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[BigGreenMat]

I want some opinions if you all can give them to me. Circuit City has a special on the ZS Platinum for $100 where it is normally $150+, but I have heard some connectivity complaints among music quality complaints with the creative. The M-Audio 7.1 is usually about the same price, but I have heard great things about its music output as well. The ZS if favored in games though. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[teh_pwn]

I have an Audigy 2 ZS, which is the same as platinum but without the break out box. I have Klispch 5.1 Ultras, which is about as good as it gets with PC only speakers. The audio quality is great.

Just comparing the two briefly, I'd go with the platinum:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-121-101&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-102-163&depa=0

 

[pixelated]

I have a ZS my friend has a m-audio 2496, we are both music producers, we both record at 24 bit 96 khz, outputs both sound the same in my opinion. My friend always boast the built in DSP hardware for the M audio and that is has little latency, but so does the ZS and latency doesn't effect me unless I want to use midi.

 

[AlphaSnake]

I love my Audigy.

 

[Great King Bowser]

I' thinking of getting an Audigy ZS PCMCIA card for my laptop. £85 is telling me not to.

 

[FightyF]

So do the Creative cards feature low latency off the bat with their own drivers?

 

[DopeyFish]

edit: wait a second.... Audigy 3? They skipped a number. wtf.

 

[Hitokage]

Audigy if you want to play games. M-Audio if you want to do serious sound work.

The audigy cannot be considered a professional grade card for the simple fact that internally resamples most everything, and does not provide bit-for-bit SPDIF passthrough. However, it also has the best support for 3d game effects and performs very well for hobbyist needs... which is why I own one aside from the vastly superior linux support.

 

[royale]

I don't like Creative's 'bloatware'. I've had some serious issues with their old "Live" series and will never go back to a Creative soundcard. I've tried the Audigy, but was not impressed with it so I returned it.

I'm completely happy with the 7.1 revolution. DVD's and music sound fantastic and I've had no problems running any games. HL2 sounds great on headphones or quadrophonic speaker setup.

 

[UtadaBarkley]

M-Audio is for serious work, think music production. I use an Audiophile 24/96 for a few of my professional recording setups.

 

[pixelated]

So do the Creative cards feature low latency off the bat with their own drivers?

yep <= 2ms