Onboard Sound or Audigy 2 ZS?

[statik213]

I'm upgrading my system and doing a big rebuild. I'm wondering if I should still keep using my Audigy 2 ZS. How does the sound on this compare to the builtin Realtek ALC890 on my new motherboard?
I'm planning on installing windows 7 64. Are there any good stable drivers for the ZS?

The new motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...el-_-ASRock-_-13157171

 

[mpilchfamily]

What do you use the system for? Are you a huge audio buff? If not then it you really won't notice the differnece. But either way you'll have the old card so you can try it out and see if there is any differnce for yourself.

 

[tcsenter]

As always, compare yourself and be your own judge. Nobody can tell you what sounds better to you.

 

[Omar F1]

I thought as you when I built my new Corei7 system and tried Realtek at first then returned back to my 4 years old Audigy2 ZS.
Realtek is good, but in games Audigy2 would blow away any onboard sound (Realtek, Sigma, Analog devices).

Well, you could give Realtek a try and save a PCI slot.

 

[statik213]

Originally posted by: Omar F1
I thought as you when I built my new Corei7 system and tried Realtek at first then returned back to my 4 years old Audigy2 ZS.
Realtek is good, but in games Audigy2 would blow away any onboard sound (Realtek, Sigma, Analog devices).

Well, you could give Realtek a try and save a PCI slot.

I plugged in my Audigy and windows 7 64 and it auto detected and installed the drivers. The card works fine w/o any issues... so i might stick w/ it. Still haven't had time to play w/ the realtek yet.

 

[murphyslabrat]

As always, compare yourself and be your own judge. Nobody can tell you what sounds better to you.

Uhm, in most cases, you can. It's not as cut and dry as with video-cards, but for the most part, you can objectively compare cards. This is a perfectly valid question

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: murphyslabrat
Uhm, in most cases, you can. It's not as cut and dry as with video-cards, but for the most part, you can objectively compare cards.

No, you can't. About the only thing reliably objective about audio listening preference is the impact on performance from software v. hardware processing of environmental audio.

I said nobody can tell him what will sound better to him. I didn't say nobody could tell him the objectively measured characteristics. Big difference.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: statik213
I plugged in my Audigy and windows 7 64 and it auto detected and installed the drivers. The card works fine w/o any issues... so i might stick w/ it. Still haven't had time to play w/ the realtek yet.

I'd recommend the latest drivers from Realtek:

Downloads