On board or Audigy 2?

IAmATeaf · 2 Oct 2008 at 10:35

Having to moved over to Vista x64 and not managing to get my SB Live! Value soundcard working I've been using the on board sound on my P5Q-Deluxe.

Am sure this questions been asked many a times before but would I gain anything from installing say an Audigy 2?

Reason I ask is that the onboard sounds OK but I'm sure my Live! Value used to produce crisper more controlled sound then the onboard. The sound doesn't right to me and I've spent ages now playing around with all the settings for the onboard but to me it still sounds vague and lifeless. Could be my crap speakers I suppose but I'm sort of convinced that the SB Live! Value when it ran under XP was better.

Sweeney · 2 Oct 2008 at 10:50

Ive yet to hear any on board sound that i like never mind even compare to how the SB Live! sounded from yonks ago. I'd go for a more recent card and double check vista compatability, iirc some (older) creative cards aren't supported

WILD9 · 2 Oct 2008 at 11:26

Im on Vista 64 with a ga p35 ds3r, I was using an Audigy 2 but it had an odd habit of going haywire and making everything go screetchy which needed a restart to fix. Ive since moved back to onboard sound and noticed its not as good, your onboard may be better than mine but whilst its not bad everything seems flatter and colder.

IAmATeaf · 2 Oct 2008 at 20:08

WILD9 said:
Im on Vista 64 with a ga p35 ds3r, I was using an Audigy 2 but it had an odd habit of going haywire and making everything go screetchy which needed a restart to fix. Ive since moved back to onboard sound and noticed its not as good, your onboard may be better than mine but whilst its not bad everything seems flatter and colder.

That's exactly it, the sounds not as dynamic or as vibrant, if the Audigy 2 is not the card to go for anybody got any recommendations?

WILD9 · 2 Oct 2008 at 20:16

I wouldn't necessarily assume the audigy 2 is a problem in general, it may just be my card, I had a look around and couldnt find anyone else with the issue. I think you might be better dropping a few quid on an x-fi for decent driver support though, I plan to eventually.

Sweeney · 2 Oct 2008 at 20:26

I can't find where i saw it but im sure i saw that the audigy line wasn't supported for Vista (im on Vista 64). I'd say go for whatever X-Fi fits your needs and budget, if you fancy a change the ASUS Xonar series.

Ive always stuck by Creative though, haven't had any issues at all with my XFI FPS on Vista, it even seems to have a bit more clarifty and definition than it did in XP.

marc2003 · 2 Oct 2008 at 20:51

my old audigy2 is fine in vista 64. no problems at all. and it blows the onboard sound on my mobo away. sure it's probably crap by todays standards but it's good enough for me.

-Aura- · 3 Oct 2008 at 14:41

I`ve only yesterday RMAd my X-Fi Xtreme gamer. Only 7 months old but there you go.

Now, I bought it as an upgrade for an Audigy SE which was a great little card but Creatives unwillingness to support Vista meant that things we had in XP like CMSS etc were lost which rendered 5.1+ speaker systems useless.

If I knew then what I know now (please read on) then I wouldn`t have bout the X-Fi.

A guy called Daniel K modded his own drivers which reintroduce the Creative Audio Console and the Console Launcher which enables all the settings which we miss. Works with any Creative P17 chipset.

I`ve stuck my SE back in until I get my X-Fi back and honestly, it sounds as good as X-Fi. No Crystaliser though but graphic equaliser sorts that out.

Here is a Google page with loads of download locations. I`d be happy to send anyone the exe file though

5punk3monk3y · 4 Oct 2008 at 02:01

WILD9 said:
I wouldn't necessarily assume the audigy 2 is a problem in general, it may just be my card, I had a look around and couldnt find anyone else with the issue. I think you might be better dropping a few quid on an x-fi for decent driver support though, I plan to eventually.

I had the same issue - like a feedback sound - only a re-boot would sort it out

WILD9 · 4 Oct 2008 at 11:38

Yeah, it sounded like everything was happening at the end of a very long tin tube with a load of feedback? Im glad someone else had the issue, maybe it was driver related after all.

AtaRo · 4 Oct 2008 at 12:37

marc2003 said:
my old audigy2 is fine in vista 64. no problems at all. and it blows the onboard sound on my mobo away. sure it's probably crap by todays standards but it's good enough for me.

I have also reinstalled my audigy 2 zs and flog the x-fi that came with my mobo.Although the Audigy2 zs does not have crystalizer the tone control and equilizer makes up for it and the sound is much puncher compared to the cheap x-fi that msi bundles with their board.

Ch3m1c4L · 4 Oct 2008 at 15:55

+1 for asus Xonar
driver support for X-fi is apperently bad, I do not know through experience, only what I have heard, this could jsut be the more people with it = more people with problems with it though.