Creative Sound Blaster Live! Platinum

Pros: great sound quality, amazing software bundle
Cons: expensive

The SB Live! Platinum is an amazing sound card package. The sound card itself is worth a lot. The EMU10K1 chipset and EAX extensions make this a very powerful sound card. With every game I've played with my Sound Blaster card, sound quality has been...

Pros: Good Price, A good deal of sound formats supported by the hardware interface (RCA, SPDIF)
Cons: No midi port, just a little bit too gamer oriented.

As an electronica composer, I would definitely say that the Sound Blaster Live is quite a competent, useful card. As a below poverty line individual, I would say that the SBL is an Awesome deal for the money. The one thing that, IMHO it is missing, Is...

Pros: LiveDrive, GREAT software bundle, SBLIVE standard and compatiblity
Cons: Price, need 5.25 drive bay open

Having come from a long line of buying only the very best, or at the very least THE standard bearer of sound cards for nearly every computer I've owned, and built for others. Professionally and personally. I've never gone wrong with buying a sound card...

Pros: Superb sound, good software bundle
Cons: no optical output

Last year Creative Labs took a quantum leap in the quality of sounds cards. No, I am not talking about the first generation Aureal PCI soundcards that Alan reviews when he recommends against the Sound Blaster Live Platinum, I am talking about a line of...

Pros: Digital out, Live! Drive, great 3D sound
Cons: None

This sound card tops the list of peripherals for any gaming computer. The 3D surround and digital capabilities of this card are astounding. Recording, gaming, playing CD's, whatever you want to do is no challenge for this card. With a 48 KHz recording...

Pros: awesome sonuds and package!
Cons: liveware (read the review)

I was shopping around for a good soundcard. It was either between the SoundBlaster Live series or Aureal. Since Creative Labs has much better driver support and has a wider range of products in the market, I decided to go with the SoundBlaster Live...

Pros: Loud!, Many Options, Great Bundle
Cons: None

This thing is sweet! If you are into having the highest quality parts for your computer, then this sound card is for you. Included with the Platinum version is what's called a Live! Drive. This fits into a 5.25 bay and has easy front access to SPDIF,...

Pros: Easy set up. Works very well.
Cons: Eats a 5 1/4" drive bay

I have been using this Soundblaster card for over a month using NT 4.0 workstation. Installation was easy and I've had no problems at all. The included Sound Forge XP software also works well with NT. I used it to convert a voice mail greeting that...

Pros: Makes all sorts of audio come alive.
Cons: Worthless if your speakers aren't any good.

There are a lot of precious metals in society today. The Olympics are finishing up, you've got gold, silver, and bronze there. People make lots of money selling precious metals on the stock market. But, some precious metals are better than others....

Pros: Features features features!
Cons: Not for those who JUST need a simple PC audio solution.

I will review this product as I would rate the Platinum 5.1 model. I will start with saying Creative has created a monopoly for themselves in the consumer sound card market. This is not necessarily a BAD thing, as I believe if a company makes a good...

Pros: great sound, Live Drive is very convenient, bundled software top-notch
Cons: no CD-ROM connectors on Live Drive, Lava and creative players unnecessary

The Sound Blaster Live! Platinum is perhaps the second coolest piece of hardware I now own (second only to my Geforce GTS 2 64MB DDR video card). The sound produced from this card is absolutely amazing. Before I purchased this, I was using an AWE64,...

Pros: DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 DECODER, awesome EAX, Remote control, front panel connections, EMU10K1 upgradable sound accelerator
Cons: Won't go get the paper, not a cup holder, won't go to prom with you

Oh man, where do I start? This sound card is the best on the market, and will be for a long time. I bought this card to take advantage of my four point surround speakers, and to get the best quality while doing so. It does that and so much more.
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Pros: easy installation, multiple audio streams
Cons: newer drivers sometimes cause problems

After having used my old SoundBlaster 16 for so many years, I thought it was about time I got a new sound card, and what better time than with a new PC. I hadn't been keeping up with technology, so when I first installed the card, which went flawlessly...

Pros: Live Drive with Dolby Digital Inputs and Outputs, great tech support, and midi inputs and outputs on the front of the computer
Cons: Can slow down older computers with several programs that run in the background

I purchased the Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live Platinum Package ($200) when I built my new computer in Dec. 99. I looked at all three versions of the Live family of soundcards because I wanted the guaranteed SoundBlaster compatibility with all of my...

Pros: Flexibility, features, front digital input, incredible sound quality
Cons: Some of the bundled software is useless

WOW!!! What else can you say? Never in my whole 10+ years with computers have I been this excited about a $170 part before.
Two weeks ago, I installed the SoundBlaster Live! Platinum card, which comes with what Creative Labs calls a ‘Live!...