What do creative haters do for 5.1 sound ?

G

glycerine102

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 30, 2002
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Right now I have an nforce2 board with SoundStorm audio. I love it. I've had no troubles with audio and it always sounds beautiful. It has now become the time to upgrade. I was saddened that nvidia did not continue with their soundstorm technology in the nforce3 / 4 line of mobos.

Now let me explain my hatred for creative. I have owned 2 of these cards in my life. They both have failed miserably in my opinion. The drivers are crap and the programs are a waste of disk space. I know many others share this hatred. My question is; what in the bloody blue hell do guys do for 5.1 audio ?

I have read about the the turtle beach santa cruz and found confliting reports of its 5.1 compatibility. I have also heard issues with many games. I am mostly a gamer, so this kinda scares me. Please, if there is anybody that has experience with other soundcards that seem on par to soundstorm, I'd love to know.
 
Im currently using a 2100+ on an Abit NF7-S (its v1.2)

Im gona upgrade to a 3200+ 64 s939 on an Epox EP-9NDA3+

Its just a cheap little upgrade. I can still use alota my parts, but im faced with the decisions of soundcards.

I'd rather not get a creative, but if there are some alternative drivers out there, that people seem to like, I'd be willing to go that route. The thought of giving creative my money would still haunt me though. My friends all have audigys and I swear everyday they have some stupid problem. Whether it be microphones not working or software related, the problems always persist.
 
I recommend either the Hercules Surround 5.1 or Yamaha 5.1 surround cards.
 
I have a audigy2 ZS right now and it's working pretty good so far, had it for a couple months. I agree the software is crap (I don't install them) and so are the drivers, hardly any updates.
 
Haven't had a problem with the last 3 Creative soundcards used- all Audigy series, the Live's worked pretty well. Biggest problems were with VIA chipsets though, I refuse to buy a board with their logic anytime soon. The budget Creative option (hardware acceleration intact) is the Audigy 2 Value- if not that, I'd go with the M-Audio Revolution 5.1 for the superior sound quality (beware of rediculous CPU usage).
 
using a turtle beach santa cruz here, hoooked up front channel to klipsch promedia 2.1s and rear channel thru my yamaha reciever. i rarely use more than 2.1 but i have not experienced a game yet that had sound problems with this card.

i would suggest looking into an m-audio revolution if you dont go creative or turtle beach. also like stated the hercules cards are awesome too.
 
I've had 7.1 sound [via discrete "headphone jack" -> speakers] for 4 years.

I also had 5.1 over optical for about 2 years until the card in question died on me.

I now have 7.1 sound over optical in my X-Mystique 7.1
 
Laforge said:
I've had 7.1 sound [via discrete "headphone jack" -> speakers] for 4 years.

I also had 5.1 over optical for about 2 years until the card in question died on me.

I now have 7.1 sound over optical in my X-Mystique 7.1
Click to expand...

/hijack- 7.1 over optical, could you elaborate?
-what format is the output encoded in
-is it truly discrete, 5.1 upmixed at the reciever, etc?
 
IdiotInCharge said:
/hijack- 7.1 over optical, could you elaborate?
-what format is the output encoded in
-is it truly discrete, 5.1 upmixed at the reciever, etc?
Click to expand...


Worlds First Dolby Digital Live 7.1 Channel Sound Card
(Thread in this forum)

It actually ENCODES to 7.1. Now.. keep in mind, that 95% of what I have is stereo, so it's up-sampling to 7.1 (from 2.0) but, unlike my onboard 5.1 realtek card on my motherboard, I show 5.1 channels [my receiver is only 5.1 - Yamaha HTR-5730], so my card, itself is limiting itself to 5.1

sound.jpg



And just so someone doesn't say "well, how do you know it's really 7.1 then"

It's cause I plugged it into a FRIENDS 7.1 receiver.. and voila. [His rig had 1 more 0 on the end of it's price than mine did..] and he gets 7.1 sound. :)

But, my shuttle SN45G does the *exact* same thing [soundstorm] [up to 5.1, not 7.1]

[of course, I Say my old herc card did it too... but, c'est la vie]


But to recap.

When I throw stereo sound at it, it upmixes it to 5.1 at the CARD, not at the receiver [as 5.1]
when I throw 5.1 games at it, it realtime encodes 5.1->5.1 then sends it to the receiver [as 5.1]
When I stick in a 5.1 dvd.. well, then it just passes over.

My *receiver* shows

][ Digital
My Receiver shows the L, C, R, SL, SR, and LFE lights on
when I go over analog, it doesn't
When I switch it to my second optical input [shuttle] it shows the same thing.

If this were a 7.1 receiver, .. I think there would be more lights on. :)
but in a 170 sq foot office, I don't think I need 7.1 channel sound


When I do the "Z" positional sound test (sound goes from FL, to FR, through "me" to RL, then to RR, I Literally feel like the speaker went "through" my head.. --
 
I just got the X-mystique myself. So far so good. I'm liking it. Still need to get the receiver and speakers set up, but I love the sp/dif optical pass-through from my PS2. Nothing need be switched, just works when I turn on the PS2. Still have to switch my HP L2335 to component video, but I can deal. :D
 
Just wondering, where can you pick up one of those cards in the US now and how much are they going for? Perfect solution for the gaming rig.

-wil
 
I would buy a mobile barton 2500+ and a thermalrite sp97 with a panaflo 120mm...With a 2700 mhz chip, that would outperform your upgrade :-P
 
Got mine on Ebay (bidding can go high, be patient, wait for a bargain), not sure if anyone has imported them for retail here yet. The documentation is mostly in Korean, so I'm betting it might be a while yet before you see it on retail shelves. The manual being in Korean is no big deal though... its a sound card, whats to know? The drivers and UI are in english.

The X-mystique + I/O board cost me about $130, but the closest thing to it would be an Audigy2 ZS Platinum right now (I/O through bay sucks, and no DDLive).

pigwalk said:
Just wondering, where can you pick up one of those cards in the US now and how much are they going for? Perfect solution for the gaming rig.

-wil
Click to expand...
 
If you're a gamer, then Creative is the way to go, despite your hatred. Industry standard = more games supporting EAX.

If you can afford it, go Audigy 4 Pro. Best DAC's in creative's line, therefore the best sound quality. Basically an upgraded Audigy 2 ZS. If you don't like it, don't install the Creative Bloatware. You don't have to (I didn't). Just the basic driver features.

I still have my Live, and I've never had problems. Then again, I've always used Intel chipsets...
 
MAngelo said:
Hercules Game Theater XP
Click to expand...

I have to agree here too. Especially when you can get one for ~$50 bucks out of the FS/FT forum. I used to have one of these things and loved it! Sadly, it went with my old computer when I sold it to my brother. I'm still kicking myself for letting it go.


 
Do any of creatives offerings have real time DD like the Mystique has? It's pretty comfy to just be able to hook the digital out straight to your stereo for 5.1 instead of having to pick up another analog 5.1 system and all the cable hassle it entails. Not to mention it'd be cheaper, I'm guessing the sound quality is better (as good as an Envy chipset?), etc, etc.

Is there any reason beyond EAX and lower cpu utilization to pick up a SB over a Mystique?

-wil
 
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