Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 vs. nVidia SoundStorm (1 Viewer)

[Haris Ellahi]

If you building a computer based on a nVidia nForce2 motherboard, would you use the onboard sound or use a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2? Many people have said that the onboard sound is very very good.

The main purpose of the computer will be to play games and watch some DVD movies. So, what's your pick?

Oh, and the speakers will be the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Digital Dream System.

 

[Tekara]

the common concensus is that the audigy 2 line is beter than the nForce soundstorm audio, but not by enough to justify the extra money that you would dump into it and not by enough to justify the pains that you may suffer at the hands of creative's poor drivers.

I am a personal fan of the soundstorm audio, it makes motherboards seem like real deals as you can get $100+ and a $100+ motherboard for only 100$ or so. feature-wise, soundstorm audio is second to none, there is no match for it's ability to encode DD5.1.

since you are using digital speakers you shouldn't have any problems with soundstorm, so I would say go for it.

 

[Scott L]

If you're gonna go with a sound card I wouldn't recommend an Audigy 2. My friend has one and ever since he ran Windows update the sound card crashes his computer. There's a number of people complaining about the lockups but Creative says it isn't their problem but Microsoft's??? Gimme a break, they've always made the worse drivers of any sound card manufacturer, requiring you to install multiple driver packs clogging up your HD and memory.
[/rant]

Go M-Audio over Creative.

 

[Chris*Liberti]

I have yet to have a problem with my Audigy 2. It runs fine and sounds awesome in games. OTOH my soundstorm sounded like crap in a lot of games with pops and dropouts all over the place.

 

[Tekara]

chris - what motherboard and what speakers? if the motherboarboard does have soundstorm on it it's more than likely a bad DAC which is the common plague of the soundstorm, with digital speakers soundstorm is awesome.

 

[Chris*Liberti]

I am using the Asus A7N8X Deluxe and I have it plugged into my receiver which is a Sony STR-DA4ES with M&K S-125 L/C/R and SS-150 surround with a SVS 16-46PCi sub.

 

[Tekara]

wow, that sucks, I'm using the a7n8x-deluxe with a hometheater setup as well and it is crystal clear without a problem in the world. you are using the digital connection right? have you tried using different drivers? you would be the first person I have ever heard of having problems with the soundstorm audio over the digital coax connection.

 

[Raymond G]

I am also having problems with the A7N8X Deluxe. Every time I turn on my HTPC the sound has an echoing effect. I have to go into the settings and change to "no effect" and then change it back to my setting (which is Living Room). This clears up the echo part of it until the next time I turn the computer off and then on or do a reboot. Another problem is when I make a recording of a capture the sound only comes out of the left and center speaker. I have gone into the settings and the balance is all the way over to the left. I move it back to the center, but it goes right back to the left when I leave the settings.

I have the audio coming out of my satellite receiver via the L/R audio and split down and input into the Line In. I then output to my A/V receiver via the coaxial digital output.

Am I hooking up something wrong? I am now looking for a audio card with digital input and output. It would be great if someone could tell me if I doing something wrong before I spend more money.

 

[Tekara]

you can pick up a bracket for the a7n8x-deluxe for digital in, you tend to need this bracket for DD5.1 encoding.

I think some of the problems people are having is from poor levels on the computer. all the levels should be set to a modest 66% or so and not at 100%. you can compensate for the lower volume with the reciever. while this may not match up perfectly with other devices, it will sound better.

also, you might look into the cable you are using, even the best cable in the world must fail sometime.

Raymond - how are you shutting your computer off? usually settings aren't saved if you hit the reset button or do an abrupt power off. also, you might want to check the programs that you are using, I know programs like powerDVD will tweak the settings off of normal when it's on.

 

[Max Leung]

No problems with my A7N8X Deluxe here. Gaming is great, and DVD audio playback over the digital coax sounds just as good as my Panasonic RP91 DVD player. No audio dropouts or stutters in games.

I would never use a Soundblaster card again...too many issues with their drivers and PCI bus hogging in my experience.

Just make sure you have the latest drivers. The A7N8X Deluxe does have above-average reporting of defects though (particularly if you try different FSB and CPU timings). I have had trouble with keyboard detection on reboots myself. I've had less trouble with the old but great A7N-266C.

Fortunately, I haven't had any major issues lately. *fingers crossed*

 

[Raymond G]

I am shutting down the computer the normal way through Windows. I have tried to find the spdif bracket with no luck so I have ordered the M-audio DiO and will start using it instead of the onboard audio.

My DVD playback works great, it is just the captures that the sound is messed up.