Pros: The best cheap sound card if you just want to hear sound through your speakers.
Cons: A little more money can get you a better Sound Blaster.

Don’t be fooled by the picture above where it says “Geared for Gaming”. This may have been true two years ago, but now there is a much better card called the Sound Blaster X-gamer that is much better for Gamers. I recently replaced my Sound Blaster...

Pros: Industry standard in computer audio. Best support. Best Card Overall
Cons: Does not have A3D 2.0 support for sound wave manipulaton

This is the best sound card on the market right now, period. When the Live! Value came out, I was a little worried because I did not know if I should pay for it knowing that the A3D 2.0 standard was on its way.

I had heard so much about it...

Pros: inexpensive, great for gaming, lots of features, very clean signal
Cons: mediocre software bundle, could be hard to find

Overall, this is a great card, but considering the price, and the barebones software bundle, you can tell this card is aimed mainly at conscientious budget gamers. The ad couldn't put it any better: Geared For Gaming.

First off, let me start...

Pros: everything is included
Cons: cheap speakers

Do you need great sound at a great price? Have I got a kit for you? Yes, a kit that includes everything you need to upgrade that aging sound system installed in you computer.

This kit includes everything you need, sound blaster live sound...

Pros: Excellent sound; very small card
Cons: The sound isn't very loud as it could be

I had to make a new computer with some really powerful components. When I was looking at sound cards I had narrowed it down to the sound card...the Creative Labs Live! Now I had four choices, the X-Gamer, MP3+, and the Value. The X-Gamer had three...

Pros: great for gaming, music, comes with good fx software.
Cons: awful for recording (guitar), pain to install on my motherboard

The Soundblaster Live Value is a great sounding, inexpensive sound card.

Gaming.
It works wonderfully for gaming, providing more channels than most games have sound effects. The software that comes with it even has preset...

Pros: Sound quality is outstanding...
Cons: None at this time...

When it became time to upgrade my old workstation I decided that I once again wanted a real sound card in lieu of one built into the motherboard. Those tend to produce mediocre sound and do not come with a wide range of features to play with; i.e....

Pros: 3D sound, good configuration utilities
Cons: not much bundled software, no onboard memory

While great for gaming, this card leaves much to be desired for the aspiring musician. Beneath the polished sheen of 3-D sound posistioning,a familiar beast resides; the Sound Blaster Live Value is more closer to the old Sound Blaster Awe 32, then it...

Pros: great dsp, cheap, marketshare, low cpu usage, support
Cons: not so good 3d gaming

Creative has been the leader in making sound cards, but this card is not as great as it is hyped up to be. Albeit, it is a great improvement over previous generations of sound cards, but it still lacks features that prevent me from loving this card.
...

Pros: Supports 3D positional audio and EAX, excellent sound quality
Cons: Liveware is worthless and Creative tends to be very, very slow at producing new drivers

The next generation of PC audio is here, and its name is Soundblaster Live!. I got a Soundblaster Live! Value about a year ago because the integrated audio in my Gateway was really quite awful. I chose the Live! Value because it had a low price, some...

Pros: Great sound, great price.
Cons: The usual Creative fudge duplex problems.

The folks at Creative may not appreciate my opinion of the SoundBlaster Live Value PCI soundcard as much as some of the others. This card sounds great, but in the past I have not been pleased with SoundBlaster cards. I’ve returned two of them: first the...

Pros: Excellent fidelity
Cons: None

We've all heard crappy soundcards that hisses and crackles and pops, annoyingly. My old soundcard was one of those combo cards with modem on it too, and I actually put up with it for over a year, depending on my mini-hifi set for my listening pleasure....

Pros: Nice sound...
Cons: but not from all of our speakers.

We just got this sound card in our new HP Pavillion pentium 4 PC. Brand new computer, just out of the box. When we set up our speakers (nice creative labs five-piece set) we began having problems.

After playing around with the setup and...

Pros: Great sound for little money
Cons: Doesn't have all the options of its cousin

Introduction

I really didn't need to upgrade my soundcard. It wasn't that bad it was a Creative Soundblaster 64 AWE. I just wanted to get closer to my buddy's Soundblaster Live! Platinum without spending the hearty fee that came along...

Pros: Good sound, compatibility and value.
Cons: I am not crazy about their software.

Having a Creative Live Value (OEM) card left over after building a computer, I decided to test it in parallel with my Diamond MX300 (OEM). Now I am sold on the Creative product.

