Creative patches up some of the Audigy's shortcomings, and produces a soundcard that should please audio enthusiasts and amateurs alike.
Soundcards have traditionally been placed in two camps: those favoured by professionals and those aimed at consumers. The original Audigy took significant steps towards bridging this gap, but still had some nagging problems that caused many audiophiles to scorn the card.
Their primary concern was with audio recording. You had to look at the fine print to discover that while the Audigy provided 24-bit/192kHz output, it only allowed analogue recording at 16-bit/48kHz, and as such fell significantly short of professional level cards.
Why are all these extra 'bits' important? After all, CDs only output at 16-bit/44.1kHz, right? The problem is that most professionals prefer to record at higher sampling rates (creating master files from which to work) even if they aren't going to use them, and then chose to reduce the audio quality for the final product.
Having a card with higher specifications also results in better quality audio conversions, so even if you're only recording at 16-bit, the final product will generally sound better if it has been recorded using a 24-bit sampler.
Creative has fixed these issues with the Audigy 2, which now boasts 24-bit/96kHz recording, and throws a good deal of admirable new features (albeit mostly niche ones) into the mix as well.
Chief among these are support for DVD-Audio at 24-bit/192kHz stereo, added support for 6.1 speaker systems (and Dolby Digital EX), and a slightly increased signal-to-noise ratio (the amount of sound compared to background hiss) of 106dB.
The Audigy 2 is also the only card available that can play back DVD-Audio discs (an audio format of much higher quality which also supports 5.1 channel surround). DVD-Audio is simply stunning (listening to the Audigy 2's sample disc is aurally mind-blowing), but it hasn't really taken-off thanks to poor disc availability and lack of support from most component DVD players. As an extra feature, it's therefore not amazingly useful.
The Audigy 2's upgraded seven channel (6.1) surround takes a small step forward by adding a rear centre channel; the rear speakers are now an exact mirror of the front ones. While this extra level of immersion is excellent for movies and especially PC gaming, it's not hugely superior to 5.1.
The Audigy 2's 106dB signal-to-noise ratio goes slightly beyond the Audigy's 100dB SNR. For the non-audiophiles among our readers 106dB is bloody loud. The human eardrums can generally tolerate around 100-120dB before you start feeling physical pain. We reached breaking point on our test computer's speakers long before we could hit it on the soundcard.
Still, with all of its new features and improved performance, it's also important to recognise that audio quality is highly dependant on the source it's coming from. For general playback (such as MP3's, audio CDs and computer games) we couldn't notice a huge difference between the Audigy 2 and the original Audigy. Playing DVD movies provided a small boost, and it was noticeably better playing high quality samples (24-bit/96kHz stereo) through the analogue out, although you really need high-end speakers to notice a large difference.
For most people, the Audigy 2's higher specifications will go unused; in the majority of tests we ran the increase over the Audigy was only slight at best. The card as a whole is more of an evolution than a revolution when compared to its predecessor. While there have been a few tweaks in the playback department (such as official support for DVD-Audio, a sixth surround speaker, and a tad more warmth in bass output) and a significant step forward in analogue output quality (24-bit/96kHz compared to 24-bit/48kHz) it's mainly in recording that the Audigy 2 considerably improves
over the Audigy.
If you're after a soundcard strictly for playback, then the original Audigy is still a good general purpose card -- and you can get one for appreciably less than the Audigy 2 will cost you. That said, the Audigy 2 is categorically the best 'non-professional' (and we use the term lightly) soundcard available.
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Company: Creative Labs
Price: AU$299, Audigy 2 Platinum AU$549
Distributor: Creative Labs
Phone: (02) 9666 6100
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