

If you had problems in Vista with X-fi you'll surely run into greater ones with the Audigy so if you have the money, get the Xonar.

I'm using an Audigy 4 soundcard with Vista x64 with no issues in gaming(tried about 80 games).

One good thing about Audigy cards now is Creative have decided to make the Audigy Alchemy wrapper for older Directsound/ EAX games completely free,more info and download link can be found here.