Audigy Sucky?

just read toms audigy review and is it me or is the augigy not that great as creative makes it out to be, they say that it's a musicians card but the sample rate is a little low, i knew it was too good to be true!

i've been looking for a pro-card for the longest time and it looks like the terratec is a good value, even tho' it lacks the midi stuff but i'm planning to get some synth anyway.

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Epox 8kha+ w/AXP1.53
Dual Abit VP6 w/2 1GHz P3's

No, for $60-$70 it's actually a damn good deal. With the 24-bit DACs Creative has finally made an audio card that sounds pretty good with decent speakers. I watched the Heat DVD two weeks ago with my Audigy with PowerDVD 4.0 and Klispch Promedia 5.1s. Excellent! The bank heist scene is pure audio bliss.

Some things about the Audigy aren't too hot: proprietary Firewire port that isn't compatible with the standard, separate slot required for the joystick/MIDI port, mediocre software Dolby Digital decoding (PowerDVD is way better at it), silly bloatware like demos and Playcenter (ugh) that there's no need to install, etc.

But the basic functionality of the card is pretty good. It gets the job done and sounds good doing it. All you need to install off the CD is the drivers, mixer, EAX control, speaker control, and that's about it. Just uncheck everything else 'cuz it's unnecessary bloatware. We'll see if this EAX HD business really makes a difference. I have a feeling that it will substantially improve audio immersion in games.