Sound Blasters and Speakers on Clearance at BestBuy B&M and online

[Boogak]

Hmm... just got a backordered email from Best Buy. I hope they won't end up canceling these if they don't have enough to fill orders, or that they don't end up in perpetual backorder. I had once ordered Sega Rally for $4.99 on their website and it was backordered for a few months until they finally canceled my order...

 

[thatsright]

Originally posted by: reddog6969
how good are the audigy 2's compared to a SB Live value? is there a difference in sound quality/cpu utilization or what?

A Night and Day difference man........... Really that good! I had a SB Live 5.1 and I upgraded to a Audigy 2 and I could hear more midrange, and a lot more clarity with music over the SB Live card. And for Games, there is a huge improvement for the EAX Advanced HD effects. Soon I will get my Audigy 2 ZS and folks who had the A2 and upgraded to the ZS, say it sounds even better!!

As for the CPU utilization, I think its about 0% or less than 1%. I have never head anyone complain about ANY CPU % time with their sound card. When I play CD's or MP3's on my SB Live 5.1 in WMP9, I look in the task manager and the CPU usage is 0%.

Hope this helps

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: thatsright

Originally posted by: reddog6969
how good are the audigy 2's compared to a SB Live value? is there a difference in sound quality/cpu utilization or what?

A Night and Day difference man........... Really that good! I had a SB Live 5.1 and I upgraded to a Audigy 2 and I could hear more midrange, and a lot more clarity with music over the SB Live card. And for Games, there is a huge improvement for the EAX Advanced HD effects. Soon I will get my Audigy 2 ZS and folks who had the A2 and upgraded to the ZS, say it sounds even better!!

As for the CPU utilization, I think its about 0% or less than 1%. I have never head anyone complain about ANY CPU % time with their sound card. When I play CD's or MP3's on my SB Live 5.1 in WMP9, I look in the task manager and the CPU usage is 0%.

Hope this helps

Hi,
Can you provide with a link as to which folks say that the ZS is better than the A2? I cannot decide.
Thanks.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Boogak
Hmm... just got a backordered email from Best Buy. I hope they won't end up canceling these if they don't have enough to fill orders, or that they don't end up in perpetual backorder. I had once ordered Sega Rally for $4.99 on their website and it was backordered for a few months until they finally canceled my order...

that sucks, they should put that on their site. i'm gonna try B&M tomorrow

 

[ELopes580]

Originally posted by: Boogak
Hmm... just got a backordered email from Best Buy. I hope they won't end up canceling these if they don't have enough to fill orders, or that they don't end up in perpetual backorder. I had once ordered Sega Rally for $4.99 on their website and it was backordered for a few months until they finally canceled my order...

i too got a backorder email...... i dont like how this is heading knowing BBY's past.....

 

[fumbduck]

which one of these comes with a live drive?

is there such thing as a black live drive?

 

[thatsright]

Originally posted by: Bad_Dude

Originally posted by: thatsright

Originally posted by: reddog6969
how good are the audigy 2's compared to a SB Live value? is there a difference in sound quality/cpu utilization or what?

A Night and Day difference man........... Really that good! I had a SB Live 5.1 and I upgraded to a Audigy 2 and I could hear more midrange, and a lot more clarity with music over the SB Live card. And for Games, there is a huge improvement for the EAX Advanced HD effects. Soon I will get my Audigy 2 ZS and folks who had the A2 and upgraded to the ZS, say it sounds even better!!

As for the CPU utilization, I think its about 0% or less than 1%. I have never head anyone complain about ANY CPU % time with their sound card. When I play CD's or MP3's on my SB Live 5.1 in WMP9, I look in the task manager and the CPU usage is 0%.

Hope this helps

Hi,
Can you provide with a link as to which folks say that the ZS is better than the A2? I cannot decide.
Thanks.

Well, the folks I heard who said the A2 ZS sounds better than the regular A2 were all from the Creative Labs Newsgroup Server. You can go their to news.creative.com ; Look in the Products.Sound_Blaster.Audigy section of the newsgroup. A few in their said they notice better sound and the new features are nice as well; especially the Bass Boost, Graphic EQ.; and the game bundle.

Sorry I couldn't cite specific links, but go on the newsgroup and you'll see how the others feel once they upgraded to the ZS.

 

[thatsright]

Originally posted by: fumbduck
which one of these comes with a live drive?

is there such thing as a black live drive?

Yes, the new ZS Platinum comes with the Black Live Drive faceplate as standard, and the retail package also comes with the white face plate if you need it. Only the Platinum versions comes with the live drive. But the previous A1/A2 Platinum cards came with just the White face plate and if you want the black face plate you need to buy it separately for about $15-20.

 

[Lopyswine]

so does the deal for A2 at $55 include a live drive?

 

[fleshconsumed]

Lopyswine
No, the live drive comes with Platinum series, they cost $124 now.

