Which hardware to buy?

[bullock444]

I have been looking at several soundcards for GPO and have read many of the posts here, and have been leaning towards the M-audio Audiophile 2496. (As opposed to the revolution 5.1) I am also looking into buying some surround sound speakers so I can enjoy my compositions on an entirely different level. (Looking into some Logitech z5300e's) Does the Audiophile sound card support surround sound? My current soundcard does not, and since I'm not a computer hardware guy, I'm not too sure about things like this. I basically want to have a setup that has a good set of 5.1 surround sound speakers, and a card that supports surround sound. Can anyone clarify this for me? And if anyone has any suggestions about which soundcards and speakers to buy that would be very helpful.

Thanks!

Matt

[L0W]

No M-Audio Audiophile 2496 doesn't support any recognised surround format. At a lower price, the Creative cards do however support 5.1 surround sound with a set of amplified speakers. Of course you will have to put up with all the ridicule that people will pour on you and all the rants about creative cards not having ASIO drivers will start (which they do have by the way, since the Audigy 1 was instroduced - but look on the box for ASIO or ASIO2 before buying). You will also hear people advising that the 2496 has such superior quality to the Creative cards. Well that's not what the techical specifications say and as an owner of both a 2496 and Audigy 1 Player, I can't tell them apart, and I claim to be able to hear whether a file has been steganographised or not so am no cloth ears!

If you were serious about your music AND want surround sound for movies, games, etc, there's nothing stopping you buying and installing two cards, Creative for your 5.1 and some other card for your serious audio work - but make the 2nd one something decent like RME Hammerfall or MOTU828. While the Audiophile is very very good, it is no better than the Creative card you already would have bought!

[Tom Crowning]

No M-Audio Audiophile 2496 doesn't support any recognised surround format. At a lower price, the Creative cards do however support 5.1 surround sound with a set of amplified speakers. Of course you will have to put up with all the ridicule that people will pour on you and all the rants about creative cards not having ASIO drivers will start (which they do have by the way, since the Audigy 1 was instroduced - but look on the box for ASIO or ASIO2 before buying). You will also hear people advising that the 2496 has such superior quality to the Creative cards. Well that's not what the techical specifications say and as an owner of both a 2496 and Audigy 1 Player, I can't tell them apart, and I claim to be able to hear whether a file has been steganographised or not so am no cloth ears!


Yep, even most people (especially the HipHop/Rap oompf oompf people)
do laugh at Creative soundcards the current bunch of Creative cards
is comparable with the similar priced M-Audio cards.
But don't buy the Creativ Audigy (it ONLY works at 48 kHz and re-computes
everything in realtime), buy the newer Creative X-Fi.

Tom

[Nickie Fønshauge]

Hmmm, as far as I can tell Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS can handle 44.1, 48 and 96 KHz stereo as well as 192 KHz mono. It is actually a good card, that will give you all you need (ASIO, 7.1 surround).

[L0W]

Yes it seems odd about this 44.1/48khz thing. I think 44.1kHz was introduced as standard with Audigy 2, but I've seen Creative Audigy 1s run with 44.1 (mine won't), maybe they were using another driver like ASIO4All. I was thinking that bullock was looking for new card, so wouldn't come across an audigy 1 anyway - so would get an Audigy 2 or higher - but you never know I guess.

[Tom Crowning]

Hmmm, as far as I can tell Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS can handle 44.1, 48 and 96 KHz stereo as well as 192 KHz mono. It is actually a good card, that will give you all you need (ASIO, 7.1 surround).

It can handle 44.1 kHz, but the chip doing all the stuff runs natively at
48 kHz, so when you play a 44.1 kHz source it's actually transfered to 48 kHz,
processed, re-transfered to 44.1 kHz and played.
Odd.

The newer Creative X-Fi chip supports both 44.1 kHz AND 48 kHz native
(and can do 88.2 and 96 as well).

Tom