Best sound card for gaming

[tyler811]

First the basic:
Albatron kx18d pro 2
Maxtor 80 gig 8 mg hd
amd xp 2500 @3200 11x 208
512 ddr dual channel
headphones

I would like opinions on the best sound card for gaming. A sound card with a digital signal processor is best correct right?

I have a Sound Blaster Live 5.1. I do not need fire wire or any kind of funky gadgets. I would to know what everyone thinks the best gaming sound card is. thanks

 

[Nebor]

There is absolutely no doubt that the Audigy 2 is the best gaming card.

 

[ViciouS]

Audigy 2 is best.. Audigy 1 kicks butt too! By far nothing beats EAX in gamming Especially with headphones. If your wearing headphones and on any audigy card its the closest thing to being IN THE GAME.

 

[Nebor]

I think you can get better positioning out of a good 5.1\6.1\7.1 system than headphones, that's just from my experience w/ my creative gigaworks though.

 

[Ardan]

I don't think EAX is that big of a deal. I can have EAX off in games and have great positioning and feel like i'm almost there, or I could enable it and feel the EXACT SAME WAY.

 

[Mem]

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS is the best gaming card period.

 

[Brian48]

Audigy2 or Audigy2 ZS. No question.

 

[polloloco]

Audigy2 no doubt

 

[dexvx]

Audigy2 ZS

Its miles ahead of teh Audigy2 regular.

 

[MDE]

That motherboard already has SoundStorm audio, which is no slouch. If you want the "best" get a Dolby Digital receiver and hook it up for some real fun.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: MonkeyDriveExpress
That motherboard already has SoundStorm audio, which is no slouch. If you want the "best" get a Dolby Digital receiver and hook it up for some real fun.

The DACs on board an Audigy 2 are equivalant to what you'll find in a $1000 reciever.... Soundstorm's analog outputs are no better than any other onboard analog outs... It's only advantage is it's DD encoding ability.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: MonkeyDriveExpress
That motherboard already has SoundStorm audio, which is no slouch. If you want the "best" get a Dolby Digital receiver and hook it up for some real fun.

The DACs on board an Audigy 2 are equivalant to what you'll find in a $1000 reciever.... Soundstorm's analog outputs are no better than any other onboard analog outs... It's only advantage is it's DD encoding ability.

That's why I said to get a Dolby Digital reciever, by the way can the Audigy2 encode DD realtime?

 

[RollWave]

NOPE!

 

[Pariah]

No, but DD is a compression scheme, not a surround sound gaming algorithm. The fact that NForce doesn't support EAX HD, means the audio is inferior to the Audigy 2/ZS before it even gets to the compression step. There is nothing a receiver can do to fix that.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: Pariah
No, but DD is a compression scheme, not a surround sound gaming algorithm. The fact that NForce doesn't support EAX HD, means the audio is inferior to the Audigy 2/ZS before it even gets to the compression step. There is nothing a receiver can do to fix that.

Roger that.

 

[tyler811]

OK Thanks, I bought the Sound Blaster Audigy 2. Now it seems my BF 1942 game runs faster. My guns fire faster and the sound clarity is better then my old SB live 5.1. Is this true or does it just seem like it cause I have a new part ? lol

 

[Mem]

My guns fire faster and the sound clarity is better then my old SB live 5.1. Is this true or does it just seem like it cause I have a new part ? lol

I notice the sound improvement from SB Live to Audigy,like all things it depends on your ears and quality of your speakers,Audigy 2 does have less CPU usage then the SB Live.

 

[NokiaDude]

I have an Audigy 2 ZS and I must say it's awesome. For $100 how can you go wrong?!?

 

[RanDum72]

Audigy 2 ZS. No contest.

 

[xomp3772]

Is there any significant difference between the Audigy 2 ZS and the Audigy 2 ZS Gamer? (other than the software that comes with them)

 

[RanDum72]

Is there any significant difference between the Audigy 2 ZS and the Audigy 2 ZS Gamer? (other than the software that comes with them)

No. They are the same card.

 

[knouri]

Anybody know how a Fortissimo would rank up with the Audigy 2ZS?

 

[CraigRT]

I used to believe that good soundcards were necessary.... now after using onboard sound on all of my PC's and realizing it all sounds perfectly fine. I don't recommend even spending money on a soundcard anymore.

 

[Jayczar]

I currently have a Fortissimo and have no complaints but I certainly
would prefer an Audigy 2.

 

[Brian48]

Originally posted by: knouri
Anybody know how a Fortissimo would rank up with the Audigy 2ZS?

I have both. The Fortissimo III is a great sound card, but A2 walks all over it in almost every way EXCEPT one. I really wish Creative would drop firewire support and include on-board DAT/coax outputs instead. The only reason why I still use my Fortissimo is that it works great with my JVD MD-9000 mini-disk system via DAT.