Audigy 2 Zs or Audigy 4?

Mikey1280 · 19 Mar 2006 at 21:07

I'm wondering which one to get, most likely second hand, whats the main differences between the two?

CurlyWhirly · 19 Mar 2006 at 21:50

I've heard that the X-Fi offers better quality sound than the Audigy 4.
I'm intending to upgrade to it myself.

TooNice · 19 Mar 2006 at 22:15

The Pro version of the Audigy 4 is a different beast and will be better than the non top end X-Fi in sound quality (but not features).

The "non pro" version of the Audigy 4 is really just a glorified rebadge of the Audigy 2 from what I've gathered (I was looking into it too, since the price between the two are similar).

MeatLoaf · 19 Mar 2006 at 23:13

tbh id spend the extra on an X-fi xtreme or if you want a cheaper card go for the audigy2 platinum eX like i did. For jut over £50 its a steal.

Mikey1280 · 20 Mar 2006 at 07:25

I was intending to get a second hand Audigy 2 ZS as I hear they are quite a bit better than the normal audigy 2, can anyone confirm this? Is a breakout box really necessary, what extra connections does it have? Has anyone done the soft mod of their audigy 2 to audigy 4?

MeatLoaf · 20 Mar 2006 at 08:15

The main difference between the audigy 2 and 4 is the audigy 2 only sopports 6.1 sound whereas the audigy 4 supports 7.1.

They all use the same drivers according to the creative website as the latest driver set is labelled for augidy 1 thru to audigy 4.

smids · 20 Mar 2006 at 11:54

MeatLoaf said:
The main difference between the audigy 2 and 4 is the audigy 2 only sopports 6.1 sound whereas the audigy 4 supports 7.1.

They all use the same drivers according to the creative website as the latest driver set is labelled for augidy 1 thru to audigy 4.

My Audigy 2 ZS supports 7.1 :confused:

I went for the A2ZS because I don't think the A4 has a joystick port (midi) but I knew the ZS did. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

MeatLoaf · 20 Mar 2006 at 12:09

smids said:
My Audigy 2 ZS supports 7.1

I went for the A2ZS because I don't think the A4 has a joystick port (midi) but I knew the ZS did. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Sorry mate, i was referring to the original audigy 2. Smids is correct the ZS does support 7.1

smids · 20 Mar 2006 at 12:16

MeatLoaf said:
Sorry mate, i was referring to the original audigy 2. Smids is correct the ZS does support 7.1

Ah, gotcha!

. I had this exact same choice not a few months ago - I went with the ZS as you might have guessed. I had both of them but sent the A4 back. It didn't have as many rear connectors and didn't have a digital out IIRC.

Borden · 20 Mar 2006 at 15:50

To save me starting a new thread, does anyone know what the difference is between the Audigy 2ZS Platinum and the X-Fi Xtreme Music, other than the breakout box? They're fairly similar in price so which one will offer better overall performance?

Thanks, i have 5.1 headphones if that makes a difference as i've heard that the X-Fi is good at producing surround sound.

Mikey1280 · 20 Mar 2006 at 16:17

Thanks guys, I'll probably be getting an Audigy 2 ZS.

TooNice · 20 Mar 2006 at 16:45

mark1 said:
To save me starting a new thread, does anyone know what the difference is between the Audigy 2ZS Platinum and the X-Fi Xtreme Music, other than the breakout box? They're fairly similar in price so which one will offer better overall performance?

Thanks, i have 5.1 headphones if that makes a difference as i've heard that the X-Fi is good at producing surround sound.

The X-Fi has more features and doesn't resample when playing music (under certain mode). I don't see much benefit from going ZS Platinum IMO. Different story if you were thinking A4 Pro where there is a difference (SQ vs Feature).

CMSS (the feature used for simulate surround sound) probably was designed with regular headphones in mind, so I am not sure how much benefit you would get there (if any). The 2ZS also has that feature, but the X-Fi is said to have improved it significantly.