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

[malbojah]

Score 1 at Cape Cod, MA Best Buy. There were 2 left as of 5:45 PM

 

[BlindSight]

Would it be better to spend the extra $40 for an Audigy 2 ZS or is there really no compelling difference in features/quality?

 

[lookin4dlz]

None at my B&M - not even a shelf tag or shelf space! They did have some of the other clearance items though...

 

[terthen]

i picked up the 5.1 speakers. no one really raving about them, i haven't tested them but could i have gotten a better deal elsewhere or does everyone else just have better speakers ? didnt think i need to spend more on speakers hehe

 

[Slickone]

My BB had the $54.99 tag, but no card. They did have the $99 ZS, and $125 Platinum.
Went to CC just to see if I could get lucky. Waited for manager to leave front checkout/CS area. The CS girl first went and got a BB ad, but I told her it wasn't in there. She tried to call BB 2 or 3 times but never could get anyone (thanks to BB's sorry phone service! - see my above rant), so she finally paged a mgr, who called on the phone from somewhere in the store. Girl told mgr that she's tried to call BB several times but that I had a scan of a "friend's" receipt (posted on FW) of purchase of card at that price. Mgr approved it. In the past, mgr's there have wanted to fight about it when they're in person.

 

[Devistater]

I'll have to go down and check my BB out.

 

[namux]

Found the hidden ones in Arlington. They were stuffed in the back of the shelf. Arlington has 0 in stock now.

 

[Foghorn]

Is it really worth upgrading an Audigy 1 to a 2?

 

[Razorguts]

The BB at Riverdale in Memphis, TN, had 2 audigy 2s left (the $55 ones), but the new Audigy 2 ZS is priced at $200. I asked the salesman about it, we scanned it, and it came up as $100. I went ahead and picked it up. Didn't see any more Audigy 2 ZSs...

the other BB in Memphis had neither card in stock.

in any case, be sure you ask/scan the Audigy ZS for the $100 price cuz the shelf tag does not reflect the discount.

Anyone care to comment on the question someone asked a few posts above about the difference between the $55 Audigy 2 and the $100 Audigy 2 ZS, other than 7.1 support? The cards practically look identical, save for the branded ZS logo... thanks in advance,

 

[KaiHein]

Originally posted by: Razorguts
The BB at Riverdale in Memphis, TN, had 2 audigy 2s left (the $55 ones), but the new Audigy 2 ZS is priced at $200. I asked the salesman about it, we scanned it, and it came up as $100. I went ahead and picked it up. Didn't see any more Audigy 2 ZSs...

the other BB in Memphis had neither card in stock.

in any case, be sure you ask/scan the Audigy ZS for the $100 price cuz the shelf tag does not reflect the discount.

Anyone care to comment on the question someone asked a few posts above about the difference between the $55 Audigy 2 and the $100 Audigy 2 ZS, other than 7.1 support? The cards practically look identical, save for the branded ZS logo... thanks in advance,

I can't comment on differences, but I think the ZS is suposed to have better quality sound. Toms Hardware just did a review, but I don't have time to read too much in detail at work.
As far as pricing, the ZS is $100 without discounts, or at least close to that, the $200 is for the ZSPlatinum with the Live Drive. Someone in the other thread about these soundcards got a ZSPlatinum for the ZSnonPlatinum price because the stock people had put them both behind the $100 sign and didn't put up the $200 sign.

 

[WiseOldMan]

Someone in the other thread about these soundcards got a ZSPlatinum for the ZSnonPlatinum price because the stock people had put them both behind the $100 sign and didn't put up the $200 sign.

That's not likely because just about all large retail stores have the price assigned to the UPC barcode -- whatever price
comes up when they scan the code is what you'll pay. So even if there is a $500 card behind a $1 sign, you still
have to pay $500. I've worked for retail stores before and have seen people moved stuffs around and misplaced them a lot.

 

[KaiHein]

Originally posted by: WiseOldMan

Someone in the other thread about these soundcards got a ZSPlatinum for the ZSnonPlatinum price because the stock people had put them both behind the $100 sign and didn't put up the $200 sign.

That's not likely because just about all large retail stores have the price assigned to the UPC barcode -- whatever price
comes up when they scan the code is what you'll pay. So even if there is a $500 card behind a $1 sign, you still
have to pay $500. I've worked for retail stores before and have seen people moved stuffs around and misplaced them a lot.

