OK... I admit it, SBLive is junk
Apr 26, 2004 at 7:48 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 16

Duncan

Headphoneus Supremus
Joined
Jun 26, 2001
Posts
13,466
Likes
1,808
After valiantly sticking up for my SBLive for the (as good as) three years that i've been a member here, I now officially join team 'SBLive is junk'

The reason? I bought an Audigy2 on an end of line sale today, and wow... even though SB cards seem to get bashed here, this is sure as anything a massive improvement over its older cousin.

Foobar has never sounded so good... and DVD-A? my first time listening to it, and its definetly good... could well see myself buying some DVD-A media now
biggrin.gif


Anyway... undoubtedly everyone will bash the Au2, so i'll be happy - for now, until everyone tells me I should've bought something else
wink.gif
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 8:01 PM Post #2 of 16
The fooooool - it resamples!
biggrin.gif


No, really, did you need the gaming support, or why didn't you buy a nice Terratec (M-Audio/Audiotrak...)?

Justify yourself - as a moderator you should have known better!
wink.gif
smily_headphones1.gif
wink.gif


Grinnings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 8:05 PM Post #3 of 16
lol...

It was on end of line, and was a third of the price of the terratec ($250 equivilant price in the UK... not sure what it is in the US... whereas I got the Au2 for about $80 after end of line discount (which is cheap - UK wise, compared to at other outlets))...

Either way, this is great for gaming (just been mu-onlining)... and sounds half way decent for music... a serious amount better than the live...
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 8:10 PM Post #4 of 16
The Live does sound pretty horrendous, I remember when you had reservations about that when I mentioned it to you a while back though
wink.gif


Seriously, the Live was the worst SQ soundcard I've heard, and that includes the old Sound Blaster 16, and AWE64 which sounded considerably better IMO. The Santa Cruz was slightly better than the Live, but I feel the Terratec is a huge jump. I am looking forward to hearing one of the newer efforts, sometime in the future.
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 8:53 PM Post #5 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by pbirkett
but I feel the Terratec is a huge jump.


Well Paul, i'm not normally that impressed with computer audio... its listenable, but not critically... well, thats what I thought... until today...

So... is the Au2 is still condemned to ridicule, then the better cards out there must truly beat CDPs hands down
eek.gif
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 9:07 PM Post #6 of 16
When you're at the bottom of the heap (SBLive), there's no where to go but up.
biggrin.gif


If you're impressed with Audigy 2, there are still many levels higher than that. Any of the M-Audio and Terratecs will get you to the next plateau. Next up is the emu 1212m. Then external boxes/DACs.
biggrin.gif
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 9:17 PM Post #7 of 16
That suck-tacular SB Live! was the very last Creative sound card that I've ever bought. I haven't used that card in a few years, because I first "upgraded" to the Santa Cruz - and now, I've upgraded to the M-Audio Revolution. And contrary to popular belief, the Revolution (or its latest drivers) didn't rob nearly as many gaming framerates as it has been reputed to have (compared to the latest Audigys).
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 9:39 PM Post #8 of 16
Even when you upgrade later, keep the Audigy 2. It is still one of the best for games. And by best it's compatibilty and reducing CPU overhead.

I had nothing but problems with the SB Live! Aside from the horrid noise levels, it was just so unstable in newer games.

So when you upgrade, most cards will work work side by side with the Audigy 2. Although, I'm not sure if the Emu 1212/1820/1820M will work as independently as the RME PAD does. I can actually play music on the RME PAD at the same time as playing games with the Audigy 2.

-Ed
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 9:52 PM Post #9 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood
2. Although, I'm not sure if the Emu 1212/1820/1820M will work as independently as the RME PAD does. I can actually play music on the RME PAD at the same time as playing games with the Audigy 2.

-Ed



How do you go about hooking both sources up to one form of output such as headphones. I would love to use my chaintech for my music through foobar and my soundstorm for games like cs at the same time.
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 10:16 PM Post #10 of 16
I upgraded my husband's computer to the Terratec Aureon 5.1 Sky. And it's a relatively modest upgrade, but Sucktacular is the perfect way to describe the SBLive card compared to it. For €80 you can't go wrong...and it seems to only get better from there.
smily_headphones1.gif


**Disclaimer - my husband is perfectly capable of installing a card himself. He just had a really tough week with long hours, and I thought I'd do him the favor.**
wink.gif
 
Apr 26, 2004 at 11:23 PM Post #11 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by bubbers214
How do you go about hooking both sources up to one form of output such as headphones. I would love to use my chaintech for my music through foobar and my soundstorm for games like cs at the same time.


My RME PAD is modded to have balanced outputs, so I hook up the balanced outputs from my RME PAD to the balanced inputs of my Grace 901.
I have the other RME PAD with analog outputs into the unbalanced RCA inputs of my Grace as well when I want to.

My Audigy 2 is outputting SPDIF digital to the SPDIF input on my Grace.

Heheh, the Grace is one helluva a connection person.
biggrin.gif


It is possible to loop the internal SPDIF cable (looks like the ole analog CDrom audio cable) from the gaming card to the internal SPDIF input on the RME PAD. Iron_Dreamer does this successfully. THat way it eliminates further ground loop issues.

-Ed
 
Apr 28, 2004 at 7:59 AM Post #13 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by mega
Eagle, how much of an upgrade did you experience from going from a santa cruz to a revo 7.1?


Not him, but I went from a Game Theater XP, which is basically a Sant Cruz witha breakoutbox to the Revo, and I was stunned by the increase in quality, as if I was hearing truly clear sound for the first time. At the time I had the HD590/Corda HA1.
 
Apr 28, 2004 at 8:29 AM Post #14 of 16
Would a revo 7.1 or a terratec ewx be overkill for me? All im going to is to play mp3's. I know that the high quality sound cards have loads of other features...something that i would probably not understand fully. Would either one of those cards with a pimeta and hd-600's played from winamp be worth it if i just use the cards strictly for playing mp3's and cds from my computer? Strictly from a sound quality point of view..santa cruz---->revo7.1 or terratec ewx2496 good? I am not experienced with all the advantages that can be used with these high audiophile cards...but i jsut want a vast improvement in sound from my santa cruz so that my 600's sound more to their full potential.
 
Apr 28, 2004 at 8:33 AM Post #15 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by mega
Would a revo 7.1 or a terratec ewx be overkill for me? All im going to is to play mp3's. I know that the high quality sound cards have loads of other features...something that i would probably not understand fully. Would either one of those cards with a pimeta and hd-600's played from winamp be worth it if i just use the cards strictly for playing mp3's and cds from my computer? Strictly from a sound quality point of view..santa cruz---->revo7.1 or terratec ewx2496 good? I am not experienced with all the advantages that can be used with these high audiophile cards...but i jsut want a vast improvement in sound from my santa cruz so that my 600's sound more to their full potential.


It depends on the MP3's you are listening to. If they are low quality 128 etc, they will sound worse, but vbr, 320, and other good MP3 types will sound better with a good card. If I were in your situation, I would get the $25 Chaintech, becuase its' sound quality is said to rival the Revo, and you are "only" buying it for MP3's so this way you don't have to feel like you spent too much, but you still get a good increase in SQ.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top