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Sound card for Windows 7?

W

waylay00

n00b
Joined
Mar 12, 2008
Messages
38
I'm looking to upgrade my aging Audigy 2 ZS to a new card for my new Windows 7 rig.

What do you guys recommend for gaming, based on driver support, sound quality, etc...?
 
Because I'd like to get a card that will be more suited for Windows 7. I doubt Creative will really put a lot of effort into developing the Audigy 2 ZS anymore.
 
it works just fine under XP and Vista, and I've heard from various sources that it should work fine under Windows 7, so whats the issue?

let me also ask, have you tested it for yourself?
 
I've read about a lot of problems, but I've personally had a really good experience with x-fi titanium fatal1ty on windows 7 x64. That support pack really did the trick.
 
Yeah, check out that deal for the Auzentech Forte that flylow linked to. It has some really nice goodies over the stock Creative cards.
 
waylay00 said:
I'm looking to upgrade my aging Audigy 2 ZS to a new card for my new Windows 7 rig.

What do you guys recommend for gaming, based on driver support, sound quality, etc...?
Click to expand...
If it worked fine in Vista, it will work fine in 7.

If you still really want to upgrade, my X-Fi is running great in 7.
 
waylay00 said:
I never had Vista. Went straight from XP to Windows 7. ;)

I'll check out the Forte.
Click to expand...

The Audigy2 will work fine in win7. The Forte just sounds so much better. IMHO worth the regular price and the current deal at ncixus.com makes it a sweet deal.
 
i think he just has some money burning a hole in his pocket and is less interested in the choice to upgrade than in what he can afford to spend it on
 
I've been using a Bgears b-Enspirer 7.1 sound card in Vista, it was well reviewed and had excellent sound quality due to its CMI8788 audio chip.

I've since discovered that not all things that work great in Vista are guaranteed to work great in Windows 7. Specifically, the cards' control panel freezes Win 7. That's hard to live with. Since C-Media has abandoned all software/driver development for this card I'm also looking into a new sound card to use with Windows 7.
 
The Audigy2 ZS is a fine card and works great with Windows 7.

Use the Support Pack instead of the regular drivers for much better results.

http://forums.creative.com/creative...ster&message.id=139702&query.id=22695#M139702

X-Fi models such as the Xtreme Audio actually use an Audigy chipset and are simply labeled as an X-fi for marketing purposes, so creative should still support the chipsets for quite some time. I mean, just think about how long the Live! cards were (and even still are) supported.
 
I upgraded my Audigy 2 to an Auzentech Forte. Didn't need to for now but it is the first component I bought with my next upgrade in mind. I am thinking that my next motherboard will not have any PCI slots. I do not care for onboard sound at all so I decided to snag one while it was on sale. My ears appreciate the Forte over the Audigy 2 in my current system much more than I thought they would.
 
I had Audigy 2ZS upgraded to X-fi Titanium and im using Daniel K drivers on Win7 and works perfectly
 
I had an Audigy 2ZS on the [better] system in my sig and had nothing but issues with both Vista 64 and Windows 7 x64 drivers from Daniel K and from Creative.

I am using on-board now as it "renders" the sound better, but not CLEANER- I do here pops and some interfearance when sound is muted on my ATH-A900's (not so bad on my crappy Logitech speakers). Headphone mode via Realtek HD Audio Manager in COD4 and Source games is excellent with great spatial awareness, music is good, but depending on the recording might be better served in standard stereo w/ this chipset and 6.0.1.5898 drivers. Again the poor shielding w/ onboard leads to less enjoyment of music at low volume so I'm looking for a new sound card to use with Windows 7 and am excited for the chance to get AWAY from Creative. Their driver support with their higher end, slightly older products have left me searching for a new company.
 
I've just installed Windows 7 RTM edition and my Xonar doesn't work correctly, the old Vista drivers and the new Win 7 beta/rc drivers both cause a problem when you launch an application the process runs but it doesn't appear on the screen, you can't alt tab to it or anything it just doesn't load, makes windows completely unusable. RC1 was fine, the vista drivers worked a treat.
 
PrincessFrosty said:
I've just installed Windows 7 RTM edition and my Xonar doesn't work correctly, the old Vista drivers and the new Win 7 beta/rc drivers both cause a problem when you launch an application the process runs but it doesn't appear on the screen, you can't alt tab to it or anything it just doesn't load, makes windows completely unusable. RC1 was fine, the vista drivers worked a treat.
Click to expand...

This might help:

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...M&id=20090713183849906&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...board_id=21&model=Xonar D2/PM&page=2&count=39
 
Last edited:
My Audigy 2ZS "works" "fine" with Vista x64. I have a 5.1 speaker set up in my office and actually liked some of the THX calibration stuff that came in the XP software pack. None of that stuff works under Vista. The Vista 2ZS drivers are bare bones to say the least. While I don't want bloat for the sake of bloat, I do like some of the extra functionality when it comes to pushing room/speaker calibrations to hardware and that sort of thing.

My choice for replacement is/was the Auzentech Forte since I don't use the PC primarily for music and we do play some games - the X-Fi w/ true EAX won over the Xonar in our household. I did not want to buy a card from Creative both for reasons of quality, and the their slimey handling of Audigy drivers, trying to get me to buy another card.

IMO: If music and theatre is your thing - Xonar all the way. If you game, the Forte.

I was watching pricing and I saw Forte's go on sale for about half price, so I grabbed one. It's not installed yet...
 
Ladic said:
I had Audigy 2ZS upgraded to X-fi Titanium and im using Daniel K drivers on Win7 and works perfectly
Click to expand...

I went from the ZS to the X-Fi XtremeGamer (current-model LP version) while still running Vista, first x32, then crossgraded to x64 whewn I moved to the curent mobo. Running 7 x64 at the moment (still with the X-Fi) and having nary an issue.
 
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