*GOOD* audio cards, get rid of the crap

[senseless]

Other than the fireface 800 for the insane, rme really doesnt make any products which would be good for gaming. I'm not sure how well the maudio firewire-410 works for gaming (i'm going to take one home tomorrow and find out), but it would be the best alternative to the audigy 4 (if it works aswell for gaming as it does for music, at twice the price 499$). For the price of the audigy 2zs retail you have a number of better options (219$ retail newegg).. Revolution 7.1 (im thinking about buying one just for testing, also 80$ cheaper @ 119$), Delta 66 239$, Delta 44 199$, (untested for games, I'll have to test each of these too), and the audiophile 192 199$ and 2496 129$ (both of which blow everything away). It seems to me that creative is trying to take a bold leap into the pro-audio market. If that is so, they are going to meet a quick demise. All their retail cards come with bulky break out boxes, i don't see the point for anymore than 7 connectors.. It's not like anyone uses gameports anymore.. most joysticks and gamepads are either going to be firewire or usb, And who is going to use a midi controller on a 2zs?


lets not forget the firewire audiophile & usb audiophile


Is the audigy4 not released yet? i cant find it on newegg

 

[senseless]

EDIT: Also you DID compare Fireface 800 to a Live! card..."But, once you get a chance to compare the output from a live card to the output of a fireface 800" lol. You should have at least compared it to Audigy 4. Live! is ULTRA rubbish compared to Fireface 800 therefore even mentioning it in the same sentence is a joke.

Compared to anything that is less than 1000$ is a joke.

 

[hu_xu]

Other than the fireface 800 for the insane, rme really doesnt make any products which would be good for gaming. I'm not sure how well the maudio firewire-410 works for gaming (i'm going to take one home tomorrow and find out), but it would be the best alternative to the audigy 4 (if it works aswell for gaming as it does for music, at twice the price 499$). For the price of the audigy 2zs retail you have a number of better options (219$ retail newegg).. Revolution 7.1 (im thinking about buying one just for testing, also 80$ cheaper @ 119$), Delta 66 239$, Delta 44 199$, (untested for games, I'll have to test each of these too), and the audiophile 192 199$ and 2496 129$ (both of which blow everything away). It seems to me that creative is trying to take a bold leap into the pro-audio market. If that is so, they are going to meet a quick demise. All their retail cards come with bulky break out boxes, i don't see the point for anymore than 7 connectors.. It's not like anyone uses gameports anymore.. most joysticks and gamepads are either going to be firewire or usb, And who is going to use a midi controller on a 2zs?


lets not forget the firewire audiophile & usb audiophile

There is NO WAY an Audigy 2 ZS retail is $219. You must be talking about the platinum edition or the STUPID gamer edition which is basically the SAME card but bundled with more games than the original retail package.

Anyways I do think that the audiophile series beats the Audigy 2 ZS platinum because of music playback and yes Creative is trying to get into the pro-audio market as evident by the platinum editions and the Audigy 4. Problem is that currently their cards are FAKE 24/192 soundcards. They also have the resampling problem that never seems to be fix in any version. Well I don't know about the Audigy 4 though. Also the Audigy 2 NX is not good compared to other USB sound solutions. Creative's competitive strength comes from their gaming support. In terms of music they are lagging behind M-Audio and even Turtle Beach especially the Live! series. In terms of gaming Creative has no competitor. DVD playback is too close to call.

If you have the chance try the DMX 6fire. It is better than M-audio. It is also higher end above $250 range.

 

[senseless]

Hopefully by the end of the week i'll be able to have all of m-audio's product line tested and posted here. Followed up by a series of creative tests.. I'll test for music recording/playback (incase any aspiring artists want a cheap rig) aswell as gaming performance.

 

[hu_xu]

Good stuff post your results.

If you can test the Audigy 4 Pro and the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro and the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum EX which I have read is awesome. Also although the DMX 6Fire is three years old I still love it. But the new Terratec cards are not that good but they are still upper end. Heres a great article to ponder:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/200308211/index.html

Cheers