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SB Live vs Audigy (merged thread) (1 Viewer)

Han

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 13, 2001
Messages
262
That Prik person on that message board seems a bit confused.:rolleyes
I would hope some sort of onboard decoding of DD and DTS is used for the Audigy 2. It'd be annoying to have to run the analog outs for DVD-A, and then run the SPDIF out for DD/DTS.
I haven't really tried hard to find more info on the Audigy 2, but there are question marks like how complete is the bass management for DVD-A, and if there'd be any way for them to pass all the audio signals out through the firewire port in the future. The computer forums like Sharky, Anandtech, and Hardocp haven't had much info.
 

Dmitry

Supporting Actor
Joined
Nov 30, 1998
Messages
742
I saw somewhere that Audigy 2 still does not encode DD in real time. The main difference between A2 and A is that A2 is a true 29/96 card.
 

Shawn_T

Agent
Joined
Sep 3, 2001
Messages
27
Hi,
Do you have link to a picture of RCA, Mini-Plug In and COAXIAL cable/Connectors? I need to know what they look like.

Thanks in advance.
 

Chris Svencer

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 4, 2002
Messages
78
Is there any real difference between these two cards besides the firewire port. I am building a new computer and wanted to get the audigy...but the XP horror stories are endless. Is it worth trying to figure out, if I went with my old Windows 2000 pro instead, would I be okay. Thanks for the help.
-Svence
 

Ted Lee

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 8, 2001
Messages
8,390
i'm running audigy on a xp box (home ed) with no problems. it installed and ran without a single glitch. what horror stories have you heard?

also, i think audigy is the new standard...isn't live supposed to be "old school"? not sure...
 

Dave E H

Supporting Actor
Joined
Apr 23, 2002
Messages
829
I had it on WIn 2k and no issues. Switched to XP Pro and no issues. YMMV of course - I think some people report more problems with certain MBs I think.
 

Steve_Ch

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 14, 2001
Messages
978
SB Live IS old school (that's what I am using). Audigy line is supposed to be the latest. I don't think Firewire is the difference between SBLive and Audigy. I THINK (for those that cares) Audigy provides a true 24bit recording, whereas SBLive (and Extigy) is only true 16bits. The Firewire is with the expensive (MSRP $199) Audigy Platinum, whereas the cheap Audigy (MP3, Gamer, $99) come without it.
Note that all the software complaints over at Amazon are from earlier in the year, when XP was still real new, I think Creative has since fixed most of the stuff.
 

Neil Joseph

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jan 16, 1998
Messages
8,332
Real Name
Neil Joseph
This is a question for the HTPC area so I am moving it there. As well, I am merging two separate threads on the same topic into one thread.
 

TomH

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 13, 2001
Messages
267
There is a comparison chart at soundblaster.com.

I am using the Audigy 1 on XP pro and it installed without issues.

Tom
 

Jerry_Wh

Grip
Joined
Sep 8, 2002
Messages
15
If you are going to buy, buy an audigy 2, the audigy 1 is seriously flawed in its support of formats greater than 16-bit 48KHz, that is suppossed to be fixed with the audigy 2. Plus the 2 is 6.1 and will do DVD-A under XP (wish it was 7.1 but I guess Creative has to milk every penny they can, next year's audigy 3 will surely do 7.1).
 

John Parris

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 10, 2002
Messages
235
It all depends on your application, folks... what you plan to DO with the card...

Whoever told you that the Audigy Platinum is the only Audigy with firewire has been smoking some bad crack... or is it good crack? Either way you can order an OEM audigy WITH firewire for ~$50.

I do not think that the new audigy board will offer the real-time DD encoding like the nForce boards... although I would like to see more people offer this for those of us who don't use crappy on-board decoding... the processors in the Audigy 2 havent changed that much... so I'm forced to say that those decoders will be crappy too. nForce seems to barely market this encoding feature, and I for one think it's a pretty big selling point for some people...

on the subject of DVD-A... Why? One would still need some means of PLAYING DVD-A in thier computer before decoing becomes nessasary...

6.1 -- Good for them. It's about time to see sound cards start offering the new multichannel formats... does anyone know if this means JUST DD EX or if it includes DTS ES as well...

7.1-- When will people learn... there is NO SUCH ENCODED DISC ON THE PLANET. You want 7.1? Well, split the rear center channel... that's all a "7.1" reciever is going to do for you. Lexicon/HK's Logic 7 is a bit different, but when you come down to it... there's only a handful of true (descrete) 6.1 discs... and absolutely NO 7.1 encoded discs... the only 7.1 format currently available is Sony's SDDS which is only featured in theaters. Including this in the future is simply not important for a sound card.

In summation, I think that the Audigy 2 is BARELY a step upwards... 6.1 decoding seems to be the only FUNCTIONAL upgrade included from what I can tell... and sense most of us with HTPC setups use an outboard decoder via S/PDIF anyway, I can't really see a reason for current Audigy users to upgrade. As far as the Live card... well, that's ancient technology that can still do what people need it to do. If all you need is a cheap S/PDIF solution, a Live card would do just fine... if you would like to have 24/96 recording capabilites on a lower end card... then stick with the Audigy... the Audigy 2 seems like an avalanche of marketing and not much more.
 

Jerry_Wh

Grip
Joined
Sep 8, 2002
Messages
15
DVD-A - The Audigy 2 will include software to DECODE DVD-A on XP. It seems like that software will only function under XP and will be hooked into MS's Digital Restriction Management system - it will notice the watermark on the DVD-A and will disable digital-output.
6.1 - Upcoming versions of WinDVD and PowerDVD have support for discreet 6.1 as well as matrixed 6.1. If Creative doesn't bundle one of those players, you can still purchase it separately.
7.1 - Who cares if there is no such audio format, sound cards are good for MORE than just music and soundtracks. 7.1 output would be fully functional in any game with 3D audio.
24/96 recording - the Audigy is INCAPABLE of 24/96 recording, busted, caput, no good. Read this review at a semi-pro audio/video production website, which is one of hundreds of sites on the web that say the same thing:
http://music.multimedian.com/reviews/audigy.html
However, Creative claims that they fixed the problem with the Audigy 2.
DD encoding - nope not there on Audigy 2 or any other non-nforce. Lots of people have complained about the low-fidelity of the nForce encoded DD, although some are reporting better sound with the latest nForce drivers. Don't know, and can't tell, if any other implementations of realtime DD encoding would sound better.
The problem with the Audigy and the rest of the family, is that if you want to run a sp-dif connection and a multi-channel analog connection, you need some sort of expansion like the platinum because the basic connections are overloaded where the center/bass plug is doubles as the sp-dif plug. Making it dificult to switch back and forth. With a live-drive from the platinum package, or one of the extra sp-dif doodads from one of those Korean companies like hoontech, you can just use the sp-dif ports on the add-on and leave the analog ports dedicated to analog.
 

Steve_Ch

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 14, 2001
Messages
978
>>Whoever told you that the Audigy Platinum is the only Audigy with firewire has been smoking some bad crack... or is it good crack? Either way you can order an OEM audigy WITH firewire for ~$50.
 

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