[Imyourzero]

Check out this thread.

Here are some quotes:

Quote:

Actually the DAC on the Audigy 2 ZS is better than that of the Wolfson on the AV-710.

Quote:

The Audigy and Audigy2 are DISTINCTLY different when it comes to the quality of music playback. As many of us pointed out, the A2 began incorporating very high quality DACs and well as other improvements. The AV-710 may be better than the original Audigy when it comes to overall music playback, but it is NOT superior to the A2.

I thought it was univerally known that (for music quality) the AV-710 was superior to the Audigy/Audigy 2/Audigy 2 ZS...

What exactly is the difference between the A2 and the A2 ZS? Is it a hardware or software difference? Or both? I recall reading that the ZS is better, but why?

And what is your response to those quotes? Is the AV-710's Wolfson DAC really inferior to that of the Audigy 2, or was that guy blowing smoke? Even if the Wolfson DAC is inferior, I would think the simple fact that the AV-710 doesn't do resampling would make its audio output superior. Don't all of the Audigy-series cards do resampling?

 

[thomaspf]

The problem with the Audigy series of cards (all of them) is less about the quality of their DACs but in regard to the fact that with the driver Creative ships all music gets resampled to 48Khz. The resampling steo is not performed with very high fidelity. So even if they have the greates DACs in the world the quality is already diminished. This limitation applies to both the analog and the digital outputs.

The music on audio CDs is sampled at 44.1Khz.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[james__bean]

I haven't actually seen a direct comparison between the av-710 and the audigy 2 ZS, but from what I've seen of various RMAA results, the av-710 wins. I've seen posted on this board, (I believe by iron dreamer) that the av-710 had a -103.1 SNR and a 97.2 Dynamic Range at 44 KHz. The highest I've seen the Audigy 2 ZS at 44KHz is -95.6 SNR and 94.5 Dynamic Range. I have seen a -98.8 SNR and a 97.4 Dynamic Range on the Audigy 2 ZS at 24bit 48KHz, but technically that's upsampling. The numbers were all slightly higher with the AV-710 on the Stereo Crosstalk and THD % as well. Unfortunately these numbers are all run from different sites with different equipment and probably different versions of RMAA. I should point out that I've never seen the Audigy 2 ZS at a SNR higher than -101.1 at any sampling rate. This is still lower than the AV-710.

 

[james__bean]

Oh... here are the pages where I found my info....

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/...ve-audigy2-zs/

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1382724,00.asp

Since the AV-710 results I've seen are from someone's personal page I won't post them, but you could probably find them in a search on the forums or google.

 

[pbirkett]

I am fully prepared to believe the Audigy may have made good improvements. Its the fashion on headfi to knock the Audigy cards, and probably for good reasons a lot of the time, but I have not really read much about the A2, however, I find it difficult to believe its quite as bad as its sometimes made out to be.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbirkett I am fully prepared to believe the Audigy may have made good improvements. Its the fashion on headfi to knock the Audigy cards, and probably for good reasons a lot of the time, but I have not really read much about the A2, however, I find it difficult to believe its quite as bad as its sometimes made out to be.

I'll give you that A2s don't sound as bad as the A1 or the old SBLive!, but compared to even the mere Chaintech or other Envy24 based cards, like your own, Paul, the shortcomings are clearly audbile. It is like putting thick drapes between youself and the music, just like what I hear with Realtek ALC650 onboard sound chips, or your typical $10 "5.1 surround" card. Boring, flat lifeless sound, whereas the SBLive! could only be described as terrible sound. So the A2 is not the bottom of the barrel, but close enough, expecially when there are so many better options out there. There is certainly nothing hi-fi or audiophile about the Audigy2 (or its' many permetuations).

 

[Evilson]

Quote:

I am fully prepared to believe the Audigy may have made good improvements. Its the fashion on headfi to knock the Audigy cards, and probably for good reasons a lot of the time, but I have not really read much about the A2, however, I find it difficult to believe its quite as bad as its sometimes made out to be.

I have the A2, M-Audio Revo 7.1, and the EMU 1212m. The A2 deserves to be 'knocked.' It is as bad as it's made out to be in terms of sound quality, at least compared to the latter two.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Creative definitely have the clout and ability to make a GREAT consumer audiophile/movie card, but the implementation and drivers keep it from happening. I believe the reason why they are so hellbent on 48kHz is because so many DVDs use that rate, my best guess

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadtonowhere08 Creative definitely have the clout and ability to make a GREAT consumer audiophile/movie card, but the implementation and drivers keep it from happening. I believe the reason why they are so hellbent on 48kHz is because so many DVDs use that rate, my best guess

No, it has to do with AC97 compatibility. All of the cards that are popularly used here support 48khz playback (and quite well I might add) without compromising their 44.1khz playback.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

AC97???? BLEH!!!! Well as long as nobody gets in Creative's face about this, they will continue to use that tired old dinosaur codec.

 

[enzoferrari650]

darn why did i ever buy the 2zs.......

 

[PooJou]

And what are these people outputting to? You can't really differentiate good or bad with figures. Everyone's setup is different, also most of these people don't exactly run awesome output devices :/

Interesting to see opinions though.

 

[Piccolo Daimaou]

I've run both the Audigy 2 ZS and the Chaintech (to my unamped HD580's and my Logitech speakers) and in my honest opinion, I didn't really notice any difference. Myabe I'm deaf, but to me, they both sounded pretty much exactly the same, and if there were any differences, they were negligable. But then again, I'm a simple man and easy to please, so take my observations for what they are.

And I don't like going by RMAA tests. They may give you an overall idea of how well the card performs, but it still is no match for good ole listening tests.

The resampling, though, is what kills the Audigy/Audigy 2 (ZS). It's not so much the fact that it's resampled, but the method of resampling is quite bad. If Creative were to fix that and maybe upgade the DAC's, I'm sure that the Audigy series of cards would be pleasing to many.

 

[Guust-Fi]

Question are there any improvements with the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum pro. What are the big differences between the 3 cards anyway? Quote:

Audigy 2 ZS: $99, check prices Audigy 2 ZS Platinum: $199, check prices Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro: $249, check prices

I was thinking about buying either the Platinum or the Platinum pro for my first "good" headphone (sennheiser hd-555). Is the external headphone jack really so bad? Would I notice difference as an inexperienced head-fier? I suppose the quality of the pro wouldn't be any better?

Quote:

f you've got an original Audigy, and have decided it's time to put some new audio iron into your box, the $99 Audigy 2 ZS is a good option. For that price, you're getting solid CPU usage and signal quality performance, plus two full-version games for your entertainment pleasure. If you're musically inclined, the $199 Platinum edition will let you indulge that fancy with additional audio I/O, as well as two good entry-level music production applications from Steinberg. Given its steep price tag, we can't really recommend the $249 Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro unless you absolutely require the higher-resolution multitrack recording. We don't think it brings enough to the table to warrant its high price.

 

[Piccolo Daimaou]

The Platinum and Platinum Pro are wastes of money if all you plan to do is game and/or listen to music. The Platinum Pro is nice, though, becaue the external box removes the circuitry from the inside of your PC (i.e. major source of noise). But it's not worth the money in my opinion, at least not for my purposes. Buying the Platinum/Platinum Pro for the headphone jack is pointless.

And for an someone inexperienced in the world of hi-fi audio, you're not likely to know what your missing, depending on what kind of equipment you're upgrading from. If you upgrade to something that sounds better than what you previous had, then that's reason enough to be satisfied.