The HiTeC are very good cards for music, much better than the Audigy series, but not I think better than the XFI.
EAX 4 is not really much of a thing to jump around about... Not really.
I also play COD 2 and to be honest, I dont think I saw much difference ( If any ) from an Audigy and an Audigy 2, although to be honest, they are in different PCs in different rooms on different speakers, so maybe?
In my honest opinion, the Audigy 4 is a better card yes, and as I said, its noticeable, however, if you alreay have a SBLive, then I really dont think that its worth the money unless you really need it, and its on 2.1 Audio, so the benefits wont be as apparent as they could be if russian spagetti was on 5.1 or 7.1... Or at least I dont think so.
Yes, the Later cards are better, they have better drivers ( By the way, there are drivers that can give EAX4 on a SBLive too somewhere out there, and on the Audigy 1 ) and the newer Audigy cards are much better all round, but the money you can spend on them is too much for the small upgrade you will get.
I have however, got my daughters PC right next to one of mine, in the attic, and I have an Audigy 2 ZS in mine, and a SBLive24 in hers, and I used the same drivers for them both, and with the EQ set flat, using WinAmp to play the same song ( Jethro Tulls Jack-A-Lynn ) I kept swapping between hers and mine with the speakers, and there was only a faint difference in the music. I did the same thing with some games HL2 / Q4 / UT2K4 and again, found a few areas that the A2 beat it on, but in my honest opinion, had I not done that comparison, would I have noticed anything? Probably not... It will be the same with the Audigy 4 ( In my wifes PC ).
The X-Fi ( in my main PC downstairs ) the difference is noticeable however.
In some games that I have played for years, when I went from Audigy 1 to Audigy 2 I started to hear things I never knew were there before, and it was the same when I went to the XFI, that was coming up with sounds the A2 never did,or at least brought them into clearer ear-shot I suppose.
Hang on, before I go too far, how much have you seen the Audigy 4 for?
Reason being is that mine cost me £150 a while back, and thats what I am thinking.
If you can get it for half that, then its going to be a good option, but like I said, if its holding its price, then its going to be a waste of money.
Sod it... I am going to compare a selection of all my Creative cards tomorrow...
I got From SBLive Value, through the Platinum, and Audigy 1,2 and 4, a couple of the Audigies actually, ES and LS, and the X-FI... I will use both the JBL Dolby Digital Speaker setup, plus the Altec Lansing 955 THX Speakers, and I will report what I find yeah?
