The greatest quality....but not perfect!
Written: Aug 30 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great sound quality, extensive inputs/outputs, good game bundle
Cons: Price, Recording software hard to use, My remote control doesn't work!
The Bottom Line: If you have the money, and NEED great sound, this card is for you! A few problems here and there, but the sound is worth it to me!
|
|
|
| dmbclay's Full Review: Creative Technology Sound Blaster® Audigy... |
Alright, I built my own computer for college, and it's really nice. I play guitar and sing a little, so music is VERY important to me. When building my dream machine, I didn't have a doubt that the Audigy 2 platinum was for me. When it came to me in the mail, I was so excited! The card itself is black with gold plated inputs/outputs. It comes with 3 outputs for audio, Firewire ports, rca inputs, SPDIF, midi, mini and 1/4in headphone out, mini and 1/4 in microphone in, and optical in/out. The specs on this card are simply amazing. I don't do too much gaming, so I wasn't so worried about that. I just wanted my extensive list of mp3's to sound great and I want to feel my DVDs when I'm watching them. And, as I mentioned before, it would be nice to be able to record myself playing and singing (but not let anybody hear it!)
Installation was pretty straightforward. The Audigy 2 board goes into the motherboard, and the platinum faceplate(with lots of extra ins and outs) goes on the front of the computer in a regualr cd drive bay. Connect a wire between the 2 parts of the audigy, plug in the power, install the software, and you are good to go! For some reason however, the IR remote control doesn't work. not too big a deal, but for paying as much as I did, I wanna control movies and songs from across the room too!
The bundled software is a convienient add on. Hitman 2 and Soldier of Fortune 2 are a lot of fun, but I'm reviewing the card here, so I'm not gonna go into a book about the games. The DJ software is pretty straightforward and easy to use. My only problem with the software bundle is Cubasis VST. The specs on it are great. Record up to 16 channels, then go and edit each one seperately when you're finished.....NOT EXACTLY! The program is so complicated, and I could only get it to record 1 channel at a time! So only my voice was recorded, not my guitar (and it wasn't pretty, but I can't blame that on the card!) This program is aggrivating, so I'm gonna buy another recording studio when I get the chance.
How does it sound? This is what makes the card worth the money. It is simply great. I get crisper highs, tighter lows, and an overall more detailed sound. 3deffects are also great! I send the signal through a reciever to my CDT Cambrias (car speakers, but i got a new car and they won't fit, so I'm running them in some custom boxes I built, and they sound amazing!...check out that review later) It has the best stereo seperation I've ever heard....for example, when watching Tomorrow Never Dies, at the beginning, when the missle is shot at the terrorist camp and James Bond is trying to escape in a jet. When it cuts to the scenes where the missle is flying and going from the left side of the screen to the right side, so does the sound. Not just like it used to though....it is just so much more lifelike sounding. I can shake my house and not hear distortion. MP3s sound better than ever, thanks to winamp3 and this card. The sound cannot be beat!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 160
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
dmbclay
|
|
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.