Bunny needs some advice

[BunnyStroker]

OK, here's the situation.

I am running WinXP. I have a Philips Seismic Edge, but the damn thing refuses to work at an acceptable level, so for the last 2-3 months I've simply been using my on-board audio (I have an EPoX 8K7A+)

On-board audio is the pants. (Read: Bad)

So, with some newly acquired holiday funds, I want to get a new soundcard.

Now, I do two things with my computer (that are relevant to the soundcard): Listen to Mp3s/Oggs/Apes/Wavs and play games. My speakers are decent, I think, but certainly not great.

I've been thinking about picking up an Audigy, simply because the reviews have been mostly good and because I think that it will give me maximum compatibility with games. Now the questions:

1. Will Audigy be good enough for what I need it to do?

2. Does the Audigy do OK in an XP environment?

3. The OEM version at Newegg is about $64, while the Xgamer version is ~ $85. I don't need any bundled software. Should I go OEM and save $20? ($20 is equivalent to 1.75 L whiskey where I live, mind you!)

4. I want to get a good pair of headphones. Will the jack on the back of the soundcard be sufficient?

5. Finally, what should I do with my piece of trash Philips card?


Anyway, thanks for any insight on this dilemma.



<b>ßunn¥§troker 0wn§ j00!</b>

 

[Crashman]

LOL! Aureal Vortex2 works in XP!

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Novakain]

OK. I'm going to try to answer these questions as honestly as I can, but since quality of sound really comes down to personal preference, please bear in mind that this is just mine.

1. In short: yes. IMHO the quality of surround sound is great within games. The only drawback I've found is that if you turn the volume level all the way up under Windows, some of the louder sounds will distort. This is easily fixed by turning down the volume under Windows and turning up the volume on your speakers. To my ears, MP3's sound great. There are some pretty good advanced EQ effects you can apply as part of EAX that sound good as well.

2. Yes: Provided you download the latest updates from Creative. Creative have released updates for XP for their core drivers, Playcenter, and Remotecenter. The core drivers themselves are not complete: you need to install the drivers from the Audigy CD first, But apart from the aforementioned issue I haven't heard of any issues with this card under XP.

3. As far as I know the only relevant difference between the OEM card and the retail one aside from the software is that the retail one has gold plated connectors. If this is the case then I don't see why you'd need the retail version - unless you're a real audiophile.

4. For stereo sound the output on the back of the card is OK with headphones, although I would say that it lacks bass. You would definately find an advantage in buying a headphone amp. Surround sound mixing is OK but you can do better with a TB Santa Cruz, GTXP, or any other card that uses the Crystal CS4630 DSP or uses Sensaura Audio Technology.

5. I have no idea.

 

[FatBurger]

Firstly, I'm going to drive over my Seismic Edge with my car, after I buy a digital camera to capture it on. Now, on with the show:

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Set it on fire, drop it off the roof of your house, etc. (don't steal my idea, whatever you do!)

<font color=orange>Quarter</font color=orange> <font color=blue>Pounder</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Inside</font color=orange>

 

[BunnyStroker]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I think that I'm going to get the Audigy OEM version for like $64.

<b>ßunn¥§troker 0wn§ j00!</b>