Get out the Raid, SoundBlaster Audigy is buggy!
Written: Jan 17 '02 (Updated Jan 18 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice sound, environment effects are cool, Fire Wire port
Cons: Buggy drivers and conflicts
The Bottom Line: The sound is nice but all of the compatibility issued make it tough to recommend. Winamp users beware.
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| cvilly's Full Review: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer Sound Car... |
I've had on-board sound on my Athlon 950 machine for several months now. I finally got tired of having the sound cut out every time I accessed my hard drive. I decided it was time to get a new sound card.
When I saw the Audigy card I was immediately interested because it sports a Fire Wire port. I had been planning for a while to buy a Fire Wire card so that I could edit video from my camcorder. I figured why not kill two birds with one stone? After shopping around I was able to find the card for about $75. A real steal.
Installation was pretty simple. I am running Windows 2000. I simply plugged the card in and let the OS recognize the new hardware and install the drivers.
And that's where I should have stopped. The Audigy comes with a boatload of software and I made the foolish mistake of installing it all. I thought I might be missing out on some cool features otherwise. Big mistake. The accompanying CD installs lots of new audio players and crazy drivers. I knew I was in trouble when Winamp didn't work anymore. No sound. I went to the Creative support site which is a complete joke. There was nothing about Winamp problems and their solutions basically consist of making sure the card is seated properly. Gee, thanks.
After surfing around the WinAmp usergroups and elsewhere on the web, I came to find out that Creative installs a plugin in the WinAmp directory that causes all sorts of problems. Remove the plugin and you'll eliminate many problems, but not all. This was helpful but some mysterious issues remain. For example, if I listen to MP3s and then go to play The Sims, I have no game sound. On restart, the sound comes back. Also, I have an NVidia graphics card that competes with the sound card for PCI bandwidth so I still get the occasional skip.
This whole experience has been pretty frustrating. I've spent several hours tracking down compatibility problems and tweaking my setup since installing the card. I bought the card to simplify things. I thought that if I bought the industry standard SoundBlaster card it would be smooth sailing. Boy was I wrong. At least it sounds good when it's working.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 75.00
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Epinions.com ID:
cvilly
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Location: California
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 5 members
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