My conclusions after testing are as follows:
* The sound...

Pros: Fantastic audio quality at a low, LOW price! =D
Cons: Not much, this card is simply great =)

I must commend Creative Labs for another great product. The Creative Sound Blaster Live! Value is simply the best there is in the market. At a price of around $50, you get to enjoy quality sound that will satisfy that audiophile in all of us =D
...

Pros: Price and sound
Cons: You have to drive to the store to get one =)

The SoundBlaster Live! Value gives some of the sweetest sounds I've ever heard out of a computer.

The Environmental Audio (EAX) is such a delight to have. When I play games like Half-Life or Starcraft, you can actually tell where the...

Pros: awesome sound quality, EAX support, CHEAP
Cons: not as much memory as the standard Live card.

For the money, you cannot find a better sound card. The sound quality is clean and crisp. Even when hooked up to a home stereo, the quality
sounds nearly 2x as good as other sound cards. Creative has long been
known for their use in games,...

Pros: Great sound
Cons: Annoying Start Center

The Soundblaster Live Value is a wonderful sound card. It provides really clear, crisp sound that makes games really exciting. Unfortunately, I am not able to evaluate the card's full potential, since I only have 2 speakers. I would guess that this...

Pros: EAX audio, Artificial surround sound with 4-speaker support, retroactive enhancements
Cons: So many plugs it can be a little confusing

It's affordable, unbeatable, and undeniably innovative. It must be Sound Blaster Live! Value.

I purchased this card when I upgraded my computer. Being in a kit, I only had to pay about $45 for it, which is as much as any decent card will...

Pros: Easy Setup, Great Sound, Affordable.
Cons: Base Card in Live Series, Extra features sold separately

When I upgraded to a new motherboard, I had to retire my SB AWE64 Value ISA card. So it was time to venture out and find a brand spanking new PCI sound card that was going to be both inexpensive, but have some pretty decent quality.

I really...

Pros: BEST consumer MIDI output, Excellent WAV playback support, Great effects, Good Software Updates, Great 3D Audio for games, good price, Only real choice left in 3D after Aureal went belly up
Cons: Miniplug socket breaks if you toy with it, customer service isn't too swell from creative

I purchased this wonderful sound card back in September 1999. I was building a new computer system, and decided that if I was going to do it, I wanted the newest sound card technology. Of course, I wasn't planning on spending a ton of cash. So I...

Pros: Works properly, cheap like borscht
Cons: too many holes!

I bought my first ever sound card from Creative Labs back 6-7 years ago for $188CDN. It was big and fit in those bottom slots in ur computer, it came with a bunch of midis, wavs and Dr. Sbaitso, the speaking psychologist. it was utterly hilarious. I...

Pros: Above-average sound quality, reasonable prices
Cons: Inadequate drivers, lousy software

Purchase

If I could sum up my experiences with the SoundBlaster Live! with a song, I would have to go with "Don't Believe the Hype."

While I'm happy to see other reviewers in this forum had successful installations with their...

Pros: High quality, Good Price
Cons: Not yet

I decided to retire my AWE 64, but had no idea what I wanted. The only sure factor was that the replacement would be a Creative Labs...something. The live series was less than a week on the shelves at the time. Well Creative had not failed me yet (a...

Pros: Excellent quality and sound at a great price!
Cons: Liveware is a waste of resources...

For gamers and movie watchers alike, sound is critical to their computers. In the PC market today, there is really only one dominant sound card manufacturer available, which is Creative Labs and their SoundBlaster Live! soundcard series. There are many...

Pros: many features, EAX, easy to use software
Cons: can be pricey

Sound Blaster Live Value: Last Updated 7-14-00

I bought my Sound Blaster Live Value card at a small computer store without the box for $50 dollars. It was completely new. I have owned my Sound Blaster Live Value card for more than a year...

Pros: price, best sound card out there
Cons: need good speakers

I purchased the Soundblaster Live! Value sound card for about $45. Right now, it is the best audio card out there and its driver support is also excellent. One of the bigger problems with audio cards is that everyone seems to be going out of business....

Pros: cheap, great surround sound, good quality
Cons: none

This has to be the best soundcard available at the moment along with the other variations of the Live range like this one and the Live Platinum. The good thing with this card is that it is pretty cheap and can be picked up for around £45-00 and yet it...

Pros: High quality, and a versatile software bundle.
Cons: A minor annoyance occurs with doubling of sounds if settings are not made properly.

