[kiz]

will i notice a large difference. should i repleace my audigy 2 with this or just add the chaintech and use the audigy jut for gaming? does the chaintech suck for say counterstrike? I listen to music more than playing games and when i play games its only CS

 

[nanahachi]

check out this thread
http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...digy+chaintech

and this
http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...digy+chaintech

read the first 3 posts from here:
http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...digy+chaintech

Iron Dreamer is the soundcard guru

there are many threads somewhat relevant to your question if you search "audigy chaintech"

good luck.

 

[kiz]

wow...thanks...sorry for being n00bish

 

[Rempert]

Assuming you do get the Chaintech, the best thing would be to leave the Audigy 2 in, add the Chaintech, and experiment for a little while. The worst probable scenario would be that some computer conflicts with two sound cards force you to uninstall them and reinstall the new one, which isn't that big of a deal. If both cards work together on your system, then you can compare them on various games (and music, for that matter) and draw your own conclusions.

In theory, the A2 is a better gaming card and the Chaintech should be better for music. But if you are going to have both cards in your hands anyway, it's best to try for yourself and see what will be best for you in practice.

Edit: And then, you will have firsthand comparisons to pass on to the next person who asks about Chaintech vs. Audigy

 

[TheLastDon]

Does anybody know how the Audigy 2 digital output sounds? I just ordered an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum before reading here about how bad it is for music. But, I wouldn't be using its dacs for music, as I have a much better dac in my home system. Is there a noticeable difference in the transport qualities of the Chaintech as well when used with an external dac? I also liked the fact that the Audigy is the only card to support DVD-Audio, last time I checked, which must give it some advantage over the Chaintech. Has anybody experimented with it using DVD-Audio?

 

[kiz]

^ thread hijacker ^

 

[thomaspf]

Unless you can get some of the more exotic proposals on this forum to work with the Audigy the Chaintech allows you to get bit perfect pass through on the digital output.

There is no standard for passing 24/192 data over a single S/PDIF interface so if you are using your digital output with DVD-A it is probably downsampled to at most 24/96 which both cards support.

For normal audio CDs at 16/44.1 the Chaintech is the better solution as a digital source if you believe that your computer should be sending the bits identical to what is stored on a CD not something else that sounds very similar.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[Mr.Radar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheLastDon Does anybody know how the Audigy 2 digital output sounds? I just ordered an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum before reading here about how bad it is for music. But, I wouldn't be using its dacs for music, as I have a much better dac in my home system. Is there a noticeable difference in the transport qualities of the Chaintech as well when used with an external dac?

YES! The Audigy resamples audio even when it goes to the digital output so you still need to use software resampling which can make a huge difference in sound quality, while the Chaintech requires no resampling and can even be bit-perfect with DirectSound if you flash it to an Audiotrack Prodigy.

Quote:

I also liked the fact that the Audigy is the only card to support DVD-Audio, last time I checked, which must give it some advantage over the Chaintech. Has anybody experimented with it using DVD-Audio?

The Audigy is the only card that can playback DVD-A discs, but you need to use the analog outputs which are of pretty low quality even at 24/96.

 

[Riordan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiz ^ thread hijacker ^

kiz,
your thread is partly about audigy vs. chaintech for music, and that's what thelastdon is talking about. he clearly didn't hijack your thread, he gave information and asked further questions pertinent to the thread. this is good head-fi practice and nothing to be mad about - be mad about my condescending post instead

apart from that,

music on audigy: if you use the digital output on the audigy the music is still resampled twice which audibly degrades the sound - see the links that nanahachi provided.

games on the chaintech: sound will be fine. but you can't use the latest eax surround technology and your frame rates will suffer compared to the audigy - if that is important for you (i guess it is) try rempert's suggestion of installing both. and don't forget posting your results, because i'd like to know myself

 

[cadobhuk]

Whenever you listen to DVD-audio on audigy,the digital out is disabled,to prevent you from illegal ripping of the dvd-audio content.