riahc3 Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 Reviewing the Audigy 2 ZS..... (This sound card has been tested with Creative Inspire T7700 Speakers) Features: + 24-bit/192kHz Advanced HD Audio + 8 Channel 108dB SNR + (One of the few cards to support...) DVD Audio (DVD-A) which has 5 times the detail of a CD and plays at 24-bit/192kHz and 24-bit/96kHz at 5.1 or above + Lucafilm THX Certified + EAX 4.0 Support (Online update required) + Upmixing CMSS 3D Audio Technology + Built in DTS-ES and Dolby Digital EX decoding + TRUE Support for 7.1 Review: I heard so much about this card that i had to get it (apart that i was getting 7.1 speakers as well which my onboard doesnt support) I plugged it in and booted up my system. I ran the instalation (i belive i did that first this has been some time ago so if im wrong correct me) and everything went fine. I noticed Creative put new drivers from my card so i went and downloaded them. Big mistake. Almost always a BSOD when running Lara Croft. At least it enabled EAX for Lara. I went back to my original drivers but they also gave me BSOD because i did a roll back. I uninstalled all of Creative's software, the drivers and the card and reinstalled it all (with the CD nothing online. I also recommend disabling your onboard sound if you have) It works now although sometimes it forgets i have 7.1 speakers and defaults to 2.1.... When i used this card i noticed my music was......crispier. I check it if was my speakers but no because on my stereo speakers i also noticed a improvement. Another thing about this card (and the software) is that i had a CD full of music and messed it up. Guess what? the Audigy fixed it and brought back memories. The effects you can do to your tracks as well are intresting but the software is not the review. The drivers that came with the CD do not have support for some games in EAX. For example Lara doesnt while Halo and Hitman: Contacts does. The drivers have some flops sometime also but they're forgivable. Support though seems like very little because new drivers havent been released since those crappy ones i downloaded. I was using a onboard sound so that took some of my FPS in my games. No more. The Audigy 2 ZS supports up to 64 voices so no CPU taking up. I gained frames in games :D All in all the Audigy 2 ZS is a good value. It will make you music more enjoyable and your games more realistic. Although can get weird at times, I wouldnt switch and would recommend it to anyone looking to improve their listening expierience. Sound: A improvement can be noticed from onboard sound Instalation (hardware): Easy but you gotta have another PCI slot (or an onboard port) cuz then you cant have the MIDI/Joystick port Instalation (software): This gets sloppy. Creative's latest drivers are crap so i dont recommend them. Outputs: Very complete including a FireWire port (perfect for Ipods) Price: VERY underprice for what you get. Thank the lord Creative is nice. +: Great audio quality Nice tools for pleasing the audio crazy fans Great price -: Sketchy Drivers Sketchy Software Overall: 8/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djgramma Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 I just bought this and I must say, my music is much better. Although I wish they'd make it like the previous external sb, and let me configure my sub with my two speakers rather than just make it a two speaker system. Either than that, I love this thing. Much smaller footprint, really attractive sound, USB2 connection (f-f-f-fast!) and practically no problems in the system. Just plug'n'play! I have to play around with it more, but I'll post more on my experience with this lil bugger. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dotRoot Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 Just make sure you don't ever lose the CD, because on the site if I remember right are only updates to the drivers, no full installs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 Which is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of in my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyT Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 I have some questions about ZS, maybe you can help me. 1. I have the CDs from Creative and on them I can read this: SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Installation and Applications CD and the Logo of Sound Blaster 24bit 192khz / 106db SNR Why would they say 106db on the CD and advertise 108db everywhere else? Is the OEM 106db and the retail 108db? 2. Does your ZS come with the golden plugs, golden contacts, or with the plastic colored ones? 3. I currently have Audigy 2 Platinum. The ZS panel seems the same as mine, expect for the color (which is black on ZS platinum, and I'm not talking about the external ZS Platinum Pro panel) and the remote control that is different. Will Audigy 2 panel work on Audigy 2 ZS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djgramma Posted May 20, 2004 Share Posted May 20, 2004 Couple more days