audigy2 is it worth getting over nforce2 sound

[glyde]

i have a abti nf7s with the nvidia soundstorm sound onboard and am considering getting an audigy2, is it worth the upgrade?

[orpheus]

If i had the Soundstorm chip on my NF2 board I wouldnt...but i dont.

a highly informative reply i know :rolleyes:

[Dartani0n]

I have the Gigabyte GA-7N400Pro (original) board that has the full Soundstorm setup and I find it a great card.. I personally wouldnt spend the price of an Audigy2 to upgrade it over what comes free with the board..

BUT I think the Audigy2 is probably a better soundcard overall.. (I mean it costs a similar price to the whole motherboard!) so if you have the spare dosh and want the BEST sound you can get (out of those 2 options) then go for the Audigy.. but only if you can afford to spend that kind of money to upgrade a GOOD soundcard to a BETTER soundcard.

[Grrr!!]

I have used an Audigy 2 for about a week. It sounded worse then my Soundstorm (Shuttle SN41G2) on the spdif, but better on the analog output, but not so much better as to justify it being worth money.

[Maverick]

If you must get EAXAHD for some games consider the Audigy2NX. A little dearer than the PCI version of the Audigy2, but I understand (Note havent tried this myself) you can use it as a stand alone DolbyDigital decoder -and hence can use it in combination with your nforce2 soundstorm (via SPDIF out) and existing analogue speakers to get the best the nforce2 apu has to offer (dolby digital interactive encoding).

Worth a trial anyway. Ask a shop if you can test in on an nforce2 APU.

[osmium]

may seem like a silly question but what are you listening through? (speakers etc). You're only going to be as good as your weakest link :)

[mattnz]

You would be better off to put your money towards better speakers, better speaker cables or a realy good pair of headphones like the MDR 7506 or MDR 7509

[dairyboy]

It also depends on what you're using it for? My understanding is the audigy allows much nicer sound recording and other 'prefessional' tasks, but its probably not a big differnce for playing games :rolleyes:

Also i wouldnt touch a creative card to save my life. The 'driver support' is somewhat of an oxymoron. Ive seen too many systems fall to peices after attempting to install creative cards/drivers.

But hey, there might be 80mb of patches to download!

Actually ive heard the nforce drivers arnt too hot either. So it might be a case of 'the lesser of two evils'.

[dustyslapper]

I agree Dairyboy - the industry is ripe for good performing card that isn't made by Creative. If only there were a ocmpetitor with the same gaming performance and actual driver support. The Win98se drivers for the Live! card were built in 1999 forinstance.

If I had a NF7S I sure as hell wouldn't be upgrading, at least for 2 channel sound.


mattnz - I don't think either of those Sony phones are available in NZ.

[kewadoo]

Will there speaker Creative Inspire 6.1 6600 work on my nf7s nvidia soundstorm sound onboard

[SerN]

I just got a NF7-S today and while the soundstorm sounds quite good I think I prefer my SBLive 5.1 DE slightly better. The nforce sounds a bit flat compared to the live. The Live has a slightly clearer sound aswell as having a stronger sound signal due to the SBLIVEs more powerful amp.