Subject:Creative Tchnology Audigy 2?

Posted by: farss

Date:7/30/2003 5:49:59 PM

I'm seriously considering buying a half decent audio card, mostly for doing vinyl to CD. Later on I plan to buy Acid music so it'll come in handy for that too.

I was about to buy the CT Audigy 2 Platinum Ext. but after reading about all the dramas with these cards that CT just doen't even want to acknowledge let alone fix I've gone cold on that idea.

I'm now leaning towards the Terratec version of the same thing. Over here its about $150 more expensive which is OK. Its missing a few things that the CT card has but not ones that are that useful like f/wire on the front panel.

My question is this: Is all the noise about the CT products being dogs that valid, is it just affecting a few users and I shouldn't worry about it too much and save the $150. Or is the Terratec stuff worth the extra money regardless?

Your comments much appreciated.

Subject:RE: Creative Tchnology Audigy 2?

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:7/31/2003 2:49:29 PM

I can't honestly speak for the Audigy 2, the reason being Creative lost me a long time ago (and I never looked back), but Creative's track record with their previous efforts speaks for itself. (The Audigy 1, for example, did not do true 24-bit/96 kHz audio like they touted; it did 16-bit/48 kHz internally, which totally obliterates any use of 24-bit audio in the first place.)

Creative has some work ahead of them if they expect to gain any credibility with those that are serious about their audio. Don't get me wrong. Their cards are amongst the best for gaming, but pro audio?

Nonetheless, if all you intend to do is mostly vinyl to CD, and you're going to use just ACID Music, then the Audigy 2 might work for you. But be aware of driver issues and especially unecessary bloatware you might never use. (Go for a custom installation if you can.)

The Terratec (is this the DMX 6FIRE?), from what I've heard, is a great card.

HTH,
Iacobus

Subject:RE: Creative Tchnology Audigy 2?

Reply by: farss

Date:7/31/2003 4:49:55 PM

mD,
thanks for the input, I am looking at the DMX 6 Fire!

The Audigy 2 is genuine 24/96 but from what I can deduce still has the EEPROM being trashed problem.

Subject:RE: Creative Tchnology Audigy 2?

Reply by: teknik14

Date:7/31/2003 6:12:50 PM

MAudio Delta 2496 is a very good alternative too.... very clean.... but be aware that some VIA chipsets introduce all kinds of problems with this card... overall, very good value for the $$....

Regarding CT cards, I owned an Emu-APS (which is/was the pro-audio version and precursor to the CT Audigy line) that was supposed to hold all these great advantages over other cards, and future plans were to keep releasing new drivers for it, bla bla bla... but in the end EMU (Creative) decided to scrap any plans for future APS development in favour of the Audigy... so a LOT of APS users including myself were (and still are) very choked at Emu/CT for a $700 piece of useless crap that was supposed to be a great soundcard. They just turned their backs on us, and NEVER once acknowledged their lies or offered any compensation. I will NEVER purchase or endorse a CT or EMU product again.

teknik14

Subject:RE: Creative Tchnology Audigy 2?

Reply by: farss

Date:7/31/2003 6:38:53 PM

I think simply based on the grief that CT seem to have caused everyone else I should use my wallet to tell them what I think of them.

Reading through some of the 50 pages about their latest set of problems shows me two things:

1) Their user community is pretty rabid and very supportive, bit like SoFo users.
2) CT seem to think it's the users job to fix their problems.

I can't understand why their users don't just cut their losses, although I did see talk of a class action in the UK. Its pretty serious stuff, even the dealers are getting screwed over, they sell a product and a few days later the customer is back saying it doesn't work. Dealer gives them new card and few days later same customer is back again!

Anyway thanks for the warning.

Subject:RE: Creative Tchnology Audigy 2?

Reply by: mortalengines

Date:7/31/2003 11:40:47 PM

hmmm....I have a soundblaster audigy ex platinum & it is what actually turned me on to acid as the "style 2.0" came bundled with the card- It was/is a pretty good card for the market it is aimed at -home recordists who were just starting out with absolutely no clue of where to start- & was pretty cheap to boot- If nothing else, it has a firewire port you could probably use when you decide to upgrade to a motu or something-

Subject:RE: Creative Tchnology Audigy 2?

Reply by: farss

Date:8/1/2003 8:31:08 PM

mortalengines.
thank for the input. Its good to hear from someone thats actually had the thing work right. Reading through the CT forums I got the impression that it is a total disaster.

I know from reviews that the performance although not stellar is more than adequate for what I want. If I ever needed something more capable it would only be for more complex / commercial ventures and I'd hand that over to a pro with the experience, the gear and hopefully a better era than mine.

What I was really worried about was the issue of the card simply dying on most who were using it!

Getting another 6 dB S/N but paying 6 dB more isn't what I'm after, just something half decent that doesn't die is the issue. I like the fact that with the rig you've got the analogue stuff is outside the PC case. Having analogue audio inside the same box as all the RF from power supplies etc doesn't seem a good idea to me.

Subject:RE: Creative Tchnology Audigy 2?

Reply by: mortalengines

Date:8/1/2003 9:58:08 PM

Yeah...I don't Know If you've posted any questions on the creative web site regarding the reliability of the card or not but, my card has been extremely reliable & the owners manual is the only thing I've ever had to refer to - It may be that on the forum all you will ever hear about will be the problems- then again, Acid Pro is a great program & that may at first be difficult to realize from the forum postings which often focuses on the problems people have using Acid.

By the way, you may want to check out M-audio's 2496 soundcard, It is competitively priced with the Audigy & supposedly outperforms it as well- this is what I have heard in passing, not direct experience.