The Sound Blaster Live Value card is the perfect sound card for the computer audiophile, it has CD quality sound, and a great set of software.

When having quality trouble recording wav files, it was suggested that I upgrade from the Sound...

Pros: Great Sound at low cost
Cons: none

SoundBlaster Live Value

"THE" Soundcard, based on CL EMU10K1 this is the non-expensive/good solution for your PC audio needs!


Live! Value?
Yep this is a light version of the LIVE Platinum, the high-end soundcard...

Pros: Great Sound; Easy to Install; Good Features
Cons: Can't think of any

I purchased the Sound Blaster Live! Value to replace the junky sound card that came with my computer originally. I have found it to be a wonderful addition to my computer hardware setup. It has made DVD movies much more enjoyable, and has improved the...

Pros: Sounds GREAT, lots of cool games come with it
Cons: None!

There is a very good reason why Sound Blaster is the current industry standard for sound cards and why all other sound cards must be classified as 'Sound Blaster compatible' if they ever want to sell - it is the best.

This sound card is very...

Pros: Good value, equivalent to most cheap cards
Cons: annoying glitches, sound quality

Well, I have to say that I do not like my sound card. When I got it a couple of years ago, I researched thoroughly and saw that Creative was about the only company left making high-quality cards. They sell the majority of sound cards today. Only Hercules...

Pros: price, quality
Cons: none, really

I got my SB Live! Value after I bought a new set of surround sound speakers for my computer (P3 450, 128RAM) and didn't have enough output plugs. Why did I get the Live! Value? It's cheap, it has 5 plugs, 2 of which are for output signals (one for main...

Pros: Great overall performance
Cons: A3D is better than live!'s EAX

The Creative labs Sound Blaster Live! is the best sound card available. To start off for those that are confused of the differences of all of the cards here is an explanation. They are all the exact same card. From the value, x-gamer, and mp3. These...

Pros: Great Card, lots of features..
Cons: Haven't found one yet.

When I built my system, I had been searching for card that would acuratly recreate music in a midi format. After much consideration, with features included in my considerations, I decided that the Sound Blaster Live value card was the card for me....

Pros: Sound quality, price, compatibility, everything
Cons: None

I bought this product because I trust Creative. It was also the best sound card I could buy at the time. The Sound Blaster Live! Value replaced the regular Sound Blaster Live!. The Value now includes optical out, which is extremely convenient for...

Pros: Amazing sound, environmental sound is impressive
Cons: None I can see

For about 6 years I had a sound blaster 16. Over the years I had upgraded everything in the system and soon the only thing that remained from the original system was the case and the sound blaster 16. When it came time to get a new system, a new sound...

Pros: Great sound,EAX impressive.
Cons: Play center2 software on SB live Entertainment 5.1 better.

I just assembled my PC a few weeks ago.I was on a tight budget but I opted to get the Altec Lansing 45.1 speakers. I had to forgo Geforce MX2 and settled for a TNT2 M64 graphics card instead.

A friend got me a second hand Tera Sound...

Pros: Great Price, surround support
Cons: Lack of digital connections

For serious gamers this card is definitely king of bang for the buck. With surround sound support, audio acceleration, and industry standard compatibility wrapped into a $40 package, it can't be beat.

Sound quality from this card is top...

Pros: Low price, great quality
Cons: Not the BEST there is... but who cares?

I love this card.

Not only does this sound card have a digital connector (for those REAL audio freaks who can hear the difference), it's a real performer.

Being a fairly budget sound card, I was not expecting very much from this....

Pros: Great all-in-one sound device
Cons: No front outputs/inputs

SoundBlaster Live! Value… quite simply, it is a wonderful card. The main reason I bought it was due to the fact that Creative produces it. I love Creative for audio (but not video or other devices).

This little card (PCI) does it all, and it...

Pros: Best 3D sound and EAX support for the money.
Cons: Might not work with some VIA Chipsets.

Well what can I say, I was getting tired of my Sound Blaster PCI128. I mean it was able to play sounds but offered next to no 3D sound support for my new DX 7&8 games.
So I went to the local computer store (RA computers in Ottawa). I looked at the...

Pros: sound quality, EAX, Environmental audio
Cons: absolutely none

I picked up this card to replace my SoundBlaster AWE64. I immediately noticed a huge difference in the overall sound quality of this card. Then there is the whole 4 channel EAX surround that this card is capable of putting out, provided the game you are...