Yes the price assigned to the barcode is what matters most of the time, but with misplaced items, it depends on how bad the mistake is, how much the customer argues, and managers discretion. If it's one item behind the wrong sign and 10 of them behind the right sign, you follow the barcode. If it's all 3 or 4 of one item behind a wrong sign, no proper sign for that item, and all the time you're looking at the item there's a sales person with you, as was the case in the other thread, then there's not much you have to do, especially when the sales person tells you the price is what the sign says. And I was actually mistaken, it was in this thread by Lurker1 on the first page. Two threads on one topic gets confusing.

Kai

 

[Slickone]

Alternate drivers - kX

 

[Lurker1]

Yes the price assigned to the barcode is what matters most of the time, but with misplaced items, it depends on how bad the mistake is, how much the customer argues, and managers discretion. If it's one item behind the wrong sign and 10 of them behind the right sign, you follow the barcode. If it's all 3 or 4 of one item behind a wrong sign, no proper sign for that item, and all the time you're looking at the item there's a sales person with you, as was the case in the other thread, then there's not much you have to do, especially when the sales person tells you the price is what the sign says. And I was actually mistaken, it was in this thread by Lurker1 on the first page. Two threads on one topic gets confusing.

Kai

Actually, misplacement of items in this case is about the most common way to get a price break on an item. You do have to ask, but it's not much different from the "old" days of price stickers on the item, or from the web site with a wrong price. In any case, I've got both the ZS and the Audigy 2, so maybe I'll have enough time to do a side by side comparison with them this weekend. I'll post that when I get around to it.

btw, I was just lucky they were willing to honor the stated price, it's by no means guaranteed.

 

[RagingGuardian]

Just got the last one at My Best Buy and I love it. The best soundcard I've yet to try.

 

[Lanyap]

If anyone here is in Birmingham, AL, no Audigy 2's are left at the Hoover store but the Hwy 280 store still had several left as of this afternoon.

 

[wetcat007]

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?

I believe in CPU utilization much much much less use of the CPU and compatibility for EAX in newer games, however I havnt ever tried sound quality testing on either, i would assume it's better I got a SB Live as well, havnt found a reason to get a new one besides game performance...

 

[oslama]

whats the sku #. went to my BB and they are @69.99

 

[Lanyap]

Originally posted by: oslama
whats the sku #. went to my BB and they are @69.99

BB SKU for Audigy 2 is: 4776512

 

[davidrees]

BB in San Antonio @ San Pedro/410 had at least 1 extigy and at least 2 Audigy2s left when I got my A2 this afternoon at 2:00CST

I am new to San Antonio - in Sacramento, these deals always went FAST - I think this is a slightly lesst hi-tech town so I am hopeful I can get in on these good clearances now.

 

[matt2233]

Hey does anyone know when this special is going to end I want to score a audigy 2 pci.

 

[yukichigai]

No Audigy 2's in the entire Sacramento/San Fransisco BB jurisdiction. (That covers Reno and Vegas as well) Gonna check at CC though

 

[FatCity]

No Audigy 2's in the entire Sacramento/San Fransisco BB jurisdiction. (That covers Reno and Vegas as well) Gonna check at CC though

I looked for one at BB @ Hilltop Mall this afternoon. None to be had, but I did leave with the shelf tag showing the $54.99 price. Then I went to Circuit City in Emeryville, Ca where they still had one on the shelf. I grabbed it, went to the CS desk and showed 'em the shelf tag from BB. The guy disappeared to make a phone call, came back, and price-matched the sucker!

$129.99 - $82.50 PM to BB + $3.92 tax = $51.41 What a great deal! And no rebates.

 

[The_Dude8]

Originally posted by: DocDaneeka

No Audigy 2's in the entire Sacramento/San Fransisco BB jurisdiction. (That covers Reno and Vegas as well) Gonna check at CC though

I looked for one at BB @ Hilltop Mall this afternoon. None to be had, but I did leave with the shelf tag showing the $54.99 price. Then I went to Circuit City in Emeryville, Ca where they still had one on the shelf. I grabbed it, went to the CS desk and showed 'em the shelf tag from BB. The guy disappeared to make a phone call, came back, and price-matched the sucker!

$129.99 - $82.50 PM to BB + $3.92 tax = $51.41 What a great deal! And no rebates.

i though CC does not price match the BB sale tag, since on the tag, it said clearance on the bestbuy price tag, you got lucky.

how is the extigy using as a stand alone?

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: Slickone
Alternate drivers - kX

How's the drivers? I tried and the sound is good but the bass is almost none. Am I a doing something wrong?
Thanks.