Has anyone listened to at least 2 of these 3 soundcards?

[lastig21]

Hey Guys,

I'm still debating on getting another soundcard for my pc, but really don't know which one to get. I have heard alot of suggestions for either the Santa Cruz or the Audigy, but because of the price I still think the Soundblaster Live 5.1 may not be a bad choice. My question is, if you have heard at least 2 of these 3 sound cards, tell me which of the 2 you prefer and why.

 

[Oyeve]

I own a SBlive platinum 5.1 and recently got the Audigy card. IMO, the sound difference is hardly noticeable, and really not worth the extra $$$.

 

[mchammer187]

you can get an audigy OEM for roughly $60

i upgraded from a live 4.1 --> audigy and the difference is great IMO

the audigy provides much better positional audio for FPS games

music is not as drastic but definitely noticeable

i have a set of boston acoustics BA4800's which are very nice

the difference you notice will be determined by the quality of your speakers

 

[Mavrick007]

The Live 5.1 is a better deal now(probably around $30US oem), but it will take up more resources than the Audigy. If you have a fast processor now then it will not matter at all. The sound is nearly negligible. I haven't tried the Santa Cruz but I hear that it's a great soundcard as well and it will be around the price of the Audigy OEM or slightly cheaper. The SB Live 5.1 is the best deal for the money though IMO.

 

[AU Tiger]

I have tried the following sound cards in the past two years:

SB Live 5.1 - upgraded because of Santa Cruz reviews

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz - Sound is great, but at the time the Win2K drivers were weak.

Philips Acoustic Edge - Bought it due to the great reviews it was getting. Had weak power for my Klipsch speakers, but sounded great otherwise.

Hercules Game Theater - Basically a Santa Cruz with more features. Loved this card and the breakout box that comes with it. Sold it because of driver issues with WinXP, Empire Earth and other games.

SB Audigy - No problems to date.

I think the Santa Cruz is a great card, but I thought the support for the card is on the weakside. I haven't had any problems with the Audigy in the four months I have owned it. I picked up a retail Audigy card for $80 at a local computer shop (Invado.com) so you should be able to find an OEM version cheaper.

EDIT: I also had a Diamond MX300 that I would probably still be using if Aureal hadn't gone under.

 

[nortexoid]

these are all the soundcards I've used

1. onboard sound - blah
2. MX300 - wicked...no driver support since aureal went under
3. SB Live 4.1 - ok, aside from the massive compatiblity issues i had - hence got rid of it
4. TB Santa Cruz - great...no problems, great drivers for win2k and XP...no idea what AU Tiger is talking about.

in fact, I've used most driver revisions since the santa cruz has been out in win2k...the only problem they gave me was a BSOD when running chkdsk...though it didn't occur in prior drivers or the newest certified ones...the current drivers are excellent...not a single quirk, not a single function missing...

for the money, i'd choose the santa cruz - well, because i picked mine up for $58 CDN
I'd next go for the audigy, and lastly the SB Live 5.1 (though it's probably the cheapest..)
actually, reverse 2nd and 3rd if you have a non-via chipset.

 

[Budman]

<< for the money, i'd choose the santa cruz - well, because i picked mine up for $58 CDN >>



Where did you find such a good price?got a link?
If you dont mind me asking.

 

[lastig21]

I'm not overly worried about the cpu usage, or compatiblity (I think). I have a 1.6a@2.33 on an intel 850 chipset. Currently using onboard sound.

 

[nortexoid]

budman, i got it from canada computers, but that was last summer...

they don't carry them any more - nor were they retail cards...same things tho - merely missing the manual and cd-audio cable (useless in xp/2k anyway)...

unfortunately they don't carry them anymore...they go for more than $58 USD....sickening.

 

[Budman]

<< unfortunately they don't carry them anymore...they go for more than $58 USD....sickening. >>



Yes unfortunately they are quite expensive here in Canada. :frown:

 

[AA0]

I own both a Live and a Santa cruz, I love the santa cruz drivers far far more then the live. Plus the sound quality was instantly noticeably, the live just can't compare.