Pros: Fast, full featured
Cons: No port labels

The Creative Sound Blaster Live! Value is an inexpensive but high performance sound card. I bought one nearly a year ago for about $70 and it has performed very well. Creative has even kept up on the drivers, and released several new revisions since I...

Pros: Great sound a lot of options
Cons: drivers and software a little hard to load

I was looking for an inexpensive sound card that was a good performer. I asked a few friends and did a little research on the web and found that for the price it was a good value. I recommend this card to everyone. I built my mom a computer last month...

Pros: Great card, great price, great tricks
Cons: Conflicts with some motherboards

Another great piece of hardware by creative labs. One of the nicest features ive seen on this or any sound card is the ability to manipulate direct line in and microphone channels. By hooking up your mic and playing with the Environmental audio you can...

Pros: Best card out there
Cons: Crackling with most VIA based motherboards (socket7)

I have a SBlive value and a VIA based motherboard. I have been in touch with the newsgroup and I can confirm that if you have a VIA motherboard and buy a sblive then you'll hear crackling from a little, to the more popular ALOT. Well, watcha going to do...

Pros: Great sound.
Cons: Didn't work.

I just bought a new PC (Dell Dimension 8100 - review coming soon), and I had the choice of 2 different sound cards when I was on the phone with the salesman. The other sound card (I don't remember what brand or model) had Dolby, THX, and all sorts of...

Pros: Great Sound Quality, EAX, MIDI, Inexpensive
Cons: No software bundle

For the longest time, I never bought a Creative Labs Sound Card. They were expensive, and I honestly didn't think there was that much of a difference. I mean, sound is sound, right?

My last non-Creative sound card was an Aureal Vortex...

Pros: Great price, amazing price. Can't beat this card.
Cons: none, zero, zilch.

This is a sound card I would recommend to anyone. It is at an affordable price, easy to install and provides the biggest bang for the buck that you can get.
I got my Blaster Live Value for only $55 at www.tcwo.com. Zero problems. This card is...

Pros: Ease of install, real Creative compatibility
Cons: Unable to use older Dos games due to IRQ problems.

Bought the Value because a friend of mine had bought the original big one, with all the extra connections and bells and whistles. I didn't need the other things, but his raving about it convinced me to get one. Found a SB Live on Ebay for 50$ when they...

Pros: digital output, surround sound, price, quality
Cons: ummm... none

Oh, where do I start? I ordered this beautiful piece of silicon about two weeks ago. Let me say that it's a great improvement over my old Yamaha OPL3-SAx. I love the environmental audio that you get when you have the proper game and the effects that...

Pros: Excellent Price, Performance, Features, Reliability, Warranty . . . Incredible!
Cons: Windows ME LiveWare! Install Bug?

This sound card is at a small marginal price over other sound cards, and you can find it for half of that expected 99 dollar charge at many places online . . . the cards have worked flawlessly in many systems I've put them in for family and friends. Of...

Pros: Cheap. Fantastic sound.
Cons: Um... there are cons?

Well, the actual Sound Blaster Live! Value was made in 1998, but it still kicks even the newest sound card's butt. The sound is crystal clear, even on my old speakers from 1995, from my old compaq. Nice piece of hardware. The multi-channel audio is...

Pros: - Digital Output - Joystick Port
Cons: - Poor driver support

The SoundBlaster Live! Value suffers from poor driver support, and will slow down your gaming experience when you're using hardware acceleration.
The card is easy to install and the documentation is acceptable, but a lack of driver updates makes...

Pros: Saves you $$$, environmental audio. Nice sound.
Cons: Not great for huge parties, or playing games at max sound level.

I used the Soundblaster PCI128, and was very unhappy with it. Therefore, I decided the Live!Value was a good choice for me, as it was inexpensive and had good reviews. Installing the card was a snap, and I was up and running with one of the greatest...

Pros: Great card, excellent sound, amazing price
Cons: Is not as good as the Soundblaster Live! Platinum

I purchased this product because a friend that said he loved it recommended it to me. This product would benefit anyone looking for a quality sound card without having to worry about the price. Anyone looking to listen to high-grade multimedia should get...

Pros: great sound
Cons: great price

I am enjoying this card! It didn't cost an arm and a leg, but I can listen to my CD's while I'm doing my monthly bills and not be able to tell the difference between the computer and my daughter's portable player. The sound is full, with good quality....