audio quality

[chilli_peppers]

Why does audio quality get all scratchy sounding when i put it on hardware setting? I have a sound blaster live! 24-bit sound card with 7.1 support but my 5.1 speakers dont work, it acts as if im using a 2.1 setup. any help is appreciated greatly!

[chilli_peppers]

Re: audio quality

no help? PLEASE!

[|GRB|Sarge]

Re: audio quality

The Live 5.1 can't handle the hardware processing. You need at least an Audigy to do anything other than use the software for sound processing.

[chilli_peppers]

Re: audio quality

darnit.. can i get a link to a good sound card for best quality on 5.1?

[knghtwhosaysni]

Re: audio quality

should be in hardware...
how much are you willing to spend?

[chilli_peppers]

Re: audio quality

umm.. between 20 and 50, maybe 60

[megawhompertoo]

Re: audio quality

umm.. between 20 and 50, maybe 60

Here is a link to Creative's store on ebay. They refurbish sound cards w/a limited warranty. You can also find individual's selling them in that price range, usually someone who just found out that there is a $400.00 sound card hidden somewhere deep in the South American Jungles, that will make his 'puter mo' oober. I use the audigy 2 zs. Everything is fine; you want to just install the drivers, though--creative ships with what I would call spyware/malware.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Creative-Sound-B...QQcmdZViewItem

Edit: P.S. It will do 5.1 just fine, in addition to 7.1, 2.1, stereo, etc.

[chilli_peppers]

Re: audio quality

how would this work? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1118841165481

i cant order over the internet so i wanna go to a local store like best buy.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: audio quality

how would this work? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1118841165481

i cant order over the internet so i wanna go to a local store like best buy.

Audigy 4 would certainly work. The 4 is NOT much of an "upgrade" from the audigy 2zs, or even some of the older audigy cards--if you can find one on sale somewhere. Here is a quote:

The Audigy 4 replaced an Audigy 2 ZS in our test system, and while the newer product is an excellent card, gamers with the older Audigy products don't have very compelling reasons to upgrade. The previous cards in the series are excellent--especially for gaming--and with driver upgrades, all previous products in the series can handle EAX 4.0 output. The signal-to-noise ratio is much improved in the Audigy 4, making it a better choice for listening to high-quality content (most games use audio that sounds identical on this card and on the previous-generation products). The Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Pro is an outstanding audio card overall, with the breakout box, remote control, and decent software bundle enhancing its value. But it's an incremental upgrade at best compared to the Audigy 2 series, and it is loaded with a lot of features that gamers don't necessarily need.

Here is the link to the full review.

http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-15165-1456-x-x-x

(note they are reviewing the "pro" version--the cards are the same, the "pro" comes with the breakout box, remote, etc.)

Bottom line--if you can find an audigy 2 on clearance for cheap, I'd go with that. If not, the audigy 4 will do the same thing.