I saw the deal on the OEM Santa cruz cards too, called in to get one, but it was too late, they ran out.

 

[Huma]

on my kt133a chipset, my santa cruz was awesome. Was the smoothest card with no skipping or flaws in the audio.

my audigy on the same board has very minor skips/scratches in the sound. the sblive value kinda sucked.

with your intel chipset, either the audigy or santa cruz should be great cards. the audigy's firewire port is a great bonus, and the ability to add a hoontech add-on for optical and coaxial out are really awesome.
I still do love the santa cruz best.

 

[CubicZirconia]

I've listened to the audigy and the 5.1 and I believe the sound difference is basically nonexistant. I'd go for the 5.1 if you can save any money at all.

 

[lastig21]

Anyone else?

 

[MasterHoss]

I have used both the Santa Cruz and the Audigy.

Audigy--much better for games
Santa Cruz--a little better for music

both are equal for DVD movies & audio.

The Santa Cruz does a better job of doing the 5.1 virtualization.

 

[kgraeme]

I see that you have the KK266. I have the same board and had to switch from using the Soundblaster to the Santa Cruz to resolve serious problems with games and file transfers corrupting the system and crashing constantly. I didn't notice anything significant in sound quality. Of course, I'm just using computer speakers while I see that you are running it through a real soundsystem with decent "real" speakers. Still, having a computer that works is better than having a computer that doesn't but that sounds nice.

 

[lastig21]

I need to update my rig . . . now using a th7-II and an intel 1.6a

 

[goog]

I'm just building a TH7II rig with an OEM Audigy, by Sunday I should know how it sounds/works.
Currently using a Live card on a KT133.

Was favouring the Santa Cruz but couldn't even find one, at least at a decent price here in Canada.

 

[Rhombuss]

If price is a concern for you, why not check out the Hercules Fortissimo II? They go for $52 CDN, and I hear they're excellent cards for standard audio. Basically a no-frills package, but does the job very well.

 

[lastig21]

I think I have narrowed it down to the audigy and the santa cruz, with the main reason for the audigy being the firewire port. Can anyone help to sway my decision either way?

 

[nortexoid]

do u even NEED firewire? - it's not exactly a feature that's worht having if you dont' use it..

consider: you can buy a santa cruz + USB 2.0/firewire card for approximately the same cost as the audigy.

i'd personally go cruz - as long as u can get it for a reasonable price...if it's nearly the same price as teh audigy (which it shouldn't be) then go audigy....

 

[lastig21]

oem audigy and oem santa cruz are the same price - both $61 from newegg

 

[Taylorm]

santa cruz is great. i just got one to replace my sblive. but the stupid creative drivers left crap all over my system and it conflicted with santa cruz and i got bsod's

after reformat i been going smooth no audio skips either

 

[RanDum72]

I currently have all three. The Audigy sounds brighter than the SB 5.1 (5.1's tend to be bass heavy) and is supposed to have better CPU utilization than the other two but I haven't really noticed a lot of difference in frame rates. The Audigy sounds slightly better than the 5.1 when you are in EAX enabled games but the Santa Cruz is better ( to me) in non-EAX specific games. The SC blows both away insound quality when playing music, both MP3's and CD's and the drivers are completely stable. I also have an Nforce mobo and the built-in APU is almost as good as the SC in music (to me, the Nvidia APu has a slightly rolled off high end) and at the same time boasts lower CPU utilization than the Audigy. If you want a cheap card that has low CPU usage (better than the 5.1 but slightly below an Audigy)plus the musicality of the SC, the Fortissimo II from Hercules is a baragin at $32.

 

[gamephile]

I would have to agree with others' statements here.

MX300 - I would still be using this card if Aureal was around.
GTXP - My God, this card is awesome. I bought this to replace my built in C-media 3837. It's wonderful. No driver issues, consistent support and driver updates from Hercules, and most importantly, it sounds great. And this isn't through some dinky computer speakers, through my Alesis Studio Monitors.


And if you don't feel like spending 100 dollars on an audio card, I whole heartedly agree with the Fortissmo II suggestion. $32.00 US at Newegg.com

I hope that helps.