with this thing and I'm loving it more and more. UT2K4 is awesome with it. The sound is clear and loud. With 3D sound on, it's also accurate in that I can pinpoint an enemy on my *big* 2.1 system. I also love how my music sounds so much better. My only gripe right now is alot of on the fly things I could've done with the extigy that I can't do with the zs. Mixmeister crashes when I switch from the speakers to the headphones, and vice versa. It's annoying but once I set it up right, it shouldn't be a problem. Cheers Jimmy: I can't answer your q's right now (I'm at work) but once I get home, I'll have a look at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premgenius Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 This rules I got some months back as i paded my Creative SB Live! Digital 2 my bro and I love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marduk Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 I've got the card and I find it great personally, the drivers themselves and extra software has a few quirks that hinder it, like the THX Console is hard to keep set to what you want, it looses settings sometimes when you open the speaker settings window, when you do it gives you random settings in the THX Console, I've been in close contact with Creative about this and they tell me they're fixing it, so I'll wait for that. Small thing though no big deal. I'm loving the card too, huge difference from the old SB Live! it's an incredible card I love it. Hmmm as an odd note sometimes when watching DVDs with any of the DVD software players, sometimes the voices seems out of sync with people's mouths, I'm j/w is it just me or did anyone else notice that? The players I'm talking about are, Windvd, Powerdvd, NVDvd and WMP with the Intervideo codec install. The card is great, I'm loving it and from many reviews that I read before the CPU hogging that was existant in alot of their other cards is now totally remedied, it now only usese 2% cpu power at the most. I sorta noticed the difference in gaming too. As for the newest EAX 4.0 drivers on their site, I didn't have any problem with them just they have the most bizzare uppdating tools that seem to not update your drivers, that and the fact that they've got a odd dating system on their drivers, has anyone else installed the driver update? I'm wonder what the correct driver date and version number should be mine says Driver date 2/23/2004 and Driver Version 5.12.1.443 . Even though I've said alot of negative things, I still think its an amazing card, that kicks some major ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougkinzinger Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Wonder if it's worth upgrading from my SB Live I have now.....I don't do much, just some Far Cry and the occasional DVD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riahc3 Posted May 27, 2004 Author Share Posted May 27, 2004 I have some questions about ZS, maybe you can help me.1. I have the CDs from Creative and on them I can read this: SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS Installation and Applications CD and the Logo of Sound Blaster 24bit 192khz / 106db SNR Why would they say 106db on the CD and advertise 108db everywhere else? Is the OEM 106db and the retail 108db? 2. Does your ZS come with the golden plugs, golden contacts, or with the plastic colored ones? 3. I currently have Audigy 2 Platinum. The ZS panel seems the same as mine, expect for the color (which is black on ZS platinum, and I'm not talking about the external ZS Platinum Pro panel) and the remote control that is different. Will Audigy 2 panel work on Audigy 2 ZS? 1. Because there was a last minute change and they couldnt change it the manual or the CD... 2. With golden inputs (if thats what you mean) which then u put a sticker with different colors and symbols on top of the golden plugs. 3. Im not sure but i would think Creative would NOT make it compatible so you can waste money on a ZS hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilston Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 My ZS runs pretty close to flawless. Heres what I did because theres different drivers to install. Run the setup cd, so that it installs the software you want and drivers. Reboot Then update by finding SBA2_EAX4DRV_031031.exe on their website. 13megs. Reboot Then get SBA2_WEBUP_PCWDRV_1-84-40.exe. 6megs. After that it should be stable, as for THX console they fixed that in an update, use auto update on creatives site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finsta Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 The panel? I think not, Creative has switched it from the original SB Live to the SBA to the SBA2, so I would not be suprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypoxiaicon Posted May 31, 2004 Share Posted May 31, 2004 Mine comes on Wednesday... Drivers seem a huge ass problem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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