Is Soundblaster Live! Value good enough?

[Quad]

i'm mainly looking to listen to music while playing games. i'm not a hardcore gamer, but i have done (and still do) my share of fragging. Is this card good enough? it's only $70 CDN where as the next one up is the x-gamer 5.1 at $140 CDN. is it worth getting the x gamer?

thanks for your help

 

[John]

Yes, the value will do the trick for you. X-gamer offers a more robust software selection.

 

[chuckieland]

yes i have live value
and very happy

 

[Killbat]

The two best deals on hardware these days are the SBLive! Value and the Voodoo3 3000. Cheap, powerful, supported.

 

[aniki]

another YES! In fact its the only thing i havent upgraded in more than 2 years. Thats amazing considering I have even upgraded my keyboard.

 

[jagr10]

You should buy it online from the US! I live in Canada too and order tonnes of stuff online from the US. Even with the conversion and taxes it comes to be cheaper.

And yes it is worth it.

 

[Quad]

Jagr, where would u recommend buying it from the U.S. ? which retailer in the U.S. i mean

thanks

 

[kuman]

yup it's good enough for you. I've been using it in my old p2 266 system for more that 2.5 years now... and that sound card will be in my new upgrade system soon... a new place for it to call home..

 

[LXi]

Its all good now, just wait til those SantaCruz/AcousticEdge owners jump on you.

 

[TheVrolok]

To my knowledge the only difference between the SB Lives is minimal:

Value - basic, just the card.
X-gamer - same exact card with a few games and other misc software.
Mp3+ - same exact card with a mp3 programs that you can DL anyway.
Platinum - I think it's still the same card but you've got the front panel controller which is kinda neat, but not worth the extra cash IMHO.

 

[LXi]

There are differences between the Value and X-gamer/MP3+/Platinum, such as digital out and SPDIF. The other thing I observed is the DSP revision, the old Value uses a bigger(thicker) version of the EMU10K1, the newer ones' die is thinner, dont think there is a performance difference. And no, those software came with the MP3+ is not the ones you can DL for free, well of course, unless you're talking about warez.

 

[12Guage]

SB Live, it could very well be the only sound card you'll ever need.

 

[Zorba]

LXi: I thought the new Values had digital out?

 

[Noriaki]

The new values are the same PCB as the X-Gamer, MP3+ and Platinum (edit: that's the non 5.1 versions, incase it wasn't clear what I meant)

They have the digital minijack, but it's only 4channel miniDIN. No 5.1 discrete channels from the Value (though it will do Dolby passthrough to an external decoder for 5.1).

Other than that it's the same.

I've personally found the Philips Accoustic Edge to have slightly cleaner sound reproduction, but it wasn't drastic enough to make me give up my SBLive! Value (and i have the first one, doesn't even have any digital out).

I like the TB Santa Cruz becuase it has a separate headphone jack...lets you connect speakers and headphones and mute one or the other without swapping wires or anything...*shrugs* I've managed to make due.

My SBLive! value has seen me through Win95B, Win98SE, Win2k, and about 4 version of Mandrake Linux without a hitch.

I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon. Is it the best sound card out there? No it's not, but it serves my purposes quite well. DVD, Gaming and MP3s.

I think you'll be quite satisified with the purchase, and it will offer you good enough sound for anything you want. Unless you are an audio snob (aka audiophile..why does that work end the same as necrophile and pedaphile?) I think you'll be quite happy with the SBLive!.

In my view the speakers you attach it to are much more important.

 

[LXi]

<<I thought the new Values had digital out?>>

Maybe, my old one doesnt. But the new ones dont have SPDIF, and the old one I have does.

 

[Killbat]

Far as I can tell, all SBLive! cards have digital out, just maybe not a jack for it. I have a Live! Value from waaaay back, when they first hit the shelves. Two of the pins on the header at the rear of the board are SPDIF output, I just tap my optical adapter on to those pins, wammo, digital MiniDisc recording.

 

[Noriaki]

Yes actually Killbat is right, Pins 17 and 18 on the SBLive! Value rev1 are the SPDIF output pins for an RCA sytle SPDIF jack (17 is inner, 18 is outer I believe, but it's possible I have it back-ass-wards).

But how many of us are going to use it

 

[LXi]

Does the OEM version also have SPDIF?

 

[Jgtdragon]

My OEM sound blaster live! value has all the feature of the other SB cards excluding the 5.1 cards.