 

[IgoByte]

Definitely a nice deal on the Audigy 2 card... Newegg has OEMs for $75.

 

[altus22]

Originally posted by: Phokus
Is the soundblaster extigy any good? I like the idea of an external sound unit.

Yes, it is awesome! 104dB S/N ratio! I think it is the cleanest mainstream sound card you can buy.

 

[dshodson]

how about the audigy 1 vs 2 since i have a 1

D

 

[JoyDutta]

I wish the deal died before this morning... Could not resist and got a Audigy 2. Make me poor---yea yea...

 

[Slickone]

A few questions:

If you order by phone from CC, will they not give you the 110%?

I tried calling my BB to check for in stock. The guy says hey doesn't see the SB0240, (which is the one BB.com shows for $54.99, and the one CC has ($129)) but said the one they have for $54.99 is the SB1394. I couldn't get him to look in the computer by SKU#. CS and an operations mgr also wouldn't look it up by SKU for me. Why does BB.com show it as the SB0240? Is this kid I spoke with clueless? Of course the model # must be the same or CC won't PM.

What kind of connection does it have for 5.1? Does it not have SPDIF? Would SPDIF make it easier if I wanted to run this to my 2 channel multimedia speakers (to use when not playing games/music), and also to my pioneer vsx-d608 5.1 A/V receiver?


Also, now I'm getting a "this page can't be accessed right now or the page no longer exists" on BB.com. Anyone else?

 

[Lurker1]

This is an awesome one:

Ordered one on-line for in-store pickup near me this morning. They had the $55 one in stock - stated the Platinum OOS everywhere. So, I went in and they stated the confirmation email required, could take up to 5 hours from ordering time... blah blah blah. So, I said fine, I'll look on the shelf. So glad I did - open box one for $50. The platinum sitting there for $125, scooped it up as well. Then noticed that the *new* Audigy 2 ZS Platinum sitting on shelf for $99. That's right - $99. Checked twice! Confirmed with employee that yes, that was the only Audigy 2 ZS price tag on the entire shelf.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't sell me all of them @$99 :evil:

Picked up a Audigy 2 ZS Platinum for $99 along with the other two, and an Open Stock 5.1 CL speaker system for another $40. Expensive outing, to be sure, but an incredible set of deals, none the less. (I picked up the other cards for family, the ZS for me)

 

[Lurker1]

BTW, in talking to the employees, they said they expect to get more Audigy 2's and Platinums in, so if your store is currently OOS, it might pay to ask when they expect to get their next shipment.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: Lurker1
BTW, in talking to the employees, they said they expect to get more Audigy 2's and Platinums in, so if your store is currently OOS, it might pay to ask when they expect to get their next shipment.

They said that to get you back into the store but they won't get any more in. These card are discontinued. How in the heck did you get the Audigy 2 ZS platinum for $99?

 

[Nappyx]

i just picked my online order up from the chino hills store and they had one more audigy 2 left on the shelf.... had about 3 audigy platinums with the white line drive for $99 and an 1 of these opened for $89 that was about an hour ago

 

[Lurker1]

They said that to get you back into the store but they won't get any more in. These card are discontinued. How in the heck did you get the Audigy 2 ZS platinum for $99?

They only had the price tag listed for the Audigy 2 ZS, for $99. When they stocked the shelves (Midway store, Dallas, TX) they didn't have enough room for a separate slot for the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum. So, some enterprising employee just stacked them in front of the Audigy 2 ZS. So, the price was for an Audigy 2 ZS, with Audigy 2 ZS Platinum boxes in the slot. And no Audigy 2 ZS Platinum price tag anywhere on the shelves. Since they no longer price tag the individual boxes....

Voila (well, not that easy, took about 15 minutes of talking with 3 employees and the manager, but I was allowed to buy one at the "wrong" price. 15 min for $100 isn't bad, and it helped that an employee was with me when I picked up the first one)

As for the "restock" issue, why would I come back when I already had 3 sound cards in the basket (well, at that time, 6.... )? Seriously though, when the employee moved the ZS Plats to the shelf of the previously $125 Plats, I mentioned he should probably remove the price tags, as someone might think that was the price, he moved the tags down the shelf to eliminate the issue and mentioned that they were getting more in. (Warehouse maybe?)

Can only repeat what I was told.

 

[Bad Dude]

Ah, so that how it was.

 

[Shimmishim]

seems like the audigy 2 has been pulled from the best buy website... no where to be found now

 

[tech]

Best bet would be to check your local B&M. My buddy and I went there today and they had one open item left. So he picked it up for only $44.99 + tax. BTW the price tag on the self for the new Audigy 2 were $54.99. I didn't need one because I just bought the ZS a few days back, but man that open item was so cheap!

 

[Maddscientist]

Online is completly sold out this is B&M only now.

 

[RagingGuardian]

I'm hoping to find one at my B&M.